Doha, Qatar—March 5

The recurring joke at the press conference following the €500,000 Doha CSI***** was that this year’s competition had a particularly German bent, as the top three riders all hailed from that country—not to mention course designer Frank Rothenberger.

“We’ve got one open seat—we could put someone there and field your Olympic team,” quipped moderator Steven Wilde.

A trio of FEI World Cup winners took the top spots, at the feature class of the CHI Al Shaqab. Winner Ludger Beerbaum (Chiara) outran his countryman Daniel Deusser on First Class van Eecklghem in the jump-off, while Christian Ahlmann’s Codex One dropped a rail over the short course to finish third. Fit For Fun 13 and Luciana Diniz finished fourth ahead of Belgian Nicola Philippaerts and Zilverstar T.

Ludger Beerbaum and Chiara put in a strong performance to win the day. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

“My horse jumped two fantastic rounds,” said Deusser of the Balou du Rouet-sired gelding. “He jumped yesterday in the big class and was also clear. I think in the jump-off today he did whatever was possible. He’s not the fastest horse, and I thought I had a very good time, but unfortunately Ludger was behind me and he was faster.”

Though footspeed isn’t First Class van Eeckelghem’s strongest suit, he and Daniel Deusser finished overall second. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Ahlmann wasn’t complaining either. He’s won six major classes this season, boosting him to sixth in the world rankings, thanks largely to Codex One.

“He did an amazing job,” he said on the Contendro 1 son. “Every jump was almost perfect. I took a little bit too much risk in the jump-off which was my fault, not his. I’m really happy to have him.”

Codex One continued his hot streak with Christian Alhmann, jumping to third in the biggest class of the week. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

It was a grueling evening for the riders as they vied for the top spot in the signature class of the CHI Al Shaqab, with two rounds and a jump-off in the race the top prize. The format calls for the top 18, or all the clear rounds, to return, and Rothenberger admitted he wasn’t happy that a full 20 of the 43 riders managed to keep the poles in the cups in the first go. But by Round 2 rails started flying as horses tired after a long week, and the time allowed caught others, with five advancing to the final short course.

The start list read like a who’s who of top show jumpers, though North American riders were conspicuously absent as they’re largely stationed at U.S. circuits for the season.

Chiara, a 13-year-old Contender daughter owned by his longtime sponsor Madeline Winter-Schulze, came out after a two-month vacation looking sharp. She jumped clear in two smaller classes earlier in the week.

“She was off after a long season, with the [Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (France)] and a couple shows indoors—she finished second in [Olympia CSI-W (England.)] She had to rest a little bit—she wasn’t jumping in the same shape as she was here. But she was in full work all the time. I just started jumping her two weeks ago, and because of our cold weather in Germany we were just able to start riding outside two weeks ago.”

Beerbaum was thrilled to have that mare back in form, because without her the Olympic gold medalist hasn’t won a class in two months. She’ll definitely be his pick she advance through the German trials to earn a ticket to Rio to make it onto the Olympics squad, but you could see the riders physically wince every time the “O word” came up. 

“We shouldn’t cut the meat into pieces before it’s even chopped,” he said. “There’s a lot of good boys and girls at home, and it’s too early to talk about this. I think I have a good horse and a chance, but it’s still six months to go.”

Check out lots more photos of the action in the gallery, and catch up on show jumping action in Doha from earlier in the week here and here.