Maikel van de Vleuten and Beauville Z N.O.P. finish 5th in LGCT London Grand Prix

After a few weeks' break due to, among other things, the European Championships in A Coruña, there was also renewed action at the highest level in the Longines Global Champions Tour last weekend. It was now time for the ninth stage of the season and for that they travelled to the British capital London. The LGCT Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon was of course the absolute highlight of the weekend, in which Dutch rider Maikel van de Vleuten once again achieved a top ranking with his 'partner in crime' Beauville Z N.O.P.

Under a radiant summer sun, all places at the historic Royal Hospital Chelsea in London were completely sold out for this ninth LGCT Grand Prix of the season. The best 40 combinations from the second round of the Global Champions League on Friday appeared in the ring to compete against each other and have a shot at victory. Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani and his team had mapped out a course consisting of thirteen obstacles with sixteen jumps and, of those forty contenders, ten eventually managed to advance to the jump-off. One of those ten were Maikel van der Vleuten and his top 15-year-old gelding Beauville Z N.O.P., the son of Bustique and Jumpy des Fontaines bred by Pascal Habets. The bronze medallists from last year's Paris Olympics again showed their class, as they managed to put a finishing time on the scoreboard in 42.72 seconds that entitled them to a podium place. Unfortunately, in their haste, van der Vleuten and Beauville Z N.O.P. saw the bar of obstacle 5 go against them, making it not ^3rd but ^5th place in the final for the successful duo.

Also in this LGCT Grand Prix, US rider Nathalie Dean managed to place with the 13-year-old gelding Crescendo Mb Z, a son of Clinton and Jodokus bred in the Netherlands by M. Bokdam. Dean and Crescendo Mb Z crossed the finishing line with a jumping fault in 47.56 seconds, which eventually earned them ^10th place in the rankings.

Before the start of this LGCT Grand Prix, a 1.45m class also took place on Sunday for the five-star competition, and there was blue/yellow success in this too. The silver went to Israeli rider Yali Kass and the 13-year-old mare Luna van 't Ruytershof Z, the daughter of Levisto Z and For Pleasure, bred by Bert van den Branden and with whom Nicola Philippaerts won the Belgian Senior Champion in Lanaken in 2022. Kass and Luna van 't Ruytershof Z, also good for a ^3rd place during the 1.45m class on Saturday, raced in this speed class to the finish in 53.22 seconds, securing a podium place for the second day in a row.

Victory during that 1.45m class on Saturday then went to the French rider Simon Delestre and his 12-year-old black gelding Dexter Fontenis Z, a son of Diarado and Voltaire bred by S-Ky Horses S.C.R.I. During both the^1st and^2nd stages, Delestre and Dexter Fontenis Z kept it neatly clear and with a finishing time of 25.90 seconds, they were more than half a second ahead of the rest of the field of competitors.

In addition to the ninth stage of the Longines Global Champions, the past few days in London also saw two-star showjumping, in which a Z-horse also managed to jump into the picture. In the 1.45m main class on Saturday morning, British rider Tallulah Mackenzie Smith secured a place on the podium with the 9-year-old mare Coyotte Pommex Z, a daughter of Cornet Obolensky and Karandasj who, as her name suggests, was bred by Stephex Stables and Haras de la Pomme. In a class against the clock, Mackenzie Smith and Coyotte Pommex Z made it to the finishing line in 64.86 seconds, giving them a nice^2nd place in the standings.