Buckley and Lam stand out at first leg of 2015 Longines FEI World Cup China League

The first day of competition at Beijing's Chaoyang Park saw the World Cup qualifier competition, which was won by Great Britain’s Simon Buckley.

Buckley, riding Exilio, stood out with his clear round in the 1.45m class coming in a time of 70.85 seconds. Second place went to China’s Zhao Zhiwen on Bolero, who also carded a clear round in a time of 76.94 seconds. Third place went to China’s Han John Zhuangzhuang riding VDL Groep Credence Z who also completed a clear round but in a time 78.38 seconds.

The second day of the competition saw two Hong Kong riders finish on the podium in the feature class of the day, the Longines FEI World Cup 1.50 metre.

After an exciting jump-off round, Patrick Lam earned first place and in doing so winning his first ever class in the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping China League series. Lam was followed by fellow compatriot Raena Leung in second with British rider Simon Buckley, who ranked first in the qualifier, taking third.

Day three saw the 1.3-1.4m club & individual competition, where it was a Chinese trio who made the podium.

Ha Datie emerged champion thanks to a clear round in a time of 76.59 seconds, Yuan Maodong, took second place with Yang Fujun third. All of the top three riders finished the class with a clear round. However as Fujun took less time to finish this round than Maodong, Fujun’s four penalties from the previous day’s competition meant a third place finish.

In terms of the team ranking, Shanxi Yulong were team champions, with second and third places going to BIEC and Equuleus respectively.

The second leg of the Longines FEI World Cup China League in Beijing takes place from 30 April to 3 May 2015.