GCT: Rolf Goran Bengtsson and Casall Ask conquer Chantilly

Sweden dominated yesterday in the latest stage of the Global Champions Tour with a splendid victory from Rolf-Goran Bengtsson on Casall Ask (Caretino) followed by a second place finish from a fired up Henrik von Eckermann on a mount owned by the Qatar armed forces: Cantinero (Cento).
The two Swedish riders certainly had their work cut out and had to overcome stiff competition from two other top names of show-jumping. One of these was Canada’s Eric Lamaze who led after the first round on 11 year-old Hannover Fine Lady 5. The always competitive Ludger Beerbaum meanwhile also challenged, but just missed out on a podium finish with his KWPN stallion Chaman settling for 4th place. However, his presence in the top ten is nearly always a guarantee.
The jump-off itself involved the 4 aforementioned pairs and was characterised by a close and lively battle for the fans.
Much to the delight of the French crowd, 5 of the 15 clean runs in the first round were scored by French riders. Nevertheless, it was experience that ultimately won the day with Bengtsson taking the win in front of a very respectful crowd at Chantilly. The Swedish rider put all of his previous experiences to good use for a brilliant performance on a difficult and challenging course designed by Uliano Vezzani that offered a mixture of curves and straight lines.
Rolf Goran Bengtsson and Casall Ask finished the very technical course with a time only slightly quicker than fellow countryman von Eckermann (40.31 to 40.85) to send the crowd wild. The final podium slot was taken by the leader after the first round Eric Lamaze on Fine Lady 5 in 41.08. The rest of the top-ten on the other hand was as follows:
4th Ludger Beerbaum GER Chaman
5th Athina Onassis De Miranda GRE AD Camille Z
6th Timothee Anciaume FRA Padock du Plessis
7th Patrice Delaveau FRA Carinjo HDC
8th Jessica Sprigngsteen USA Vindicat W
9th Marie Hecart FRA Myself de Breve
10th Michel Hecart FRA Quatrin de la Roque
For a complete list of the standings, please see the following link: http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/933/sta_erg/04_ergENG.htm?style=longines
Let’s focus now on the latest GCT ranking list: Edwina Tops Alexander keeps first place on 201 points while Rolf Goran Bengtsson climbs into second on 194 points followed by Bassem Hassan Mohammed from Qatar in third on 181. The rest of the ranking list is as indicated below:
4th EMANUELE GAUDIANO ITA 157
5th Kevin Staut FRA 155
6th Scott Brash GBR 147
7th Henrik von Eckermann 145
8th Ludger Beerbaum GER 124
9th Daniel Deusser GER 109
10th Doda de Miranda BRA 107
A complete ranking list can be viewed here: https://www.horseshowjumping.tv/files/LGCT_rankin_Chantilly_2014.pdf
source: www.globalchampionstour.com