Horse & Hound – 08 August 2019

30 Horse&Hound8 August 2019

Picture

by

Sportfot

SHOWJUMPING

Thehometeam,LondonKnights,proveinvinciblewithBenMaherand

OlivierPhilippaerts’riskystrategypayingdividends

Knights prove faultless again

THELondonKnights’duoofBen

MaherandOlivierPhilippaerts

thrilledthecrowdwiththeir

secondconsecutivevictoryintheir

homelegoftheGlobalChampions

League(GCL).

Thiswasthefourthwinofthe

seasonforthe 2018 champions

andtheyweretheonlyteamto

finishona zeroscoreaftertwo

daysofintensejumping,where

theteamanthems,coloursand

strategy—witheveryscore

countingforthetwo-manteams

—alladdeda uniqueelementto

thesport.

“Olivierjumpedanincredible

doubleclearthisweekendto

makemylifeeasierfollowing

him,”saidBen,whoalsoactsas

theteam’smanager.

HerodetophorseExplosion

W,whohasanincredible100%

clearroundrecordinthis

competitionacrosstheseason.

The Knights are usually one of the

fastestteamsintheleague,buta

changeofstrategypaiddividends

againsttheirfaultingopponents.

“Iknewif I hadonedownI’d

havetogallopthewholecourse

tostayaheadofValkenswaard

United,whichwouldbejust

impossible,"saidBen.

“So we took a risk, slowed

itdownandluckilyweleftthe

jumpsup—wecouldhaveended

updowninthird or fourth place

otherwise.”

LATECALL-UP

BELGIANriderOlivier

Philippaertscoaxedtheverybest

out of his top horse H&M Extra,

havingreceiveda latecall-upto

representthesquadinLondon.

Hehelpedtheteamintopole

positiononFriday,theLondon

Knightsfinishingthefastestof

fourteamsproducingdouble

clearsinroundone.

“Myhorseisn’tthequickest,

but if I get him under control he

hasa verygoodjump.I knewif

I goteverythingrighthewould

leavethejumpsuptoday,”said

Olivier,whopunchedtheairin

delightashecrossedthefinish.

“Ben’shorsewasjumping

great,soI saidI’mjustgoingto

domyownround. It worked

out today.”

Theotherpodium-placed

teamsinthe14thlegoftheGCL,

ValkenswaardUnitedandNew

YorkEmpire,didn’thavethebest

startstotheseasonbutareslowly

climbingtheleaderboard.

Bothfinishedwitha four-

faultscorebutwereseparated

bycumulativetimes,with

Valkenswaard’sMarcusEhning

(Cristy)andBertramAllen(GK

Casper)justhavingtheedgeover

theEmpire’sScottBrash(Hello

MrPresident)andDenisLynch

(GCChopin’sBushi).

TheKnightsarenowbackat

thetopofthetableintheoverall

rankingsandlookingstrong

towardstheseasonfinaleat

theGlobalChampionsPrague

PlayoffsinNovember.

“Idon’tliketomake

predictionsbut,withfourevents

left,formetheKnightsarehot

favouritestowin,”said GCL

founder Jan Tops.

OlivierPhilippaerts

(left)andBenMaher

claimtheGCLtopspot

fornewseriesleaders

London Knights

LGCTLONDON

Global Champions League

GLOBALCHAMPIONS

LEAGUE

1.LONDONKNIGHTS

2.VALKENSWAARDUNITED

3.NEW YORK EMPIRE

‘Wetooka risk,slowedit down

andluckilyweleftthejumpsup’

BEN MAHER ON THE LONDON KNIGHTS’ TEAM TACTICS