First he ended third in the opening 1.45 class, then he went on to win the 1.50/1.55 Premio Mercedes-Benz Portugal - Emanuele Gaudiano showed top form at the Longines Global Champions Tour in Estoril on Friday. Riding Admara 2 (Padinus x Murano), the Italian jockey was one of no less than sixteen riders moving on to the jump-off after round one.

Against the clock, it was not much that separated Gaudiano from runner-up Marco Kutscher on Cornet's Cristallo (Cornet Obolensky x Pilot) from Germany, with only  0.15 seconds in between the two riders. Third place went USA's Lauren Hough on Cornet 39 (Cornet Obolensky x Caletto I), who was over a second behind the winning time.

In the opening 1.45 class, Gaudiano had to see himself beaten by Belgium's Gregory Wathelet and Egano van het Slogenhof (Electro x Nagano). 0.56 seconds behind followed Saudi rider Abdullah Al Sharbatly on Domino (Thunder van de Zuuthoeve x Brownboy) and then Gaudiano finished third with Cocoshynsky (Cornet Obolensky x Popcorn/).