Rolf-Göran Bengtsson won the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Doha on Casall Ask. All photos (c) Stefano Grasso/LGCT.
After three incredible clear rounds in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Doha, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Casall Ask (Caretino x Lavall I) won the prestigious competition. Only one other competitor managed to be triple clear, Luciana Diniz on Fit for Fun (For Pleasure x Fabriano) who ended second. Third place went to Yann Candele on Showgirl (Gold de Becourt x Elf III), double clear but with one rail down in the jump-off.
It was a very testing first round track that saw only five riders go clear. The first one to tackle the challenges was Candele, before four more riders left then ring with a clean sheet – Luciana Diniz, Daniel Deusser, Roger Yves Bost and Rolf-Göran Bengtsson. Ranked three on the overall standings of the tour ahead of today’s final leg, Scott Brash had to see a time fault being added when crossing the finish line on Hello Sanctos (Quasimodo v. Molendreef x Nabab de Reve) and that was also the case for Bassem Hassan Mohammed on Victoria (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve x Cordano).
Runner-up: Luciana Diniz on Fit For Fun.
The second round saw eight riders producing clear rounds. In addition to Candele, Diniz and Bengtsson being clear again – securing the ultimate three rider jump-off – Pieter Devos, Simon Delestre, Jane Richard Philips, Scott Brash and Bassem Hassan Mohammed went clear. The two latter both ended on a one penalty score, with Brash ending fourth and Mohammed fifth.
With his result Brash successfully defended his Longines Global Champions Tour title from last year. The fourth place gave him a one point advantage over Ludger Beerbaum and finishing on the same points as rival Rolf-Göran Bengtsson. Due to Scott having more wins than Bengtsson this season, the title belonged to him for a second year in a row.
Yann Candele and Showgirl were third.
The jump-off proved to be the perfect ending to an exciting 2014 Longines Global Champions Tour season. It was opened by Luciana Diniz, who again went clear on her chestnut mare stopping the clock on 43.85 seconds outing serious pressure on the two to come. Then followed Yann Candele, who unfortunately lowered a rail – but with a faster time than Diniz.
As last to go, Rolf took the risk and it paid off. The round against the clock was unbelievable, with Rolf using Casall Ask’s top gear all around the shortened track. Another amazing round from Casall Ask – who is in the form of his life at the age of 15 – gave Rolf a time over three seconds faster than that of Diniz and hence the top prize of 148 000 Euro.