Thrilling jump-off in Longines Masters of Hong Kong

The Longines Masters came to a thrilling climax in Hong Kong, with two of the Whitaker clan achieving a top ten position.

Tough and technical

It was a tough, technical course that challenged some of the world’s top riders. John Whitaker used his years of experience to pilot Ornellaia to a fast clear in a time of 38.87sec. But the competition was even tougher and he finished in fourth place – missing out on the top spot by less than one second.

You can watch John’s round in the clip above.

‘Surprised’

It was Germany’s Christian Ahlmann who won the class riding Caribis Z (37.94sec). Hot on his heels were Ludger Beerbaum and Casello (38.58sec), ahead of Austrian rider Max Kühner on Cornet Kalua (38.85sec), who came third.

“What happened today was unexpected, Caribis is a great horse but he hasn’t jumped that many rounds at this level,” said Christian. “It was a tough course today and he did an amazing job in the first round.

“I saw my colleagues ride the second and it was clear we just had to go for it. I thought I’d try and see how far we could get and in the end, we won, I’m surprised and totally happy.”

€1million bonus

William Whitaker was ninth on Utamaro D Ecaussines after he had an unlucky pole in the first part of the double.

Christian Ahlmann is now in the running for the €1million Grand Slam. This bonus goes to any rider who can achieve consecutive wins in the Longines Grand Prix in Los Angeles, Paris and Hong Kong.

If you missed this exciting competition when H&C showed it LIVE, don’t worry – it’s still available to watch online.