AUSTRALIA’s Edwina Tops-Alexander topped off an incredible couple of weeks at the highest level of international show jumping when winning the first-ever Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix.

The €1.25 million showdown took place in front of a sell-out crowd at the O2 Arena in Prague with victory for Edwina greeted with a standing ovation.

The first-ever LGCT Super Grand Prix featured the 16 top riders who qualified during the 2018 LGCT championship series, and the 16 elite contenders were set a formidable 1.60m first round track by Uliano Vezzani in this indoor sand arena. Airy verticals and gaping wide oxers were strategically placed, with the fearsome Longines treble combination coming towards the end of the course, meaning horses still needed to be on full power to clear the oxer-vertical-vertical test.

difficult task

The first to prove the course was jumpable was fourth-drawn Shane Breen from Co Tipperary, who rode for his life on Ipswich van de Wolfsakker, leaving all the fences standing but adding just a single time-fault.

One of the favourites, LGCT series champion Ben Maher finished with two fences down with his multi-winning Explosion W.

Just Harrie Smolders and Edwina Tops-Alexander were able to manage to keep a clean sheet, leaving Breen is an exciting position going in to round two. All riders progressed to the second round, where it was still all to play for.

Dutchman Frank Schuttert produced a brilliant clear on Chianti’s Champion to post a two-round total of four and that was eventually good enough for third place on the podium.

Two combinations later Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum overtook Schuttert when posting a clear round aboard Casello. Things didn’t go Shane Breen’s way and he decided to retire when the fences started to fall, leaving him out of the placings.

Down to the final two, Harrie Smolders had a surprising fall when Zinius stopped at a fence nine. So it all came down to Edwina, who has been riding the crest of a wave recently, with several big wins. She needed to jump clear for victory; one down and she had to beat the time of 61.56 seconds set by Ludger Beerbaum.

The fiesty Australian set off with typical determination but when fence eight fell, she had to put the foot to the floor and broke the beam in 61.08 seconds, less than half a second quicker than Beerbaum.

Celebrating her win, Edwina said her mare California was “incredible” and added: “I really didn’t think I had won, I couldn’t see the scoreboard. After I had the fence down I thought I have just got to go for it. I can’t believe it, I’ve had the most amazing three weeks of my life and to finish by winning the LGCT Super Grand Prix is incredible.”