Rome belongs to Abdel Saïd! As the pressure in the Eternal City reached its peak, Abdel Saïd delivered a performance worthy of a champion. Under the Roman sky and amidst thunderous applause from the audience, the Belgian star stormed to victory in the Grand Prix of the Longines Global Champions Tour in Rome. He also built his lead in the championship and took another giant step towards the coveted title.
Ultimately, Saïd and his brilliant Quaker Wathnan Brimbelles stole the show: With an unbeatable time of 35.27 seconds, they secured first place on the podium. The Belgian Pieter Devos and Casual DV Z fought until the end and took second place with 35.88 seconds, while the Frenchwoman Lara Tryba continued her exceptional form and secured third place with 36.19 seconds on Chageorge.
But this was about much more than just a Grand Prix victory. As the championship now enters its final, decisive phase, Rome provided a potentially crucial moment in the race for the title of the 2026 Longines Global Champions Tour champion, in which Christian Ahlmann also still has every chance of finishing second in the overall standings.
Abdel Saïd praised the Italian audience after a performance that solidified his position at the top of the championship standings. „It’s fantastic to ride here in front of this Italian audience. They always keep pushing you, and that spurs you on to give even more,“ he said. „I’m very proud of my horse. He was on top form today. I think he was also keeping an eye on the LGCT rankings, because he was really involved!“
Looking back on his strategy in the race, Saïd explained how he used the strengths of his horse to his advantage: „He has a great stride and a lot of jumping power, so I had to use that to my advantage today. He might not be the most agile horse, but he is really combative, and it worked.“
Only seven pairs had qualified for the jumping competition. Katrin Eckermann narrowly missed out on the jump competition with Iron Dames Cascajall NRW (v. Casallco) with four penalty points in the course. They still finished in eighth place. Marco Kutsche followed in ninth place with Pikeur Lemar NRW (v. Los Angeles).
The whole result: HERE
The intermediate ranking of the LGCT: HERE