Victory for the representative of Belgium and the mare Gancia de Muse, surpassing the veteran John Whitaker of Great Britain and the Australian rider Edwina Tops-Alexander. (Photo © csi-basel.ch)
Belgian Niels Bruynseels won the Longines Grand Prix in Basel, Switzerland, claiming 150 World Ranking points and a prize of 100,000 CHF for the first place.
Starting the regular round a total of 45 pairs to animated the competition which consisted of two rounds and 15 of them, would finish performing both fields. Introduced with 11-year-old mare Gancia de Muse (Malito de Reve x Nimmerdor) owned by Krystle Vaes Erna-Wiehem, Bruynseels completed his two clear rounds in 41.19 seconds, getting almost 1 second ahead of the British John Whitaker.
The veteran rider keep the second-place was presented with the 12-year-old mare Ornellaia (For Pleasure x Calato) owned by Team Harmony Management Co LTD, finishing his court in 42.16 seconds to beat the formidable Australian rider Edwina Tops-Alexander by only 2 hundredths of a second, who was accompanied by the 14-year-old mare Lintea Tequilla (Campbell x Corrado II) of his property, scoring a time of 42.18 seconds.
Belgian Olivier Philippaerts completed the top five of the Grand Prix with fourth place alongside the 11-year-old mare H&M Legend of Love (Landzauber x Corgraf) in 42.56 seconds and fifth the representing of Switzerland was taken by Martin Fuchs with 11-year-old gelding Clooney in 44.43 seconds.
The fight for the world championship and the month-to-month measurement of the FEI Ranking focused on the current moments between the Germans Daniel Deusser and Christian Ahlmann, favored the world number 1 who finished in the 15th position before the former number 1 and current number 2, retired in the first round.
