{"id":11974,"date":"2018-12-10T11:52:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T10:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpingamsterdam.nl\/?p=11974"},"modified":"2018-12-10T11:52:28","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T10:52:28","slug":"tops-alexander-makes-it-a-back-to-back-double-at-la-coruna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/tops-alexander-makes-it-a-back-to-back-double-at-la-coruna\/","title":{"rendered":"Tops-Alexander makes it a back-to-back double at La Coru\u00c3\u00b1a"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u0080\u009cPretty amazing!\u00e2\u0080\u009d was how Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Edwina Tops-Alexander (44), described her victory in today\u00e2\u0080\u0099s seventh leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League series in La Coru\u00c3\u00b1a, Spain. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the second consecutive year she out-paced all her rivals to head the line-up at the Casas Novas Equestrian Centre where the packed stadium of spectators enjoyed a thrilling 10-horse jump-off that held them on the edges of their seats to the very end. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last year she came out on top at the same venue with the mare, California, who was just 10 years old at the time. But what made today\u00e2\u0080\u0099s success all the more spectacular was the fact that she was partnering a nine-year-old stallion called Vinchester who was jumping the biggest track of his entire career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u0080\u009cI never would have believed that this would happen – he only jumped 1.50m for the first time earlier this week and today was his first 1.60m! If you told me he\u00e2\u0080\u0099d have a few down I wouldn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have been surprised, so I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m a little bit taken aback!\u00e2\u0080\u009d said the three-time Olympian. Runner-up spot went to another nine-year-old, Chalou, ridden by Italy\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Emanuele Gaudiano (32) while German legend, Ludger Beerbaum (55), slotted into third with his new ride Cool Feeling.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Beerbaum\u00e2\u0080\u0099s compatriot Christian Kukuk who set the target over Javier Trenor\u00e2\u0080\u0099s jump-off track, bringing the handsome stallion Colestus home with a smooth run in 46.85 seconds when first to go. Next in, Sweden\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Irma Karlsson looked set to seriously improve on that, but her quick 10-year-old mare Ida van de Bischop misunderstood the instructions on the approach to the remaining two elements of the triple combination and ran past the second element to put paid to their chances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faster rounds were then posted by Frenchman Olivier Robert (Tempo de Paban) and Belgium\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Jos Verlooy (Igor), and when both Helsinki winner Gudrun Patteet (Sea Coast Pebbles Z) and The Netherlands\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Leopold van Asten (VDL Groep Beauty) left a fence on the floor then it was Verlooy\u00e2\u0080\u0099s 44.24 seconds that Tops-Alexander was chasing. And despite her horse\u00e2\u0080\u0099s inexperience she set off like a rocket to produce a cracking round that demonstrated the extraordinary courage and ability of her young mount, shaving almost a full two seconds off the target time when clearing the line in 42.26 seconds. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gaudiano gave it his best shot when breaking the beam in 43.01 with the enigmatic Chalou whose toe-stretching jumping technique sets him apart from the rest, and when Austria\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Max Kuehner and Chardonnay hit the second fence then only Beerbaum could steal Tops-Alexander\u00e2\u0080\u0099s thunder. The German giant has only been riding the 10-year-old gelding Cool Feeling, formerly competed by Canada\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Ben Asselin, since September but the man who has taken four gold medals from seven Olympic Games and who has lined out in 21 FEI Jumping World Cup™ Finals should never be under-estimated. Beerbaum looked well in touch all the way to the final line where a check saw him stop the clock on 43.26 seconds, for third place and a considerable improvement up to 15th spot on the current standings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u00e2\u0080\u0099s win has boosted Tops-Alexander, who also collected points at the opening leg in Oslo (NOR), to fifth spot and who, with 35 points, is within easy reach of a qualifying place for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Gothenburg, Sweden next April. She\u00e2\u0080\u0099s planning to go to the next leg at Olympia, London (GBR) in two weeks time and to Basel in Switzerland where the Western European League will resume on 13 January.<\/span><\/p>\n

In London her fans will get to see the amazing Vinchester who she only started riding in August. \u00e2\u0080\u009cHe was previously competed by a young French rider called Arthur Le Vot who I never met!\u00e2\u0080\u009d she explained this evening. \u00e2\u0080\u009cHe\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a horse with a lot of blood and a great mind, he wants to do everything for me and he\u00e2\u0080\u0099s very sure of himself – he\u00e2\u0080\u0099s great!\u00e2\u0080\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Result<\/b>: 1, Vinchester (Edwina Tops-Alexander) AUS 0\/0 42.26; 2, Chalou (Emanuele Gaudiano) ITA 0\/0 43.01; 3, Cool Feeling (Ludger Beerbaum) GER 0\/0 43.26; 4, Igor (Jos Verlooy) BEL 0\/0 44.24; 5, Tempo de Paban (Olivier Robert) FRA 0\/0 45.19; 6, Colestus (Christian Kukuk) GER 0\/0 46.85; 7, Sea Coast Pebbles Z (Gudrun Patteet) bel 0\/4 43.03; 8, VDL Groep Beauty (Leopold van Asten) NED 0\/4 45.24; 9, Chardonnay (Max Kuehner) AUT 0\/4 45.57; 10, Ida van de Bisschop (Irma Karlsson) SWE 0\/12 57.57.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full Result <\/b>here<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Standings<\/b> after seventh leg of Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League at La Coru\u00c3\u00b1a (ESP):<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Steve Guerdat SUI – 58
\n<\/span>2. Pieter Devos BEL – 49
\n<\/span>3. Daniel Deusser GER – 40
\n<\/span>4. Gudrun Patteet BEL – 37
\n<\/span>5. Edwina Tops-Alexander AUS – 35
\n<\/span>5. Martin Fuchs SUI – 35
\n<\/span>7. Kevin Staut FRA – 34
\n<\/span>8. Max Kuehner AUT – 34
\n<\/span>9. Olivier Robert FRA – 32
\n<\/span>10. Niels Bruynseels BEL – 31
\n<\/span>11. Irma Karlsson SWE – 31
\n<\/span>12. Peder Fredricson SWE – 29<\/span><\/p>\n

Full Standings<\/b> here <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Source and image: FEI<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u0080\u009cPretty amazing!\u00e2\u0080\u009d was how Australia\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Edwina Tops-Alexander (44), described her victory in today\u00e2\u0080\u0099s seventh leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League series in La Coru\u00c3\u00b1a, Spain.  For the second consecutive year she out-paced all her rivals to head the line-up at the Casas Novas Equestrian Centre where the packed stadium […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11977,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11974\/revisions\/11977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}