Maikel van der Vleuten Sizzles in LGCT of London Final Salute in Champagne Piaff Trophy
Mdmar – LGCT –
London
Continuing his epic form Maikel van der Vleuten closed the
Longines Global Champions Tour of London in style denying the crowd of a home
win as he piloted the lightning-fast homebred Elwikke to victory and winning
the Champagne Piaff Trophy on an edge-of-the-seat gallop to the last.
Escorted by the scarlet-coated Chelsea Pensioners,
van der Vleuten stood proudly in front of the Royal Hospital Chelsea for the
prize giving, taking the win ahead of young talent Lily Attwood with her LGCT
Grand Prix of Paris silver medallist ride Cor-Leon v. Vlierbeek Z. Young talent
Zoe Conter completed the podium with Dawa de Greenbay Z as the fasted four
faults.
Maikel smiled: “It’s
always a beautiful show to go, beautiful location, we saw some great sport and
it was a good atmosphere every day so I think everybody has enjoyed the show.”
It was a weekend full of family fun as celebrities and VIPs from Sarah Cox,
Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke-Locke and England Rugby star Courtney Law
enjoyed the exceptional hospitality while the kid’s village and ponies rides
were busy throughout in the Summer sun.
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It was a 5 rider jump-off after some of the biggest
names in the sport were caught out by today testing 1.55m track. Maikel
contemplated the course designer: “That’s
the strong part of our course designer Uliano Vezzani, it was a very delicate
class again. Towards the end of the class, there were a few riders clear so we
had a good jump off but it was a tricky class again today.”
As the final day in London came to a close the tour
now heads to its spiritual home in Valkenswaard at Tops International Arena.
Local hero Miakel van der Vlueten will be competing and he explained: “I am looking forward to next weekend, it is a
fantastic place and we are all looking forward to some great sport.”
It took a long time to come but the first clear round
was produced by former world number one Daniel Deusser and the stunning grey
Jasmien vd Bisschop. They risked it all in the jump-off as first to go with
nothing to lose but the Longines oxer fell and the pair were out of contention
for a win straight away.
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Next up young gun Zoe Conter had been told by Eric
Lamaze all the inside turns and strides to take out. She conducted her route
effortlessly with Dawa de Greenbay Z to finish in a lightning-fast time in
39.91s but with one down meant she had to settle for third place overall.
The first clear round came from the eventual winner,
Maikel van der Vleuten and superstar Elwikke who claimed the lion’s share of
the prize purse for today’s 1.55m jump-off.
British hopes were in the hands of Lily Attwood and
her on form Cor-Leon v. Vlierbeek Z they set off all guns blazing and looked on
track to overtake the dutchman. Posting the only other double clear of the day
Attwood finished less than half a second slower than Maikel leaving just Harry
Charles left to go. The young brit had a standing ovation from the VIP
Hospitality as the tension rose but it wasn’t to be today as Charles and
Borsato finished with 8 faults to the round off the top 5 and close an epic
show jumping showdown in London.
The next stop for the Championship race is
Valkenswaard from 26 – 28 August.
“*mdmar’s” news site for horse racing and equestrian
The “Midmar” website for horse and equestrian races is keen to cover and follow all competitions related to horses, from show jumping, Horseracing, speed and endurance races, and purebred Arabian horse beauty shows, which belong to the Arab Gulf countries at home and abroad in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
