Xin Xu wins final leg of the Longines 2016 China Tour in Guangzhou

Riding Calipolas Son, Xu was the fastest of four competitors to go clear in a hotly-contested jump-off round, edging out Hong Kong’s Patrick Lam in second and another home rider, Zuping Huang, in third.

A total of thirty five horse and rider combinations came forward for the opening round of which only nine progressed to the jump-off round by virtue of clear rounds first time out.
Xu and Calipolas made it a double performance with their time of 38.78 seconds around the shortened course enough to see them complete victory.

Lam, riding Al Capone, went clear in 39.59 seconds for runners-up, ahead of Huang with Lilli and their time of 40.77 seconds.

Austria’s Markus Saurugg on C Jay was the only other double clear performance in the jump-off, in a time of 41.35 seconds.

Swiss watchmaker Longines are the proud Title Partner and the Official Timekeeper of the Longines China Tour, which consists of four legs, in Shanghai, Dalian, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Xu was presented with a Longines watch in recognition of victory which broke the pattern of success achieved by European riders in the earlier three rounds of competition.

Germany’s Franke Sloothaak got the Longines China Tour off to a fine start by winning the first leg of the competition in Shanghai in May. The Netherlands’ Vincent Vermeulen produced an impressive performance to win the second leg of the Longines China Tour in Dalian in July, before a month later Austria’s Markus Saurugg came out on top in the third leg in Beijing.

Vermeulen and Saurugg also led the way in Saturday’s Longines Grand Prix, the prelude to Sunday’s main event, with the Dutch rider taking the honours.

Once again 35 horse and rider combinations came forward to challenge the 1.40 to 1.50 metre course against the clock, which saw six combinations go clear.

Vermeulen on Bacato was the fastest of the clear performance in a time of 68.87 seconds, ahead of Saurugg and C Jay in second with a time of 72.40 seconds. China’s Tongyan Liu on Ku Bu Qi was marginally behind the Austrian, going clear in 72.53 seconds.

Longines China Tour 2016
Result: Final Leg – Guangzhou, China

1 Calipolas Son Xin Xu China 0/38.78 seconds (jump-off)
2 Al Capone Patrick Lam Hong Kong 0/39.59
3 Lili Zuping Huang China 0/40.77
4 C Jay Markus Saurugg Austria 0/41.35
5 Syrius du Bocage Maodong Yuan China 4/42.61
6 Bacato Vincent Vermeulen Netherlands 4/43.53
7 Newtime de Baussy Franke Sloothaak Germany 8/40.16
8 Fritz Filou Hendrik Maarten Dijkerman Netherlands 8/43.36
9 Fancyface Zhiwen (Daniel) Zhao China 8/51.05