Kraut Tops Tour, Schröder Wins Night

By Paula Parisi September 21, 2013

There were fireworks in Vienna tonight, the penultimate stop on the 2013 Longines Global Champions Tour, as the USA’s Laura Kraut maintained her No. 1 GCT circuit ranking despite a valiant effort by Portugal’s Lucinda Diniz, who wound up fourth. Gerco Schröder (NED) and London topped the podium for the GTC Grand Prix of Vienna CSI5* 1.60m, a $405,000 (€300,000) class sponsored by Icuras, a German real estate developer.

The Dutch made it a one-two punch with Harrie Smolders and Jackson Hole placing second. The country enjoyed a sensational night overall, with four of its riders advancing to round two among 48 contenders over a very tough Frank Rothenberger course. The action played out under the lights right in the center of town, before a glittering city hall.

Sweden’s Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Casall Ask were third. The North Carolina-based rider Lauren Hough was the top-placed U.S. competitor aboard Quick Study, finishing sixth (behind the fourth-placed Diniz, and fifth-place Soren Pedersen of Denmark).

Diniz and Winningmood, a 12-year old stallion (by Darko) had all the momentum with two clear rounds going into the jump-off, where things fell apart as two rails hit the dirt. Kraut and Jubilee d’Ouilly were the fastest of the four-faulters in round. In advancing to round two Kraut  joined 11 clear riders, three with just a single time fault (including Hough) and three with one rail in the debit column. Interestingly, Kraut’s significant other Nick Selton, riding the Olympic horse Vindicat W, and Taizo Sugitani, a five-time Olympic rider for Japan making a strong 2013 GCT grand prix debut aboard Avenzio, were the other two.

Kraut earned zero circuit points for her 16th place finish aboard Jubilee d’Ouilly, but even a win, worth 40 points, would have left Diniz two points shy of a tie. Australia’s Edwina Tops Alexander, who won the circuit championship in 2012 and 2011, could have surpassed Kraut with a win, but settled for seventh. Christian Ahlmann of Germany, trailing Kraut by a mere two points, did not compete in today’s grand prix.

For complete results, click here.

For an animated tour of the jump-off course, click here.

For a photo gallery by GCT staff photographer Stefano Grasso, click here.

 

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