One by one the riders increased the speed in Friday's Longines Global Champions Tour feature class in Valkenswaard, and in the end Germany's Daniel Deusser snatched the win as the fastest one aboard Happiness van't Paradijs (Obourg x Quick Lauro Z).

No less than twenty of the nearly fifty riders in the 1.50/1.55 competition went clear to move on to the jump-off in the huge grass ring, and with several of the world's best riders ready to race for the win it was bound to be a fast affair. 

And the best was saved for last. After home rider Leopold van Asten held the lead on VDL Groep Miss Untouchable (Chacco-Blue x Aldatus), Marlon Zanotelli was the next one to top the leader board after a quick round on Extra van Essene (Diamant de Semilly x Gotthardsen) who stopped the clock on 38.09 seconds. 

It was not to last though as three riders would overtake him. Coming in towards the end of the jump-off, Daniel Deusser stole the win on Stephex Stables' 9-year-old mare, that Daniel took over the reins on earlier this summer from his colleague Jonna Ekberg. This was the pair's first victory together and it came by almost a second, as Ireland's Denis Lynch finished as runner-up on the 13-year-old gelding All Star 5 (Argentinus x Alme). Switzerland's Steve Guerdat ended third on Albführen's Happiness (Heartbeat x Lambrusco Ask), 1.46 seconds behind Deusser and 1.29 ahead of Zanotelli who had to settle for fourth.

Text and picture © World of Showjumping