Bettina Hoy wins the Generali CICO 3*
The last event of this Generali CICO 3* today was the jumping test. 79 riders were still participating for this last part of the competition (two horses were not present at the second mandatory horse inspection this morning: Gamour CH/ Tiziana Realini (ITA) and Escape Lane*Mili / Didier Willefert (FRA).
The course was designed by Gérard Longis and had 12 obstacles in total, representing 15 jumping efforts for the horses to perform. The principal difficulties at the beginning of the course were the 4th obstacle, an oxer located next to the exit of the arena which could distract the horses, no. 5, a yellow vertical obstacle which had two jumping options, leading several horses to have faults there, no.7 which was a double and was hard to approach as it was positioned on a slope and no.11 which was a triple which was tricky at the end of the course. The riders jumped in reverse order according to their position in the provisional line up and therefore the favourites were last to go at around 3.45 pm.
After a clear round and a great performance with Ringwood Cockatoo which did not come near to touching the obstacles, the German rider Bettina Hoy was victorious in the Generali CICO 3*, ahead of her fellow countrywoman Simone Deitermann / Flambeau H 3, 2nd (with 46.7 pts) and the Australian rider Lucinda Fredericks / Headley Britannia, 3rd (48.1 pts). The French rider Nicolas Touzaint / Hildago de l’Ile could not afford to finish the round with more than four faults but unfortunately he had eight faults and as a result he slipped back into 4th place (48.6 pts).
The team rankings were also disrupted. The winning nation was Germany with 160.30 pts (1st), ahead of France with 173.10 pts (2nd) and Great Britain with 192.90 pts (3rd).
NICOLAS TOUZAINT LED AFTER THE CROSS COUNTRY PHASE
The cross country test is the most awaited event during these three days of competition, both for the public and also for the riders themselves. At 11 am this morning the competition began for the 89 riders taking part.
Saturday's agenda was focused on a spectacular course made up of 24 natural obstacles, representing 33 jumping efforts to be performed, spread out over a total distance of 3, 750 m, to be completed in 6’35’’, the time allowed on the round. This was a hard task even for the best riders present at the event. The water crossings were the areas which proved to be the toughest for the riders. The Generali obstacles located at the beginning of the course (no. 5 the water crossing and no.6 the Boot Jack) resulted in 3 refusals and one elimination for the former and 3 refusals on the latter. The second water crossing (positioned as the 15th obstacle) which was recently created for the European Championships, notched up 4 minor falls and a refusal.
As the cross country test is usually one of his strong points, Nicolas Touzaint, the French leader was eagerly awaited when he arrived at 12.15 pm in the start box. He was in 4th place after the dressage event with Hildago de l’Ile (the horse with which he won the Badminton Horse International Trials (CCI 4*) in 2008). The rider from Angiers confirmed his talent and finished the course –with a wonderful performance- in 6’39’’ (1.6 penalty points).
As a result he found himself at the top of the provisional line up. None of the other riders managed to dislodge him. Neither Bettina Hoy/ Ringwood Cockatoo (GER) (who was 1st after the dressage test) who finished the cross country test with a time of 7’02’’ (10.8 pts), nor Lucinda Fredericks / Headley Brittania (AUS), 3rd in the provisional line up the day before, who finished the cross country test in 7’04’’ (11.6 penalty points) and dropped back to the 7th place after this part of the competition.