The 2011 Global Champions Tour was the sixth staging of the Global Champions Tour (GCT), an international competition series on equestrian show jumping. The series was held mainly in Europe but three competitions were held outside of Europe. All competitions were endowed with at least €285,000 in prize money. All GCT events were held as CSI 5*.
The competitions were held between March 17, 2011 and November 12, 2011. There was no final round; at the end of the season, the best 18 show jumping horseback riders in the final overall standings received bonus prize money.1 million euro bonus for Top 18 GCT ranked riders of the 2010 season, announcement at globalchampionstour.com
Competitions All competitions were held over two rounds against the clock including one jump-off - a final round in the event of a tie - against the clock.
1st Competition: Global Champions Tour of Qatar March 17, 2011 to March 19, 2011 – Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club, Doha, Competition: Saturday, March 19, 2011 – Start: 6:45 pm, prize money: € 475,000Provisional time table GCT of Qatar 2011 RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Álvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto Ashleigh Drossel Dan 0 - 0 - 0 42.53 402 Pius Schwizer Carlina 0 - 0 - 4 43.35 373 Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum Shutterfly 0 - 0 - 4 45.13 35 (Top 3 of 47 competitors)
2nd Competition: Global Champions Tour of Spain May 6, 2011 to May 8, 2011 – Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe, Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia, Competition: Saturday, May 7, 2011 – Start: 5:00 pm, prize money: € 285,000 RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Billy Twomey Je t'aime Flamenco 0 - 0 - 0 39.18 402 Ludger Beerbaum Gotha FRH 0 - 0 - 0 40.04 373 Maikel van der Vleuten Verdi 0 - 0 - 0 45.99 35 (Top 3 of 49 competitors)
3rd Competition: Global Champions Tour of Germany
June 2, 2011 to June 5, 2011 – Hamburg (German show jumping and dressage derby), Competition: Saturday, June 4, 2011 – Start: 1:40 pm, prize money: € 285,000 RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Casall 0 - 0 - 0 46.97 402 Ludger Beerbaum Chaman 0 - 0 - 0 47.93 373 Janne Friederike Meyer Lambrasco 0 - 0 - retired 35 (Top 3 of 49 competitors)
4th Competition: France I June 9, 2011 to June 11, 2011 – Cannes, Competition: Saturday, June 11, 2011 – Start: 6:00 pm, prize money: € 285,000 RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Edwina Alexander Itot du Château 0 - 0 - 0 39.30 402 Sergio Alvarez Moya Action-Breaker 0 - 0 - 0 42.37 373 Ludger Beerbaum Gotha FRH 0 - 0 - 0 43.23 35 (Top 3 of 47 competitors)
5th Competition: Global Champions Tour of Monaco June 23, 2011 to June 25, 2011 – shore at the marina „Port Hercule“, Monte Carlo, Competition: Saturday, June 25, 2011 – Start: 6:00 pm, prize money: € 285,000result 2011 Global Champions Tour of Monaco
Frank Rothenberger designed the fourth course competition in the 2011 season. The Monaco horse show was held on a provisional sand jumping arena at the shore of the Boulevard Albert 1er.
In the first round of the competition, 12 riders had faultless rides. The second round was much more difficult: only three riders and their horses cleared this round. Only Rolf-Göran Bengtsson cleared in both round, so he won the competition without a jump-off.
Charlotte Casiraghi served as the honorary president of the Monaco horse show. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, gave out awards and congratulated the winner at the prize ceremony of the Global Champions Tour.
RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Casall 0 - 0 59.79 402 Christian Ahlmann Taloubet Z 0 - 1 60.95 373 Rodrigo Pessoa Let's Fly 4 - 0 54.14 35 (Top 3 of 47 competitors)
6th Competition: Global Champions Tour of Portugal June 30, 2011 to July 2, 2011 – Hipódromo Manuel Possolo, Cascais near Estoril, Competition: Saturday, July 2, 2011
Frank Rothenberger was again the course designer of the competition. In the first round, nine riders had no-fault rides. In the second round, more than the half of the contestants ha no-faults. In total six riders are faultless in both rounds – they qualified for the jump-off.
In the jump-off, half of the six riders had no faults, Christian Ahlmann won the competition. The second round and the jump-off were held under floodlight.
RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Christian Ahlmann Taloubet Z 0 - 0 - 0 45.21 402 Luciana Diniz Winningmood 0 - 0 - 0 47.32 373 Ludger Beerbaum Chaman 0 - 0 - 0 48.85 35 (Top 3 of 45 competitors)
7th Competition: France II July 22, 2011 to July 24, 2011 – Chantilly Racecourse, Chantilly, Competition: Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Course designer at the GCT Grand Prix of Chantilly was Uliano Vezzani from Italy. Six riders with their horses had not faults in the first round. Also four riders had only time faults in this round. In the second round of the Grand Prix nine rider had not faults. In total three riders are faultless in both rounds – they was qualified for the jump-off.result 2011 Global Champions Tour Chantilly
RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Edwina Alexander Itot du Château 0 - 0 - 0 41.88 402 Luciana Diniz Lennox 0 - 0 - 0 41.91 373 Pénélope Leprevost Mylord Carthago 0 - 0 - 0 44.16 35 (Top 3 of 46 competitors)
8th Competition: Global Champions Tour of the Netherlands August 12, 2011 to August 14, 2011 – Valkenswaard, Competition: Saturday, August 13, 2011
Second time in this GCT season Uliano Vezzani was the course designer of a GCT Grand Prix. In the first round of this Grand Prix twelve riders had no penalty points. In the second round six riders with their horses had not faults. In total four riders are faultless in both rounds. This riders were qualified for the jump-off. Winner of the competition was US-American rider Beezie Madden.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%" |- !rowspan=2 width=20| !rowspan=2 width=210|Rider !rowspan=2 width=110|Horse !colspan=2|Round 1 !colspan=2|Round 2 !colspan=2|Jump-off !rowspan=2 width=60|scoringpoints |- !width=75|Penalties!!width=75|Time(s)!!width=75|Penalties!!width=75|Time(s)!!width=75|Penalties!!width=75|Time(s) |- | align=center|1 || Beezie Madden || Cortes'C''' || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|0 || align=center|38.38 || align=center|40 |- | align=center|2 || Denis Lynch || Lantinus || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|0 || align=center|38.92 || align=center|37 |- | align=center|3 || Jur Vrieling || Bubalu || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|0 || align=center|- || align=center|4 || align=center|39.52 || align=center|35 |} (Top 3 of 49 competitors)
9th Competition: Global Champions Tour of Brazil September 2, 2011 to September 4, 2011 – equestrian facility of the Sociedade Hípica Brasileira, Rio de Janeiro (Athina Onassis International Horse Show), Competition: Saturday, September 4, 2011 – Start: 4:00 pmstart list Global Champions Tour of Brasil
The Grand Prix of Rio de Janeiro is with a prize money of €1,000,000 the highest endowed show jumping Grand Prix in 2011 – in front of the Grand Prix of Calgary (with a purse of Can$1,000,000) and the Grand Prix of Saugerties (US$1,000,000 prize money).exchange rate at the beginning of September 2011: €1 equals approximately Can$1,40 / US$ 1,40 Course designer of this competition is Luc Musette from Belgium.
According to the prize money the course was built very sophisticated. In round one only two riders had no faults, five riders had retired in the show-jumping course. The second round was easier for the riders, ten of 18 riders with their horses had no faults. The only rider with a double clear round was Gerco Schröder with the Belgian stallion London, so a jump-off was not necessary.result 2011 Global Champions Tour of Brazil
RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Gerco Schröder London 0 - 0 72.02 402 Edwina Alexander Itot du Château 4 - 0 64.87 373 Philipp Weishaupt Monte Bellini 4 - 0 66.68 35 (Top 3 of 38 competitors)
10th Competition: Global Champions Tour of the United Arab Emirates November 24, 2011 to November 26, 2011 – Al-Forsan International Sports Resort, Abu Dhabi, Competition: Saturday, November 26, 2011 – Start: 3:45 pm
First time ever a Global Champions Tour competition was held in the United Arab Emirates. The show jumping course was built again by Italian Uliano Vezzani. The competition had a purse of € 400,000.
In the first round 13 riders had no faults, three other riders had only time faults. Ludger Beerbaum, who had ridden Chaman'', had big problems in a triple combination and retired after eight penalties. After this ride it was clear that Edwina Tops-Alexander had won the 2011 Global Champions Tour ranking. But also Tops-Alexander had eight penalties, so she was not qualified for the second round of this competition.
In the second round eleven of eighteen riders with their horses had no faults. Eight riders in total was clear in both rounds, they was qualified for the jump-off. The winner of the competition was French rider Roger-Yves Bost, who used as only rider of the jump-off a shortcut, so he had the fastest time in the jump-off.
RiderHorseRound 1Round 2Jump-offscoringpointsPenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)PenaltiesTime(s)1 Roger-Yves Bost Ideal de la Loge 0 - 0 - 0 41.14 402 Khaled Al-Eid Presley Boy 0 - 0 - 0 42.08 373 Álvaro de Miranda Neto Ashleigh Drossel Dan 0 - 0 - 0 42.20 35 (Top 3 of 38 competitors)
Final standings Rider1stCompetition2ndCompetition3rdCompetition4thCompetition5thCompetition6thCompetition7thCompetition8thCompetition9thCompetition10thCompetitionTotalscoringpointsprize money(bonus)1 Edwina Tops-Alexander 28 (27) 30 40 30 (0) 40 33 37 (0) 238 € 300,000 2 Ludger Beerbaum 19.5 37 37 35 23 35 (0) (0) 32 (0) 218.5 € 180,0003 Álvaro de Miranda Neto 40 26 32 (19) (6) (0) 21 29 27 35 210 € 120,0004 Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (0) 20 40 12 40 30 (0) (0) 30 33 205 € 80,0005 Luciana Diniz 33 (0) 20 30 29 37 37 (6) (0) 12 198 € 60,0006 Denis Lynch 32 32 24 32 0 21 (0) 37 — 19 197 € 33,7507 Philipp Weishaupt 27 — 8 29 26 26 (0) 20 35 (8) 171 € 33,7508 Clarissa Crotta — — — 33 24 32 25 22 — 31 167 € 20,0009 Marco Kutscher (0) (8) 31 (8) 11 31 31 30 8 22 164 € 20,00010 Christian Ahlmann (8) 10 11 (6) 37 40 23 28 — 11 160 € 20,00011 Pius Schwizer 37 — — 24 31 27 — 0 26 10 155 € 20,00012 Billy Twomey 11 40 21 11 19 22 — (7) — 24 148 € 10,00013 Judy-Ann Melchior 0 (0) 33 22 22 — 10 (0) 31 28 146 € 10,00014 Kevin Staut 25 19 — 26 25 25 (0) 11 12 (0) 143 € 10,00015 Rodrigo Pessoa — 21 — 10 35 8 29 0 33 — 136 € 10,00016 Gerco Schröder 30 25 28 0 0 — 0 (0) 40 (0) 123 € 7,50017 Laura Kraut — 33 9 (0) 0 — 33 12 25 6 118 € 7,50018 Marcus Ehning — 31 0 21 32 0 0 32 (0) — 116 € 7,500 Seven results count for the final standing.
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