Pius Schwizer Kicks off

It’s started! The first hooves have left their imprints on the sand at what is the 13th edition of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco. In the prestigious setting of the Principality of Monaco, at the foot of the Prince’s Palace, 116 riders and their 195 horses discovered the Port Hercule arena on this first day of competition.
The highlight this Thursday, the first part of the 1.50/1.55m Global Champions League (GCL) in the evening saw an absolutely first class field made up of 51 horse and rider couples, including 19 teams in the running. The height of the round drawn by international course designer Luc Musette didn’t cause too many real difficulties, but really did require skill to overcome the questions asked by its’ lines, notably by two doubles that directly followed each other. Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer was the first to find the secret to riding a perfect round and stopped the Longines clock in under 67 seconds (66.59sec). « It’s a great victory, Chidame Z was really brave. I pushed her and managed to take out a stride in the last line which in my opinion made all the difference. She’s very fast, a super mare! » concluded the rider just before the prize-giving ceremony. Behind him, it was the highly competitive Ben Maher riding Winning Good who took 2nd place as an individual (67.07sec). It’s a particularly successful year for the British rider who has already amassed more than 500,000 euros in winnings on the GCT circuit in 2018 and remains second in the provisional rankings. Indeed Great Britain really was in top form this evening, because if Brazilian Marlon Módolo Zanotelli on Rock’n Roll Semilly slipped himself into 3rd place (69.30sec), Scott Brash/Hello Forever and Michael Whitaker/Jb’s Hot Stuff were 4th (69.43sec) and 5th (69.61sec) respectively.In the GCL,  the New York Empire led by Scott Brash and David Will made a good come-back and are leading at the end of this first stage. In second, the Scandinavian Vikings represented by Geir Gulliksen and Leopold van Asten. The Rome Gladiators, Constant Van Paesschen and Marlon Módolo Zanotelli, were third. Source: Press Release Jumping MonacoPhoto: LGCT Monaco 2018 Pius Schwizer – credits Sportfot