Delestre shines bright like a diamond to win the LGCT Grand Prix of Antwerp

In another memorable night of LGCT drama, Delestre came in ahead of Germany’s Hans-Dieter Dreher in second place and Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander in third.

With eight out of the world’s top 10 riders journeying to compete at the new venue of Cockerill Quay on the banks of the vast River Scheldt, Delestre shone brightest when it mattered in the City of Diamonds by delivering a faultless clear round in the final jump-off round to take the honours.

In the first round Luc Musette’s course produced a steady stream of clear rounds and only the fastest on four faults made it through to the second round. The faults were spread around the course as riders including Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, Great Britain’s Scott Brash, France’s Penelope Leprevost, Canada’s Eric Lamaze and current world number one, Germany’s Daniel Deusser all falling by the wayside from the second round.

Brazil’s Doda de Miranda, Belgium’s Constant Van Paesschen, Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer and Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann made it through into the second round with speedy rounds on four faults as French stars Delestre and Kevin Staut led the fastest clear rounds.

In the second round Sheikh Ali Al Thani of Qatar delivered the first double clear just inside the time allowed on Vienna Olympic, before the German duo of Christian Ahlmann on Codex One and Dreher on Escudo I x Silvio I also produced double clear rounds. Tops-Alexander on Lintea Tequila added to the heavyweight jump off line-up before Egypt’s Karim El Zoghby on Amelia won a place in the jump-off, with Delestre on Ryan Des Hayettes making up the final line-up.

The stakes were high for the second Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix jump-off of 2015 which after two strong rounds saw Sheikh Ali unable to capitalise, finishing on 10 faults. Ahlmann looked like a winner but had a rail down on Codex One and El Zoghby had four faults despite an impressive performance.

Tops-Alexander delivered a typically powerful performance on Tequila returning home in a clear round of 40.30 seconds.

Dreher earned an eventual and deserved second place on Embassy II with a time of 38.74 seconds, meaning it all came down to the wire with Delestre the last rider out. The Frenchman and his 10 year old gelding Ryan Des Hayettes showed no nerves as they clinched success with their clear round coming home in a winning time of 37.96 earning a first prize purse of €99,000.

Speaking afterwards Delestre said: "The Longines Global Champions Tour of Antwerp is a very lucky show for me, I have won three times with three different horses.

“I can’t explain that but I’m very happy with that. My horse Ryan des Hayettes did a fantastic course today, he jumped amazing and he is in a super form.

“The course designer has done a very good job every day here. The new location also is larger than last year and the horses enjoyed it.

Tonight I was a bit afraid of being slower than Hans-Dieter Dreher, but Ryan is very quick."

The upshot from the LGCT Grand Prix on Antwerp sees a new leader at the top of the tour rankings after two events.

Qatar’s Bassem Hassan Mohammed now leads the way on 66 points, closely followed by Dreher on 59. Then follows Brazil’s Doda de Miranda in third with 42 points, Great Britain’s Scott Brash drops back to equal fourth on 40 points, now shared with Delestre.

The next LGCT event is this coming weekend as the Tour returns to the vibrant and lively Spanish of Madrid from 1 to 3 May.

Longines Global Champions Tour rankings

1. Bassem Hassan Mohammed Qatar 66 points

2. Hans-Dieter Dreher Germany 59

3. Doda de Miranda Brazil 42

4. Scott Brash Great Britain 40

4. Simon Delestre France 40

6. Edwina Tops-Alexander Australia 35

6. Pieter Devos Belgium 35

8. Christian Ahlmann Germany 33

8. Roger Yves-Bost France 33

10 Karim El Zoghby Eygpt 32