Global Champions Tour
The Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) is an annual show jumping series that comprises up to 15 rounds of competition hosted around the world. It brings together the top 30 riders in the FEI Jumping World Rankings.
It was founded in 2006 by the Olympic gold medalist Jan Tops. Member of the Monaco royal family Charlotte Casiraghi is Honorary President of the Jumping International de Monte-Carlo leg of the tour and regular high-profile competitors include Athina Onassis, Georgina Bloomberg (who also owns a team which competes in the Global Champions League), Jessica Springsteen, Sofia Abramovich, Guillaume Canet and Jennifer Gates.
In 2014, overall LGCT Championship winner Scott Brash (see Rules below) received just under €300,000, making it the biggest single prize in any of the three Olympic equestrian disciplines (dressage, eventing and showjumping). During this season, Brash won over €852,000 in total prize money [1] making the Longines Global Champions Tour one of, if not the, richest equestrian sporting series in the world.
Since 2007, all LGCT events have been held as CSI 5*, which means that under FEI rules they are championship-level events. The LGCT classes are run under FEI rules but the governing body has no part in the organisation of the series, aside from ratifying the schedule. The LGCT is not an FEI series like the World Cup or the Nations Cup competitions.
The television broadcaster is Eurosport.[2]
Competition type
Allowed to participate in Global Champions Tour (GCT) events are:
- the World Ranking Top 30. If a top-30 rider refuses to take part the competitor field is filled by the organizer with riders ranking within Top 150.
- Wild Card owners: Wild Cards are distributed by GCT rights holders, local GCT organizers, national coaches and the FEI.
Until 2016 GCT competitions consisted of two rounds, plus a Jump-Off. The course was changed after the first round and the second round was limited to the top-18 riders of the first round or all fault-free riders if there were more than 18 zero-point-rounds. The points collected during the first round were added to the points collected during the second round.
When FEI accepted the Global Champions League as an international jumping series in 2017 the mode of the Global Champions Tour was changed:
a Global Champions League competition is held the day before the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix. The second round of the Global Champions League competition is the qualification out of which the top-25 riders qualify individually for the Global Champions Tour.
The Global Champions Tour competition is a single-round competition plus a Jump-Off. All riders start with zero points.
The horse can be changed between the two competitions.[3]
Rules
The overall standings are determined by the placement of the rider in the Grand Prix competitions of the Longines Global Champions Tour. The scoring is carried out as follows:
Competition Placing | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
Points Scored | 40 | 37 | 35 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
Points won by competitors who are tied are added together and then divided equally. Fifty percent of the rider's best results count towards their overall LGCT ranking classification, thus with 14 events in 2014, seven of the riders best results count towards their overall ranking and any additional weakest scores are dropped.
In 2008 and 2009, the winner was determined in a separate final. The top 25 riders of this season overall standings were allowed to participate in the final.
In 2006 and 2007, and again from 2010, the winner was determined by the overall standings of the season.
Winners
In 2013, Britain's Scott Brash became the first rider to do the double and win the final Grand Prix and the Championship in one go – all on his 28th birthday (23 November). Brash, riding his 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning horse Hello Sanctos, netted €443,000 in prize money for the two wins.[4]
In 2014, having been World Number One rider for a year (the first time a rider had been World Number One this long since Marcus Ehning in 2006) Scott Brash successfully defended his title for a second consecutive year having won a record three Grand Prix (London, Cannes and Cascais-Estoril) with Hello Sanctos during that season. Germany's Ludger Beerbaum had led coming into the final Grand Prix in Doha, but due to illness his top horse Chiara could not compete and he instead rode the less experienced Zinedine, collecting 17 faults in the first round and eventually dropping to 3rd in the overall Championship. For the second time in his career, Swede Rolf-Goran Bengtsson had to accept second place in the Championship despite finishing on the same points as the winner, as he did not have as many season wins (Rolf finished 2nd to Edwina Tops-Alexander in 2012). However, Bengtsson put in a spectacular performance in the final Grand Prix to win with his stallion Casall ASK.[5]
Venues
listed in alphabetical order of the respective host country
The legs of the 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour are:[6]
Prague - O2 Arena, a new venue in 2018
Shanghai - China Art Museum, Pudong New Area, a venue since 2014
Madrid - Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, a venue since 2013
Chantilly - Chantilly Jumping situated on the Chantilly Racecourse, a venue since 2010 [7]
Cannes - Stade des Hespérides, venue since 2006
Paris - Parc de Bagatelle, a venue since 2016
Ramatuelle/Saint-Tropez - Pampelonne beach, a new venue in 2018
Berlin - Summer garden at Funkturm, a venue since 2017
Hamburg – German show jumping and dressage derby, a venue since 2008
Rome - Stadio dei Marmi, a venue from 2015
Mexico City - Campo Marte, a venue since 2016
Monte Carlo - Port Hercules, a venue since 2006
Valkenswaard - Stal Tops, a venue since 2006
Cascais near Estoril - Hipódromo Manuel Possolo, a venue since 2006
Doha - Al Shaqab, a venue since 2008
London - Royal Hospital Chelsea, a venue since 2017
Miami, Florida - Miami Beach, a venue from 2015
Legs to be added to the 2019 Longines Global Champions Tour:
Former venues of the Longines Global Champions Tour are:
Vienna - Magna Racino, a venue in 2014
Vienna, Rathausplatz, a venue in 2012, 2013 and 2015
Vienna, Trabrennbahn Krieau, a venue in 2016
Stud Zangersheide near Lanaken EU Open Masters and Future Masters, a venue in 2006
Antwerp - Port of Antwerp, a venue from 2014 to 2016
Rio de Janeiro Athina Onassis International Horse Show, Sociedade Hípica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro, a venue from 2009 to 2011
Wellington (Florida) Winter Equestrian Festival, Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC), a venue in 2006 and 2007
Valencia, City of Arts and Sciences, emptied pond in front of Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, a venue from 2009 to 2011
Valencia Oliva Nova Beach and Golf Resort, a venue in 2012
Paris - Champ de Mars, a venue in 2014 and 2015
Wiesbaden Pfingstturnier, Schlosspark Biebrich, a venue for 2012 and 2013
Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre near Athens, a venue in 2007
Arezzo, Arezzo Equestrian Centre, a venue from 2007 to 2009
La Mandria near Turino, a venue in 2010
Lausanne - The marina, a venue from 2012 to 2014
Abu Dhabi, Al-Forsan International Sports Resort, a venue 2011 and 2012
London, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a venue in 2013
London, Horse Guards Parade, a venue in 2014
London, Syon Park, a venue in 2015
References
- ^ http://www.globalchampionstour.com
- ^ "2016 Longines Global Champions Tour! – Total Horse Channel | Equestrian TV". totalhorsechannel.com. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
- ^ Rules for the 2017 Longines Global Champions Tour
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ "Season 2018".
- ^ "Chantilly Jumping 7th leg of LGCT".
- ^ "LGCT circuit expands to Canada with stunning new Montreal event in 2019".
- ^ "Prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour Comes to Stockholm in 2019".