The Global Champions Tour of the Netherlands opened in bright sunshine with a win for home boy Daniel Deusser. Riding  AD Aboyeur, the ride on which he has only had for  a few months, the Stal Tops based German beat another nine riders to win the 6400Euro first prize. He was chased home by a back in form Cedric who delighted Laura Kraut (USA) with his performance after a couple of off days at recent Nations Cup meetings. Third place went to Spain's Sergio Alvarez Moya on his Darco gelding Wisconsin III. Daniel did not rest on his laurels though. Trotting swiftly from the prize giving he went to the 2* ring and won the big tour class in there as well on Hooligan de Rosyl.    

In the second GCT class, course designer Uliano Vezzani made good use of the permanent double of water trays where several people faulted but on the whole the course did not cause too much trouble. An against the clock class, many of the riders were cautious, not wanting to do too much on the first day but Michel Robert returning to the Tour after injury had no such concerns. Taking two seconds off the fastest time prior to himself, Michel and Kronos D'Ouily made light work of the course, clear in 61.84 and then none of the mostly younger entry could catch the former World champion. Denis lynch was best of the rest on Abbervail Van Het Dingeshof in  62.72 followed by Jur Vreiland and Puhr who were the early leaders, with 63.43.

Other winners in the 2* section included James Fisher, Nicholas Phillipaerts and  Clarissa Crotta  who won the young horse class from Eric Lamaze in second.

The Miracle Africa Foundation- our charity.
The Miracle Africa International Foundation  endeavours to achieve a better quality of life for the people of Africa by creating and supporting projects and programmes that promote principles of sustainable development, economic stability and good governance. Miracle Africa International Foundation and its founder and executive director Nadia Murabet have strived to raise awareness of the problems of malaria through the arts,sports and culture. The Global Champions Tour of the Netherlands is a sporting event of the highest level and its collaboration with the Miracle Africa International Foundation is ideal, as both embody the idea of peace between nations and people of every race, religion, creed and colour. There are riders representing 16 countries from 5 continents competing in front of an international audience watching all over the world from the far east, middle east, europe to the americas. This audience is reached thanks to the television coverage of Eurosport in Europe, Universal Sports-USA , Al Jazeera Sport-Middle East Countries, Eurosport Asia-Pacific, Equidia-France and Supersport-South Africa.  

Results
Class 1
1.Daniel Deusser (GER) AD Aboyeur , 0,0, 38.31
2.Laura Kraut (USA) Cedric, 0,0, 36.81
3.Sergio Alvares Moya (ESP) Wisconsin III, 0,0, 39.07

Class 2   
1.Michel Robert (FRA) Kronos D' Ouilly, 0, 61.84
2.    Denis Lynch (IRE)  Abbervail Van Het Dingeshof, 0, 62.72
3.    Jur Vreiling (NED) Puhr, 0, 63.83.  

Quotes
Daniel Deusser-  “Obviously riding at home is harder work because there are more horses to ride and more pressure to do well, but then it is better when I win. And to be honest I think that maybe it is better when you are so busy running from horse to horse and ring to ring, I barely even had time to work out the jump off course, because then you don't have time to think you only have time to get on and ride. Sometimes when you only have one or two, perhaps you plan a bit too much and forget to actually ride!”  

Laura Kraut- “Cedric was fantastic. He turned really great into the third and gave me a really good feel altogether.” 

Michel Robert- “For me, I just wanted to go well today, tomorrow we will see how it goes but today I am happy.” 

Denis Lynch- “ I think I will be very happy if I have as good a week this one as I did last!”   

For detailed results go to www.globalchampionstour.com

© Cyberhorse 2009 Lulu Kyriacou