Local star Eduardo Alvarez Aznar will be hoping to strike Spanish gold when the fifth round of the Longines Global Champions Tour takes place in Madrid this weekend.
The home rider took bronze in 2016 and claimed silver last year and is hoping his star horse Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot can help land a first win in showjumping’s premier global circuit.
He will be roared on by thousands of Spanish fans at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid but he will be pushed hard by Germany’s Daniel Deusser, who is ranked third in the LGCT standings.
Dutchman Harrie Smolders, who is 11 points behind Deusser, will also be in action on two of his top horses in Don VHP Z and the speedy Zinius.
READ: Why Don VHP Z is Harrie Smolders’ horse of a lifetime
Belgian pair Pieter Devos and Niels Bruynseels are the top two in the standings but will miss the Madrid event, and with 40 points available to the winner of each LGCT Grand Prix, the competition is hotting up on the road to the season finale in New York in September.
The stellar line-up in the Spanish capital also includes previous winners Ben Maher of Britain, Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Luciana Diniz of Portugal.
In the Global Champions League, the Shanghai Swans lead by 11 points from the St. Tropez Pirates and Monaco Aces, with Jessica Springsteen’s Miami Celtics one point further adrift.
The Madrid LGCT Grand Prix and Global Champions League team event is the fifth stop on the circuit and the start of an intensive European swing taking in 12 world-class venues before departing for Montreal in Canada in late September.
