Global Champions League Stage: From Vienna to the Scandinavian Vikings

Jur Vrieling, riding the nine-year-old VDL Mattias—a son of Comme il faut—as well as his experienced 15-year-old Grand Slam VDL by Cardento, for the Netherlands, and French rider Lara Tryba on Shot Gun, a 10-year-old Holsteiner by Stakkato Gold, were the pair who had found the best strategy at the Global Champions League stop in Vienna: riding safely and risking time penalties rather than pushing hard and risking a knockdown.

In the first round over a 1.60-meter course, Trab received one time penalty point and Vrieling received two. In the second round over 1.55 meters, both riders cleared the course with no faults—and this time, they were fast as well. That left them with a total of three penalty points. That was enough to keep the overall leaders, Riesenbeck International, at bay.

The Weishaupt brothers—

Maximilian Weishaupt and Zuccero HV—had the two clear rounds today that they were unable to achieve in the Nations Cup at St. Tropez. His brother Philipp Weishaupt and Oreo D.R. rode a clear round in the first flight. In the second round, Weishaupt rode the 10-year-old Diarado son Kilmister, who knocked down a rail. That was the mistake that cost him the victory.

Third place went to the Belgian-Swedish Istanbul team

, the

. With eight faults, third place went to the Istanbul Warriors, represented in Vienna by the two world-class riders Abdel Said (BEL) on Zasou vom Claashof and Calvaro, and Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) on Minute Man and Hylanderhof’s Saruschka, a 10-year-old Hanoverian mare by Stakkato Gold (breeders: Hylanderhof/Sina Dierking), who has been ridden by the 2022 world champion since the beginning of the year and was previously ridden by Giulia Martinengo Marquet. Both riders had their faults in the first round with Minute Man and Zasou.

Individual Results

In the 1.60-meter class, Tom Wachman and Do It Easy—trained by Kendra Claricia Brinkop—set the standard with a clear round in 72.93 seconds. They beat Philipp Weishaupt and Oreo D.R., the second-fastest pair, by more than a second. The second German rider in the top three was—once again—team world champion Sophie Hinners, riding her Cornet de Lys daughter Iron Dames Combella (0/74.47) today.

Christian Ahlmann and Untouched LB cleared the jumps just as flawlessly as Weishaupt and Zuccero. Ahlmann’s time was good enough for fifth place, while Weishaupt’s secured eighth place.

In the second round, Belgium’s Olivier Philippaerts, riding the nine-year-old Ragazzo AV, took the lead in the 1.55-meter class with a time of exactly 72 seconds. Henrik von Eckermann and Saruschka finished second (73.30), followed by Abdel Said and Calvaro, a Holsteiner son of Cascadello bred by Reimer Detlef Hennings.

The top German rider was Max Weishaupt, who finished sixth. Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Kaleni Jo posted the fastest round with four faults, which earned them eighth place. Jörne Sprehe also had one knockdown with Hickstead White, but was fast enough to finish tenth.

Overall Standings

In the series’ overall

standings

, Riesenbeck International extended its lead with today’s finish and now leads with 242 points ahead of the Istanbul Warriors (201) and the New York Empire (185), who had to settle for seventh place today, represented by the Irish riders Michael Pender on Louis, Denis Lynch on Cordial, and Gerrit Nieberg on Ping Pong van de Lentamel. For the latter, Vienna marks the first major tournament under his new rider, after they rode flawlessly in both 1.40-meter classes at the CSI2* Valkenswaard. They incurred a time penalty in the second round.

All the results from Vienna are available here.