GERMANY’s Christian Ahlmann galloped to his third victory of the season at the eighth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup at Mechelen in Belgium last Wednesday. The competition came down to a 10-way decider against the clock, and, third-last into the arena, the 40-year-old rider and his brilliant 15-year-old stallion Taloubet Z produced another of their trademark thrillers to seal the result in style.

Belgian riders filled three of the top four placings and five of the top 10 slots in front of their home fans. Niels Bruynseels threw down an extraordinary jump-off performance with the nine-year-old Cas De Liberte to claim runner-up position, while Jerome Guery lined up third with Papillon Z. Jos Verlooy has rocketed up to second spot in the league standings after finishing fourth with his nine-year-old gelding, Sunshine.

With 77 points now to his credit, Ahlmann has a 26-point lead over Frenchman Simon Delestre at the top of the series leaderboard. Along with Verlooy, Penelope Leprevost from France and young Belgian star Nicola Philippaerts, the 2011 World Cup champion is well-qualified for the 2016 Longines final which will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden in March.

Denis Lynch was best-placed of the Irish, finishing just outside the points-scoring places in 19th position with All Star 5. One fence down in the opening round ended the Tipperary rider’s hopes of repeating his earlier win in the Mechelen Masters. With just three qualifying legs left to run, no Irish rider has so far managed to book a ticket to the final, with Dermott Lennon best-placed in 28th position, collecting 19 points so far on the North American league. Cameron Hanley is in 37th spot following the 13 points he gained in Stuttgart, with Cian O’Connor three places further back with the 11 points he won at Olympia. Bertram Allen has 10 points so far and will be hoping, along with his above mentioned compatriots, to make an impression at the remaining legs of the series.

TOUGH TASK

Belgian course designer, Lucien Somers, set a tough task at Mechelen, with tall verticals, wide oxers and obstacles coming up at a rapid rate around his 13-fence track.

A total of 10 found the key to the challenging course, but before the jump-off began there was an emotional tribute to Belgian jumping legend Ludo Philippaerts who retired from competition this year. During his stellar career he competed at four Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games, 11 European championships and in 13 World Cup finals.

Amongst his many achievements, Philippaerts took individual European silver in 2001 and, with the great stallion, Darco, claimed European team gold in 1991.

Yolande Wauters, wife of the late Eric Wauters who, 35 years ago, founded the Mechelen event which is dedicated to his name, made a special presentation to Philippaerts, as did FEI President Ingmar De Vos.

With five Belgians into the jump-off, the home crowd had plenty to keep them on the edges of their seats, and they roared with excitement when Verlooy, who just turned 20 earlier this month, set a superb target when clear in 42.09 seconds. But it was Niels Bruynseels who really set the competition alight when, three horses later, he blazed through the timers in 39.37 to put it up to the rest of the field.

His compatriot, Jerome Guery, has established a great bond with the former Gregory Wathelet ride Papillon Z and the grey raced home to slot temporarily into second place when crossing the line in 40.57. Ahlmann and Taloubet Z however followed that with a jump-off master-class, taking a stride out on the gallop to the last to shave 0.15 seconds off Bruynseels‘ target.

There were still two left to run, but when Britain’s Laura Renwick and the ever-more-promising Bingtang ll posted their clear in 42.47, that would slot them into fifth place leaving only 2014 Longines champion, Daniel Deusser, left to challenge. The German rider who lives in Mechelen hit the last fence in a valiant effort with First Class Van Eeckelghem and had to settle for sixth place.

Ahlmann admitted that he was feeling: “Quite confident” going into the jump-off.

“Taloubet did a great job in the first round and gave me a super feeling - when he’s in that shape I can ride fast and take the risks. To be honest, he just played with the fences today - he has produced some really great rounds over the last few weeks, but this one was possibly the best,” he said.

The next leg of the World Cup series will take place at Leipzig in Germany on January 17th.