Laura Renwick shines in Shanghai
Sunday 01 May 2016
The fourth leg of the Global Champions Tour drew to a close today in the incredible city of Shanghai and it was the British quartet of Scott Brash, Alexandra Thornton, Laura Renwick Michael Whitaker and who were flying the Union Flag.
Laura produced an extremely notable win on Saturday in the 1.45m speed class with MHS Washington, an 8 year-old mare that she owns with husband John. Their time of 56.67 seconds was enough to relegate Henrik von Eckermann for Sweden into 2nd place with Chacanno and Marc Houtzager with Sterrehofs Bylou for the Netherlands into 3rd. Alexandra Thornton took 8th place with Caballero 84.
The day before had seen Scott Brash with Hello Forever, owned by Lady Kirkham and Lady Harris, finish 2nd in the 1.50m jump-off class. Their time of 35.28 seconds fell short by just 1/10th of a second behind Jack Towell for the USA who took the title with New York. Emanuale Guaidano for Italy and Caspar 232 took 3rd place. Michael Whitaker and Viking V finished 12th having incurred 4 penalties in the second round.
The Grand Prix of Shanghai saw eighteen clear in the first round from a starting field of just under thirty. Both Scott Brash with Hello Forever and Michael Whitaker with wife Melissa’s 14 year-old chestnut gelding Viking were amongst them and thus qualifying for the second of the three rounds jumped. The second round saw an uncharacteristic 11 penalties for Scott and Hello Forever which removed them from the running and for Michael, an extremely unlucky 4 penalties meant an 8th place finish to see them in the line up as the highest placed Brit. It was Abdullah Al Sharbatly and Tabalio for Saudi Arabia that took the title with Germany’s Marco Kutscher and Van Gogh taking 2nd.
The overall Global Champions Tour rankings list at the end of the fourth leg of this incredible series is headed by Christian Ahlmann for Germany who holds a commanding lead of 129 points. Emanuele Gaudiano for Italy sits in 2nd place on 96 points whilst GB’s John Whitaker holds 3rd position on 85 points.
For further information and full results visit www.globalchampionstour.com
