Tops-Alexander conquers La Coruña

Based in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands alongside prominent husband Jan Tops, Tops-Alexander competes in the powerful Western Europe qualifying League, which has 18 spots allocated to it for next year’s World Cup Final in Paris, taking place April 10-15, 2018. And with her win at the Casas Novas Winter Show in Spain, the 43-year-old moves up into sixth place in the continental standings with 35 points, after previously earning 15 at the circuit’s debut in Oslo in October. Tops-Alexander’s other World Cup appearance so far this season was in Verona, Italy, also in October.

“California has been jumping great, but here and there we kept having stupid faults and I was getting a bit mad!”, the Australian Olympian said after their 40.08-second triumph in a jump-off round featuring eight horse-and-rider pairs. “I was determined to have a good class here yesterday, but it didn’t work. Today I did my best and it DID work, so now I’m really happy!”

In that decisive tie-breaking round, Tops-Alexander and her mount beat out Austria’s Max Kühner and Chardonnay 79, second with an equally clear round (no rails down) and a time of 42.33 s — still good for €66,000 and 17 qualifying points. And the home crowd had the pleasure of watching Spain’s Manuel Fernandez Saro and Cuidam race to third in 43.89 s (€49,500).

Ireland’s Denis Lynch and All Star 5 had a very productive trip to the Galician coast of Spain, coming in fourth and leaving the World No.26 comfortably positioned to secure a spot in Paris, as he is also now fourth in the general standings with six qualifiers to go. Great Britain’s Robert Whitaker also made it into the the jump-off in La Coruña but finished with four faults, nevertheless collecting a paycheque of €14,850. Whitaker now has 29 points in the standings, just ahead of Michael Whitaker with 28.

With the big CHI Geneva also taking place this weekend, the three riders on top of the leaderboard — Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, Sweden’s Henrik Von Eckermann and France’s Kevin Start — were not present in La Coruña, but are already all but assured a place in the Final in the French capital. Next stop for riders wishing to pick up points in the League is this week’s London-Olympia show from December 12-18, followed by Mechelen, Belgium, Leipzig, Germany, Zurich, Switzerland, Bordeaux, France, and Göteborg, Sweden.