After weeks of anticipation, the curtain raised on the glittering finale to the 2017 Longines Global Champions Tour with a fast-paced thriller in Thursday’s 1.45m two-phase competition. Victory went to Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA) on the 13-year-old Extra Van Essene (Diamant de Semilly x Gotthardsen).

“It was fantastic, I’m very happy with my horse,” said Zanotelli, who finished just 0.3s ahead of 2017 overall LGCT champion Harrie Smolders (NED) on Zinius (Nabab de Reve x Kannan), with Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden taking third on Cantinero (Cento x Cash).

“I watched Maikel [van der Vleuten, sixth] and he went fast. My wife said there was one less stride to the last and luckily it worked for me. He’s a fantastic horse, very kind and he’s always fighting for me. It’s a fantastic facility here in Doha and all the support we have here from the crowd is very nice.”