John Whitaker wins the Global Champions Tour event without a jump-off.

There may be more famous or more beautiful cities that host international show jumping but Valencia, Spain’s, addition to the Global Champions Tour provided a setting that was just as spectacular as it was user friendly on May 8-10.

John Whitaker and Peppermill put in a performance just as sparkling as the futuristic stands at the venue, topping the $400,219 GCT Grand Prix of Spain. They didn’t even have to jump off, as Whitaker turned in the only two clear rounds. Rolf-Göran Bengtsson was relegated to second aboard Ninja La Silla by merely 1 time fault in Round 2.

The two American competitors at Valencia didn’t fare as well in the big class. Lauren Hough had two rails in the first round on Quick Study. Laura Kraut didn’t start Anthem in the grand prix, since he hadn’t fully recovered from a slight injury during shipping.

Hough and Kraut held their own in other classes, however. Hough set the pace in a speed class on Quick Study. On the appropriately named Ferrari, Swiss rider Steve Guerdat made an outrageous turn to the third to chase Hough’s time, but came up just a hair short. “That was a close one indeed!” Hough exclaimed.

“I’m here for the summer and based in Holland, but it’s great to get a win so soon. Quick Study is my best horse and he was super today. I can’t believe this venue—you cannot imagine that they could hold a horse show here. Everything has been top class.”

The final class was eventually won by Dutchman Henk Van de Pol on Rhodus, but only after going flat-out in the jump-off to beat Kraut’s time on a clearly recovered Anthem. “It was nothing serious, but I knew he would need one more day. The grand prix came a day too soon, unfortunately, but today made missing that less of a disappointment,” Kraut said.

The Spanish are justifiably proud of the iconic City of Arts and Science complex with its futuristic design, parks, lakes and the biggest aquarium in Europe, but on a normal day it would be hard to visualize where a horse show could be sited.

Valencia is a place that has re-invented itself as a center of sporting excellence, having hosted both the America’s Cup sailing and Formula One racing in recent years. Carlos Villarubi, president of show organization Oxer Sport, had a vision. “It’s been very good for the city to have these other events, but on the television you don’t see much of the city while you watch them, just the harbor and the main roads. So, in consultation with the town planners, we thought we could empty one of the lakes that surrounds the Arts and Science complex and put an arena there instead, and that’s what happened.”

This explanation might make the process sound simple, until you consider that each lake is big enough for an arena and a warm-up space, and it contains thousands of gallons of water.

With the almost finished Mussel Shell ATP Tennis venue behind them and the glass covered Museum of Science to the side, the riders were extremely impressed by the standard of everything they saw on arrival.

“How can you not be?” said Jessica Kürten. “When we drove in it was late at night, and the place was all floodlit, and the glass and tiles were all sparkling in the light. I did wonder if I would be able to persuade my mares to even get off the truck, but as usual the horses took it more in their strides than we did!”

Eight horses and riders went clear in Round 1 of the GCT Grand Prix. An innocuous vertical fence 2 and a plain oxer with a 1.70-meter spread at fence 7 were the bogey fences in the second round, but Michel Robert (Kellemoi de Pepita), Jos Lansink (Sea Coast Silvana) and Edwina Alexander (Itot du Chateau) all put pressure on the top seven with second round clears to show it was possible to better a first round four-faulter.

The first of those to attempt a double clear was Whitaker with Peppermill. The British legend did finish without further penalty but with six left to jump, observers were fully expecting a jump-off. However, one by one, the challengers failed to match their first round scores.

Jose Larroca (Royal Power) hit fence 7, as did Robert Whitaker on his British Open winner Lacroix. Rodrigo Pessoa’s Let’s Fly failed at the first part of the double and Guerdat and Ferrari felled part of the combination.

That only left Sweden’s Bengtsson to make a fight of it. And Ninja La Silla, who had jumped so well to be fourth in the GCT grand prix at Arezzo, Italy, in April, did leave every fence intact. But his rider had slightly misjudged the time and the clock stopped showing 1 time penalty. Edwina Alexander made a spectacular rise from ninth to take third by virtue of her very fast second clear round on Itot du Chateau.

“Peppermill is always better over a bigger track,” John said. “He concentrates more. But this is only his third show since the 2008 Olympic Games, and while he’s never completely off work, he’s been getting a little fresh. He was playing in Arezzo, but he was perfect today.”