The Berlin Lions took the lead in the Global Champions League of London at the stunning new venue of Royal Hospital Chelsea, in Friday's first round. The Lions were the only team in the class who managed to secure a double clear in the first round of the competition. 

Berlin Lions' Max Kühner on Chardonnay 79 (Clarimo x Corrado I) managed a beautiful clear well within time, finishing on 77.6s. His teammate Anna Kellnerova had the crowd cheering when she made it a clean team score, incidentally with the exact same finish time riding Classic (Armitage x Chin Chin). It puts them into the lead heading into day two on Saturday.

“It’s a good feeling, but it is tight at the top and we have everything to ride for tomorrow. We want to bring our best horses and these are the pair in charge,” said Kühner. 

Kellnerova agreed, “We came here with a goal to be as good as possible.”

It was a strong second from the St Tropez Pirates: Simon Delestre put in a blistering round but took early penalties through the triple combination. However, teammate Jérôme Guery had what was needed to manage a clear with Garfield de Tiji Des Templiers (Quasimodo Z x Goldspring de Lauzelle) stopping the clock at 78.88s, and shooting the team up the scoreboard to help keep them in with a chance for the win tomorrow.

There was a top three placing for ranking leaders, Hamburg Diamonds on day one. Harrie Smolders secured a faultless clear well within the reviewed time allowance. Whilst U25 Diamond Jos Verlooy was fast out of the starting gate, he finished on four faults to help put the team in third today.

Source: Press release from GCL// Picture © GCL/Stefano Grasso