Gothenburg, Sweden – The quest for the 2016 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final championship title continued tonight in the Scandinavium Arena at the Gothenburg Horse Show. Prized World Cup points were up for grabs as 33 combinations went head-to-head over the Santiago Varela Ullastres-designed course with seven returning for the jump-off. The U.S. sent Peter Lutz forward to the jump-off, where he finished seventh. Lutz surged up the leaderboard on the strength of this evening’s effort, and is now tied for 10th in the overall standings. Maintaining her position as the leading American, Callan Solem now stands tied for sixth overall going into Monday’s always exciting third and final leg of competition.

Going mid-way through the order, Lutz (Goldens Bridge, N.Y.) and Katherine Gallagher and M. Michael Meller’s Robin de Ponthual posted the third clear round of the night to move forward to the jump-off. Lutz entered the arena with a plan to ride a steady jump-off, but with Robin de Ponthual feeling a bit awe struck in the electric atmosphere, rails tipped out of the cups at fences 2 and 3A.

“The plan was to have a clear round, which didn’t quite happen. We were going to have a nice experience and weren’t going to go as fast as we possibly could because we were hoping to save him a bit for Monday,” Lutz said of his plan heading into the jump-off.

Expressing heartfelt gratitude for Robin de Ponthual’s owners, Lutz said “I wouldn’t be here without the help of Katherine Gallagher, John Gallagher, and Michael Meller. I have been working at this for a long time and they made it possible because they have this great horse for me, have kept this horse for me, and brought the horse here. Thank you to them.”

Tied for 18th after Friday’s first round, Lutz moved up eight places on the overall leaderboard and is now tied for 10th with Denis Lynch of Ireland and tonight’s round two victor, Christian Ahlmann of Germany.

Leading the way for the U.S. into the final round is Solem (Glenmoore, Pa.) and Horseshoe Trail Farm, LLC’s VDL Wizard. The pair had an unfortunate rail down at 8B, an oxer in the middle of a triple combination, but posted the fastest four-fault time to finish eighth in the class. This handy performance moved them up four positions on the leaderboard and they now sit tied for sixth with France’s Penelope Leprevost and Simon Delestre, who placed one-two, respectively, in round one.

The U.S. will also be represented in the third and final round by Rich Fellers (Sherwood, Ore.) and Harry and Mollie Chapman’s Flexible. Though the most senior horse in the field at age 20, Flexible jumped in great form, knocking a single rail at fence 11, and is now ranked 25th overall.

Also starting in round two for the U.S. were Audrey Coulter, Quentin Judge, Hardin Towell, Charlie Jacobs, and Katie Dinan. Each adding faults to their totals this evening, Coulter, Judge, and Towell have opted to turn their focus to Sunday’s Gothenburg Trophy [Grand Prix] presented by Volvo and City Gross, and will not compete in the third World Cup Final round. Jacobs opted to retire after two rails down early on course and will also finish out his week on Sunday in the Gothenburg Trophy. Dinan has decided to conclude her weekend following refusals at fences 8B and 12.

Following two rounds of competition, the 2015 Final Champion, Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, now stands atop the overall standings. He is followed closely by three-time Final Champion Marcus Ehning of Germany in second and Harrie Smolders of The Netherlands in third.

Complete second round results

Overall standings and points after round two

The final leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final will take place Monday at 1:00 p.m. local time.

Watch the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final live on FEITV.org.