It was quite a German challenge: Even though the winner starts for Austria. In the Longines Grand Prix of Basel there was a neck-and-neck race between Max Kühner with EIC Cooley Jump (by Pacino) the Q, Gerrit Nieberg and Ben (by Sylvain) and Christian Ahlmann with his Dominator 2000 Z (by Diamant de Semilly).
After all, 14 pairs had qualified for the jump-off in the Grand Prix over 1.60m, which was endowed with almost 200,000 Euros. The Brazilian rider Yuri Mansur and Vitiki (by Valentino) first took the lead after a clean round and 34.17 seconds. Until Christian Ahlmann and his Dominator 2000 Z entered the stage in Basel. The impressive jet-black stallion and his rider had already conjured up a sovereign round in the course. And in the jump-off it went even better: After only 32.27 seconds, the pair jumped with huge canter jumps into the finish and into pole position.
But it was to go even faster. Max Kühner took full risk with his only ten-year-old gelding, consistently took the inside lane and the tightest turns. Everything was in flow. After only 31.81 seconds the journey was over. Gerrit Nieberg and Ben then tried everything to break this best time. And they were damn close. In the end, the time of 32.15 seconds was enough for a great second place in the Longines Grand Prix. And Gerrit starts the new show season as successfully as he ended it in 2022. Christian Ahlmann and Dominator finished third with impressive rounds ahead of Yuri Mansur and Vitiki. Denis Lynch secured fifth place with Brooklyn Heights (by Nabab de Reve).
