October 18, 2024 
This weekend, it’s last call for the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) and Global Champions League (GCL) standings and the combined €9,450,000 on offer for the top finishers in both categories.
In addition to paychecks for the season’s overall classification, this weekend’s event in the Moroccan capital of Rabat (October 18-20) will offer one more coveted place for the 1.65m, €1,250,000 LGCT Super Grand Prix, and final rankings for the €1,350,000 GC Playoffs. That event will take place November 20-23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But there’s plenty on tap for this weekend in Rabat. Here’s what (else) you need to know about the season’s final stop.
Rabat and the GC Playoffs
Only two GCL teams have an actual shot of securing the championship title this weekend in Rabat.
There, the series leaders, the Cannes Stars powered by Iron Dames, are currently on 287 points, and the 2023 champs, Riesenbeck International powered by Kingsland Equestrian, sit on 264. (At 245 points, the current third-place team, the Stockholm Heart powered by H&M We Love Horses, could only do as well as 2nd place, even with a win in Rabat.)
The winner this weekend will pocket 30 additional points, meaning potential victory for the aforementioned squads, or a crucial shift-up in the standings for the dozen, remaining teams (you can see the full standings here). Only the top 12 teams of 14 squads after Rabat will qualify for the GC Playoffs, with the top four earning a coveted bye directly into the GC Playoffs Semi-Finals.
Yet while the championship isn’t quite a runaway, overtaking the dominant Cannes Stars will be a tall order. A commanding 23 points currently separates them from Riesenbeck International, meaning the latter squad would need a first- or second-place result in Rabat to take the season title.
Fast Take: A Word for the Stars…
In their debut GCL season, the all-female Cannes Stars—helmed by riders including Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann and Sophie Hinners of Germany, and the USA’s Natalie Dean—have put in a standout performance, with four wins and a firm hold on the top of the GCL leaderboard for the majority of the season.
It’s an impressive step forward for show jumping, where the current, highest-ranked woman in the Longines Rankings is Erynn Ballard at #20, and another indicator that the scales may indeed be tipping. It’s also a triumph for Iron Dames founder Deborah Mayer, who created the project to support women in sports where they compete on equal footing with men.
A Match Race in Rabat
This weekend, all eyes will also be on the LGCT series leaders, reigning German Olympic Champion Christian Kukuk, and Austria’s Max Kühner, who both have the Series Championship within their grasp.
Kukuk leads the charge with 242 points compared to Kühner’s 234, and each rider has secured one major victory this season; Kukuk topped the podium in Madrid, while Kühner took the win in St. Tropez/Ramatuelle. That means that both will be eligible for the €1,250,000 LGCT Super Grand Prix in Riyadh. But their more immediate goal is undoubtedly the lion’s share of the €950,000 2024 Season Championship.
That prize money will be on offer in addition to the LGCT Grand Prix of Rabat’s own €500,000 purse—meaning it could be a very lucrative weekend for Kukuk and/or Kühner. Only a rider’s eight, best results from the 15 events on the LGCT calendar count towards their championship standings. To improve their numbers this weekend, Kühner would need to finish 24th or higher in the LGCT Grand Prix of Rabat, while Kukuk will have to place 12th or better. But they’re not the only competitors in the mix.
A win from any rider currently ranked in the top-five in the standings, including Kukuk, Kühner, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, Sophie Hinners, and the Netherlands’ Maikel Van Der Vleuten, could potentially overtake the series lead.
Fast Take: U-30s Take the Super Cup by Storm
If this year’s LGCT Super Grand Prix startlist has a bit of a youthful glow about it, it’s not the lighting. A full 43% of the current qualified riders in 2024 are 30 years old or younger. Among them: Michael Duffy (IRL), Gilles Thomas (BEL), Jeanne Sadran (FRA), Ines Joly (FRA), Thibeau Spits (BEL), and Harry Charles (GBR)—who also added a team gold Olympic medal to his resume this summer in Paris.
The Hall of Fame for this coveted class—housing such previous winners Edwina Tops-Alexander (AUS), Ben Maher (GBR), Henrik von Eckermann (SWE), Daniel Deusser (GER), and Julien Epaillard (FRA)—does not include a U-30 rider. Could 2024 be the year?
