Saturday evening at Olympia is building as we come a day closer to the World Cup qualifying class and two days closer to the prestigious Olympia Grand Prix - but tonight all eyes were focussed on the tough Frank Rothenberger course where time was going to be the enemy, along with the treble running through the centre of the arena.

Thirty-two combinations lined up for starters orders with just 7 making it through to a truly international jump off! Switzerland ran two through and one each for Netherlands, Germany, France, Great Britain and Sweden.

There were 8 stallions, 7 mares and 17 geldings in the class with the youngest being a 7 year old and the oldest the 15 year old mare of Michael Whitaker, Portofino.

The 7 year old was under the saddle of the experienced American Laura Kraut and is the Selle Francais gelding Olmifon D'as. Although he had a few down this horse showed some real talent and was almost certainly in London to gain some experience at the 1.60m level.

The track consisted of 11 obstacles with 14 efforts and aside from a gentle vertical to start the course the rest looked to be at 1.50m/1.60m. The treble coming towards the end of the course at fence 9 being vertical, vertical, oxer with 9B caused issues for 7 combinations. The issue seemed to be that the triple ran straight to the pocket so horses became rushed as they entered the first part, causing part B to fall.

For moving pictures of round one -

Edwina Alexander and Zorro Z - Australia - round one 4 faults in 66.78secs - click here

Geoffrey Billington and Pedro VI - Great Britain - round one 4 faults in 65.49secs - click here

Pius Schwizer and Unique X - Switzerland - round one 4 faults in 59.96secs - click here

And so to the jump off which saw two new fences - starting at fence 13 (previously fence 6 and jumping reverse),- fence two, a tall vertical - to fence 3, the oxer which caused some issues in round one - to fences 4A and 4B, oxer to vertical - fence 14 (previously fence 10 and jumping reversed) - fence 1 and then an opportunity to cut strides to last fence 11.

First out - Christina Liebherr (SUI) and LB Robin Hood - pictured below left - , the 11 year old stallion son of Calvados out of a Concorde mare set the challenge to the lads following when she jumped clear in 33.28secs riding 8 strides from 1 to 11. Moving picture click here

Second to go was Marc Houtzager for the Netherlands riding another of the stallions in this class, the 9 year old HBC Tamino by Numero Uno out of a Farmer mare - pictured above centre. Things were going well for this combination until the turn to the penultimate fence 1 was just too tight for Tamino who was left with no option but a stop which left this combination with 4 jumping faults and 3 time penalties.

Pictured above right - Max Kuhner for Germany in the saddle of the 9 year old stallion son of Coriano, Couer de LIon 14 which he owns himself. This combination suffered LFS (last fence syndrome) when fence 11 fell to a great collective sigh from the capacity audience. Kuhner finished with 4 faults in 33.02secs

France's entry to this 1.60m H&M Santa Stakes jump off is Olivier Guillon riding the 10 year old stallion son of Nabab de Reve (Heartbreaker mare), Wido - pictured below left - and they set a cracking pace from the moment they entered the arena and all was looking set for this combination to take the lead until fence 14 landed on the ground leaving them with four faults in 30.77secs, a time which was not to be beaten without joy due to the rail down.
Pictured above - Britain's entry for this class jump off, Guy Williams and the handsome 8 year old grey Andiamo gelding, Duhkan set off in fine style with no question in anyone's mind that they wanted to take the winning money in this class - and everything fell into place for them when Guy cut out a stride to the final fence and came through the finish flags with everything in place and the clock stopping at 31.67secs - this was going to be hard to beat!
Sweden's Svante Johansson is aboard the very attractive Cardento 9 year old mare Caramell KS - pictured below left - and they put in a super jump off round which was just a little cautious to catch the winners prize today but with all clear jumping and the clock stopped at 33.74secs they did take home £1,900 for their third placing.

The Swiss opened and closed this jump off today and last out was Steve Guerdat and Urgent III - pictured below - , an 8 year old gelding by Numero Uno but today was not to be their day when fence 3 fell leaving them with four faults in the very fast time of 30.83secs, which was done with such precision riding where the rhythm never changes.

For moving pictures of Steve's jump off click here

The huge crowd roared their appreciation of the British win for Guy Williams and the 8 year old Duhkan giving them the victor's £4,650 with Christina Liebherr taking second place money of £2,850

For full results click here
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