The French team, consisting of Matthiew Billot, Frederic David, Jerome Hurel and Julien Gonin, dominated the opening round of the competition, producing four superb performances on the course to not receive a single fault.

Their efforts placed huge pressure on their rivals, with Qatar coming closest to their score out of the remaining 10 nations, completing the first round with a total of eight faults.

Qatar were able to celebrate securing one of the two positions in the 2016 Furusiyya Final at the half-way stage of the event, with the United Arab Emirates elimination after the first round granting them one of the two Asian berths on offer for the event in Barcelona.

The second berth was granted to Saudi Arabia, however, their team remained out of contention for a podium finish heading into the second round of the competition.

A refusal at the fifth fence from Bassem Hassan Mohammed’s horse California dented Qatar’s hopes of overhauling the French team at the top of the standings.

Hamad Al Attiya and Khalid Al Emadi both received only five faults each, while Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani produced his second clear round of the day to help the Qatari team finish the competition on a total of 18 faults.

It proved just enough to hold off the challenge of the Swiss team, led by Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Christina Liebherr, who ended with 19.

The French team had a trickier second round of the event as Billot, David and Gonin also received faults during their runs.

Despite their errors seeing their number of faults rise to 16 they were assured of the title, meaning Hurel was not required to take to the arena for the second time in the competition.

“It was great to be in the lead after the first round, but everything can change in the second round,” said French Chef d’Equipe Philippe Guerdat.

“Last year we were in the lead with Qatar and ended up fourth or fifth, today our goal was to be in the lead and to stay there, so we are very happy.

“The second round was difficult, but some of our horses have not done an international show before.”

The next Nations Cup Jumping series competition is due to  take place at the Belgian venue Lummen on April 17, with a North, Central America and Caribbean event starting the following day in Coapexpa in Mexico.