Cannes Welcomes Equestrian Sports Stars for Longines Global Champions Tour

Indeed many of the best show jumping riders in the world are in Cannes this year to take on Brash, all with a preference for sand and soil rather than red carpets and the Boulevard de la Croisette. Among the events on tap this weekend beside the Mediterranean is the 1.60m CSI5* LGCT Grand Prix on Saturday evening local time.

Course designer Uliano Vezziani will be challenging the elite horse-and-rider combinations in several other combinations as well in Cannes, including Friday’s 1.45/1.50m speed Class and Thursday’s and Saturday’s team Global Champions League competitions, with obstacles ranging from 1.50 to 1.60m. The results there will help determine the 25 riders for the marquee Grand Prix. The GCT live stream of the event is here.

One of the favourites to go into that Grand Prix has to be Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca, who has been having a great 2017 so far and leads the Tour rankings with 133 points after competitions in Mexico City, Miami Beach, Shanghai, Madrid and Hamburg. De Luca leapt up two spots in the latest Longines Rankings of the best riders in the world, into fourth place, pushing down Canada’s Eric Lamaze to fifth. Last year’s Cannes winner Brash, an Olympic Gold Medallist and current World No.8, has 96 points and will be leading the British group of five riders who have made the trip.

Right behind De Luca in the Tour standings and also present in the south of France this week is Maikel van der Vleuten of the Netherlands, with 124 points. His compatriot Harrie Smolders (123 points) sits in third, while other riders on the Tour will be looking to shake things up on the leaderboard in this latest showdown: Christian Ahlmann, Ludger Beerbaum, Daniel Deusser and Marcus Ehning of Germany, for example. Home side France will have ten riders in Cannes, including Pénélope Leprevost, Simon Delestre and Kevin Staut, while Ireland, for its part, is sending a strong delegation of three pairs, including Denis Lynch, ranked 29th in the world. As part of Sweden’s strong contingent, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson will be looking to carry over his momentum from the previous LGCT leg in Hamburg, where he triumphed with Casall Ask in the renowned mount’s retirement ride. Meanwhile, Belgium will be represented by the likes of Niels Bruynseels and Jérôme Guéry, and Switzerland’s Jane Richard Philips, the Longines Ambassador of Elegance, will also be in the saddle in France. Audrey Coulter will ride alongside four other American riders in the competition, although World Nos.1 and 3 Kent Farrington and McLain Ward, along with Lamaze, are at Spruce Meadows in Canada this weekend.

In the League competition, where riders from different nationalites join together to compete, namesake squad the Cannes Stars are currently sitting in fifth, with the full standings here.