Britain’s Ben Maher, on Explosion W, came closest, with Daniel Deusser of Germany, riding Tobago Z, taking third place on the podium with the exotic backdrop of the China Art Palace in the the Shanghai Expo Garden.

But the Belgians time of 37.91sec left him clear by a 1.69 second margin, thus earning him the top prize of €610,000 (£535,000/$750,000) and a place at the Longines Global Champions Super Grand Prix at the new GC Prague Play Offs in December.

There he will line up against the winners of the two previous stops in this year series, Britain’s Scott Brash, first in Mexico City, and Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander, winner at Miami Beach.

"I knew I had to take all the risks and she jumped amazing," said Wathelet before stepping up on to the podium.

Wathelet now moves up to fourth in the overall rankings to fourth, and the 2018 Championship race is still headed by Brash, fifth today on Hello Shelby and bidding for his third overall title.

He sits just in front of another two-time Championship winner, Tops-Alexander, who just missed out on a place in the jump-off when Inca Boy toppled a rail in round one.

Deusser now sits third, with Maher fifth as the Tour heads to Europe and the Spanish capital of Madrid in a fortnight.

A world-class field of 32 had qualified from the previous class and jumped in reverse order.

A total of 12 combinations landed a place in the jump-off, including two previous winners of this prestigious class – last year’s overall winner Harrie Smolders of The Netherlands, making his first appearance in this year’s series, and last year’s winner Lorenzo de Luca of Italy.

Smolders partnered the consistent stallion Don VHP Z this time around, finishing just off the pace, clear in 40.52.

Maher got closer to the Wathelet time as he stopped the clock at 38.55.

Deusser, jumping last, recorded 39.11.