Photo: Stefano Grasso/LGCT

Top ranked riders will be in close combat in the next stage of the championship race today as World No1 and Longines Global Champions Tour overall leader Scott Brash fights to hold on to his lead.

Today’s Grand Prix presented by retail giant H&M will be a fierce battle at the big, lush 150x80m Derby show ground in Hamburg with 40 ranking points to the winner and a prize purse of €300,000.

Great Britain’s Olympic team gold medallist will facing competition from some of Germany’s modern greats like current World No2 Daniel Deusser, Christian Ahlmann, Hans-Dieter Dreher and show jumping maestro Ludger Beerbaum. America’s Kent Farrington, on Voyeur and Lauren Hough, on Ohlala, will be in determined form.

Portugal’s Luciana Diniz, victorious yesterday in the 5* 1.50m class, is only 10 points behind Brash in the overall 2015 ranking and will be riding her stunning grey stallion Winningmood, with whom she won the Grand Prix in Madrid only two weeks ago.

Close behind Luciana in 3rd place on 88 points is Switzerland’s on form Pius Schwizer, who won an earlier class in Hamburg, and as he revealed this week his “dream” is to win the 2015 LGCT series.

Bassem Hassan Mohammed, Henrik von Eckermann, Pieter Devos, Hans-Dieter Dreher, Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani and Christian Ahlmann are all in the ranking Top 10 and all in Hamburg on the warpath.

There is no shortage of supersonic horse power here in Hamburg. The World’s No1 horse Hello Sanctos leads the charge along with Cornet D’Amour, Plot Blue, Casall Ask, Codex One, Chiara and Embassy II.

The arrival of the Longines Global Champions Tour in Hamburg for the 5th leg of the series has attracted over 400 horses with amateur riders enjoying the experience of competing at the same venue as the world’s best. Also top riders are able to take part in the competitions for Young Horses.