Defending champion Guerdat holds lead going into last day of Longines final

Germany's Christian Ahlmann won the second leg of the Longines FEI World Cup jumping final here on Saturday, but defending champion, Switzerland's Steve Guerdat, leads the standings going into Monday's third and last competition.

Ahlmann and the brilliant 16-year-old stallion, Taloubet Z, set the standard in the seven-horse jump-off against the clock. Ireland's Denis Lynch produced the only other double-clear of the competition to finish second in 41.42 ahead of The Netherlands' Harrie Smolders and Emerald in third, while Guerdat and Corbinian slotted into fourth place.

Marcus Ehning finished fifth with Cornado NRW to keep the potential for a record-breaking fourth series title, while his compatriot Marco Kutscher was sixth with Chaccorina ahead of America's Peter Lutz and Robin de Ponthual in seventh spot.

Ahlmann was one of the firm favorites to take the 2016 title but he lies joint-10th alongside Irishman Lynch and America's Lutz after two mistakes with Colorit on the opening day's competition on Friday.

Guerdat, bidding for his second Longines title in a row, said after the race, "I'm really happy. There were a lot of questions before the final started that I really didn't know the answer to....my horse has lot of ability, he has quality and he will be a very good horse one day, but we are still a bit looking for each other and I didn't think he would be good enough to be in the lead before the final day."

The top 30 riders after the day's competition will qualify for Monday's third and last competition, and 20 of those will advance to the second round.

Any riders who jump clear in the first round, even if they will finish outside the top 20, are also permitted to go again in the second round but their result will not count for the final classification. Endi