The Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Madrid to Edwina Tops-Alexander 2023

The test lacked the cherry on top of a tiebreaker, but it was marked by emotion and intensity. The difficulty and the uncertainty that a second no-fault result would allow a tie-breaker, always spectacular.

But after Edwina Tops-Alexander's clear round with "Fellow Castlefield", the second no-fault result did not come among the remaining 39 participants. And there were many occasions when it was and then it was cut short. The most obvious ones involved Andreas Schou and Jur Vrieling, who each received a time penalty. The Dane exceeded the time allowed by only 3 hundredths of a second, while the Dutchman beat it by 82 hundredths.

Germany's Philipp Schulze Topphoff and Turkey's Omer Karaevli also did zero over the hurdles, and both had 3 time penalty points.

In addition, fortune was not on the side of many riders who had the zero at their fingertips, but who committed one of those unexpected knockdowns.

There were 13 groups that finished with only one knockdown, staying at the gates of the barrage. Many of them were considered favorites. In this group were two of the three Spanish participants
Eduardo Álvarez Aznar with "Bentley de Sury" and Mariano Martínez Bastida with "Belano vd Wijnhoeve Z".

As a result, Edwina Tops-Alexander won without a tiebreaker, with Fellow Castlefield as her winning partner. An experienced 13 year old son of "Je T'Aime Flamenco", who won his first Global Grand Prix in Madrid, while for the Australian rider, this edition in the capital of Spain is her ninth victory in a Grand Prix that counts on the circuit.

The course designed by the Spanish course manager Javier Trenor was in line with what is to be expected in a Global Champions Tour Grand Prix, worth 500,000 Euros, of which 165,000 Euros corresponds to the winner.

Heights of 1'60, a long course, with 14 obstacles and the possibility of being knocked down in any of them, because the course gave no respite.

The Longines Trophy was presented to the winner by Elena Orozco, Brand Manager of Longines Spain, while Matilde García Duarte, General Coordinator of the Mayor's Office of Madrid, was in charge of presenting the Trophy of the Grand Prix of Madrid to Edwina Tops Alexander.

The ceremony was also attended by the President of the RFHE, Javier Revuelta, the President of the Global Champions Tour, Jan Tops and the Manager of the Club de Campo-Villa de Madrid, Juan Carlos Vera.

After the lap of honor of the three best classified in the Grand Prix of Madrid of the Longines Global Champions Tour, all the staff who have worked tirelessly these days for the smooth running of the competition came to the track to receive a warm applause and personal congratulations and thanks from Matilde García Duarte, General Coordinator of the Mayor's Office of Madrid and Jaime Baselga, president of the competition.

Impressions of Edwina Tops-Alexander

It had been 5 years since Edwina Tops-Alexander had won a Global Grand Prix. Her last triumph had come in Miami in 2018 with "California". "It's unbelievable, I really didn't expect it, but
expected it, but "Fellow Castlefield" is in a magnificent moment of form, it had not felt like this for a long time and today she proved it on this difficult course," commented Edwina after her triumph.
Today in Madrid, the Australian rider consolidated her status as the rider with the most wins on the LGCT circuit, with 8 Grand Prix victories, in addition to a Prague Final and 28 podiums.

Edwina recognizes that "it's a great feeling to see all those good results, although it's also true that I've been jumping on the circuit for a long time. But this motivates you to keep fighting, to not stop working and to keep doing things right, because that's when the results come".

Francisco José Mesquita, the fastest in the Trofeo ¡HOLA!

The CSI5* test program was opened by the ¡HOLA! Trophy, which brought together 38 teams. All of them had to face a course of 12 obstacles, with two doubles and heights of 1'45 meters, which invited to speed.

With top riders in the starting order, there were exciting courses, with intense gallop and cuts with which to scratch hundredths of a second on the stopwatch.

It seemed that the race already had a winner after the ride of the Italian Emanuele Gaudiano with "Julius D", but in the final stretch, a Brazilian rider was in charge of making the prediction wrong.

It was Francisco José Mesquita, who with "Catch me Marathon", a 15-year-old veteran horse, managed to finish in 54'37 seconds, compared to Gaudiano's 55'98.

The third place went to Jerome Guery with "Juristo van het Hagenhof" and the fourth place to a Spanish rider: Mariano Martínez Bastida. The rider from Murcia rode his 10 year old "Quark de Preuilly Z" in his winning line, with which he clearly dominated the difficulties of the test in a time of 56'57.

Among the top ten classified were two other Spanish riders: Manuel Fernández Saro, eighth with "Acoufina PS" and Santiago Núñez Riva, tenth riding "Valentino de Hus Z", both with zero points.

Lorenzo Cabanillas, representing HOLA Magazine, presented the trophy to the winner, accompanied by Matilde García Duarte, coordinator of the Mayor's Office of Madrid, Álvaro Arrieta, president of Oxer Sport, Jesús Barrera, sports director of the CCVM and Jaime Baselga, president of the competition.