Jessica Kurten races to victory at Global Champions Tour in Monte Carlo

HRH Prince Albert II attended the third event of the Global Champions
Tour, presented by CN WorldWide and CN, staged at the beautiful Monte
Carlo harbor.

Under his watchful eye, 36 combinations started in the “Grand Prix du
Prince Albert II de Monaco”. The best 18 combination came back for the
second round, among which were 10 combinations with a clear first round
and 8 with just 4 faults. Among the clear combinations were the numbers
two and three from the previous GCT event in Cannes, Jessica Kurten (IRL)
and Jos Lansink (BEL).

In round two six combinations were double clear and advanced to the jump
off. Jos Lansink was first to go on Al Kaheel Cavalor Cumano and had
another clear round. Michael Whitaker (GBR) repeated that result with
Insul Tech Mozart des Hayettes but was nearly a second faster. This set
the pace as each consecutive rider was faster then the one before.

Robert Whitaker beat his uncles time by a fraction. Jessica Kurten and Castle
Forbes Libertina were the last combination to go. Jessica: “I saw Michael and I heard Jeroen was faster so we had to go for it. Libby is naturally fast and headstrong but tonight she was calm and so concentrated. She is truly a once in a lifetime horse”.

“Monaco is such a wonderful show. It is only the second year but has improved so much that it already is a highlight of the year. The stabling is perfect, the footing as well and the city is amazing. Monaco has so much charisma everybody should come here and experience. I also think the live broadcast of Eurosport has done the GCT Monaco and Monaco itself proud. We are not quite at the level of the Formula I but we will certainly get there in the future. It is a top show.”

Asked what her plans with Libertina are after these two amazing GCT
successes Jessica said: “I would like to do the GCT events of Estoril and
São Paulo but I think the Irish team needs her for the European
Championships”.

Second placed Jeroen Dubbeldam just said “super, super, super when asked
for a reaction. Jeroen: “And I mean super in all aspects. Not just the sport but everything around it as well. I also would have said this if I would not have been second today!” His son Rick Dubbeldam was more interested in finances since his first question to his dad was: “How many euro´s have you won?” Winner Jessica Kurten took home 100.000,00 euros.

Jeroen Dubbeldam and BMC Nassau 60.000 and Robert Whitaker earned 40.000 with his third place on Lacroix 9.