Miami Beach—April 5

When one of Philipp Weishaupt’s top mounts got hurt, he looked down the barn aisle to see who might be able to fill in for the first two legs of the Longines Global Champions Tour, and his eyes stopped at Sansibar. After all, the scopey mare’s normal rider, Kamal Abdullah Bahamdan, had a day job that would prevent him from attending the start of the tour.

Bahamdan gave him the thumbs up, and that paid off today with a win in the $31,210 1.45-meter speed class at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Miami Beach.

Philipp Weishaupt borrowed Sansibar from his student to top today’s speed class at the LGCT of Miami Beach. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Paola 233 and Georgina Bloomberg held the lead for much of the class, but Weishaupt managed to cut a stride out of two lines to relegate her to second at the show where the ring is set mere feet from the ocean, right in Miami’s famous South Beach.

Ralph Alfano of the LGCT of Miami Beach ground jury presented Georgina Bloomberg and Paola 233 with second. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

“We have this week a totally different show arena than we had [at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Mexico City] two weeks ago,” said Weishaupt, who rides for Germany. “It’s a big change for the horses, coming from a big grass field in Mexico to here right on the beach. Some horses get a little distracted by the ocean, but mine is a super brave, straightforward mare. She did a great job today.”

The warm-up and competition rings are both right on Miami’s famous South Beach. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Two weeks ago in Mexico Weishaupt opted to use Sansibar, a 12-year-old Hanoverian mare, in the biggest classes, with Lasse K as his second-string horse, but this week they’re swapping roles. He was especially impressed with Sansibar because she’s not a typical speed horse.

“She’s a classical grand prix horse, with all the scope and all the potential,” he said. “She plays with the jumps at 1.60-meter height.

“She’s super simple and really brave—and now I know she’s really fast too,” he added.

Spectators lined the edge of the ring to watch top riders from around the world warm up and compete. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Weishaupt rides out of Ludger Beerbaum’s famed stable in Riesenbeck, Germany, and has been under his tutelage for 15 years, since he was 16 years old. He’s one of Beerbaum’s many successful protégés, which include fellow international stars like Marco Kutscher, Henrik Von Eckermann and Christian Kukuk.

“It’s an honor to work for him,” said Weishaupt. “Everything I know I learned from him. He’s a great boss, and now that I’ve been there so many years I can do a little bit of my own thing. He trusts me.”

The stars! They’re just like us! Last year’s winner of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Miami, Jérome Guery, set fences for his fellow Monaco Aces riders. Photo by Mollie Bailey.

Is there a prettier background for a horse show than the Atlantic ocean? Photo by Mollie Bailey.

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