John Whitaker shares his views on a showjumping format that breaks the mould
I was competing at the Prague Playoffs last week, where the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) season draws to a close with the Super Grand Prix and the GCL (Global Champions League) team series concludes with the Super Cup knockout tournament.
The whole weekend is a great spectacle, with big crowds packed into the O2 Arena and huge prize money. I rode there last year having qualified for the Super Grand Prix, but this was the first time I’d ridden in Prague as part of a GCL team in the Super Cup.
I have been on the Valkenswaard United squad this season and we’ve had our ups and downs, but the highlight undoubtedly was teaming up with Marcus Ehning to win in Hamburg.
The top four teams from the season standings automatically qualify straight through to Friday’s semi-finals, whereas the 12 lower ranked teams have to compete first in Thursday’s quarter-finals – so it’s a knockout tournament until you’re left with the top six teams battling it out in Sunday’s final.
Whereas throughout the season there are two riders in each team, it goes up to three riders in Prague and, with no discard score, every round has to count and each team’s riders jump consecutively – all of which makes it very tense and really exciting.
However, you can also see how easily it can all go wrong – in Thursday’s quarter-finals, the Cannes Stars team were eliminated after their second rider Jens Baackmann set off before the bell – something that is so easy to do, especially when it’s noisy. You don’t always hear the bell. So poor Sameh El Dahan, the team’s third rider, came all the way from Ireland to Prague and didn’t get to jump a single fence.
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Fortunately for Valkenswaard United – which consisted of Marcus, the reigning European champion André Thieme and myself, with Edwina Tops-Alexander supporting us from the sidelines – we finished high enough to qualify for Friday’s semi-finals which we then won. So that was a fantastic result, taking us through as one of the top six teams for Sunday’s Super Cup Final.
Interestingly, Ludger Beerbaum, who had qualified to jump in Saturday’s Super Grand Prix, withdrew and elected to save his top mare Mila for the Berlin Eagles in the GCL Super Cup Final the following day. He’s heavily invested in the team and all the riders are from his stables, so I think he figured it was more lucrative to go for the team competition and forfeit his place in Saturday’s class. Of course, it didn’t quite work out for him and the team finished fourth, but it’s a bit of a shame the two competitions are on consecutive days, so you need to have a very good second horse in order to contest both.
Daniel Deusser’s win in the Super Grand Prix with Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z was fantastic to watch. The format for the Super Grand Prix and Super Cup Final differs from what is usually seen in the sport – both are held over two full rounds, with the second round counting for time. It feels totally different riding a full course – 12 fences – against the clock. But it certainly makes it very interesting.
Next stop, London International
Equine America Unick Du Francport jumped exceptionally well on Sunday for a double clear – there were big jumps and difficult lines all weekend set by Uliano Vezzani. We finished second, just separated by the winners Miami Celtics on time, but it was very exciting as it all came down to the final rider of the evening.
I took the horses straight from Prague to the CSI4* in Stockholm and now we have a couple of weeks before the London International Horse Show, which is always one we look forward to. I can’t wait to be back.
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John Whitaker is one of the most admired showjumpers worldwide and is still going strong competing at the highest level in his 60s. He has represented Britain in dozens of major international championships collecting 24 medals at Olympic, World and European championships during his long and successful career to date. While he has partnered many famous horses, he is arguably best know for his partnership with the brilliant grey, Milton, who was the first showjumping horse to win more than £1 million in prize money. John is a regular columnist for Horse & Hound magazine.
