MichelRobertDoha09.jpgThe 18 riders who had qualified for the Global Champions Tour Final in Doha, Qatar were in no doubt, from the moment they started to walk the course that they would have to work hard to win the biggest prize in show jumping. Conrad Homfeld built a course that was every inch worthy of a set of riders who could probably lay claim to every major show jumping title between them. To honour the occasion, the winner would be presented with an original sculpture of an Arabian horse’s head covered in gold. The unique sculpture, worth 8,000 Euro, was donated by Doha’s international jeweller Kanz and was personally crafted by the managing director of Kanz, Mr Ohan Assadourian. Of course, the riders were also competing for the 900,000 Euro total prize money on offer!

With the stakes high and a set of monster obstacles to be negotiated in the huge circular arena, nobody was expecting many clear rounds. In the end, the double at four and the combination at 13 ensured that only four riders finished the first round wiht no faults. The double saw the competition end for Edwina Alexander (Isovlas Itot du Chateau), Rolf Goran Bengsston (Ninja Le Silla), Marco Kutscher (Cornet Obolensky) and Bernardo Alves (Chupa Chup). The combination proved the undoing of Robert Whitaker (Casino), Rodrigo Pessoa (Champ), Daniel Deusser (AD Aboyeur) and Albert Zoer (Oki Doki).

The first man to clear everything was Germany’s Ulrich Kirchoff who made it look easy on Carino and he was swiftly followed by Alvaro de Miranda Neto with AD Picolien Zeldenrust. Michel Robert looked every inch a former World Champion when Kellemoi de Pepita sailed around. The jump off was completed with the current World Champion as Jos Lansink (Valentina Van T’ Heike) reminded everyone his absence from the European Championships this year was just a tiny blip in his outstanding career.

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