Great day for the Dutch in St. Gallen
They say a week is a long time in politics, but the fortunes of international show jumpers can be equally unpredictable as last week's Samsung Super League with FEI winners from Great Britain found out today when failing to complete at the third leg of the 2007 series in St Gallen, Switzerland where The Netherlands recorded a resounding victory.
On an afternoon that produced only two double-clear performances – one from the winning side's Angelique Hoorn riding O'Brien and the other from Christian Ahlmann and Coster from the second-placed German team – the pendulum swung wildly at various times. However the US team, which looked to be in trouble at one stage, rallied brilliantly to finish third ahead of Belgium in fourth while the much-fancied Swiss had to settle for fifth ahead of France. Sweden finished seventh, but that was only place better than the British who didn't finish at all after double-elimination for Nick Skelton and Arko and big scores from William Funnnell (Cortaflex Mondriaan) and Tim Stockdale (Fresh Direct Corlato). Not even the genius of anchorman John Whitaker could rescue the situation in the closing stages.
The British were already sharing last place with the French at the end of the first round, and it was the final line on the course set by Swiss designer Rolf Ludi that was the undoing of many. The second-last fence was a big wall on a related distance to the final triple combination which opened with a vertical followed by one stride to an oxer and two long strides to another oxer. It stretched many horses to their limit as Angelique Hoorn confirmed afterwards. “You really needed a lot of scope there – the two long strides to the last oxer was very difficult” she pointed out.
It was at the wall at fence 11 that Skelton first came to grief however, Arko slamming on the brakes and sending his rider to the ground when British pathfinders. The stallion's return to the top-class competition has been
much-anticipated following a long break, but despite a promising performance in last Sunday's Grand Prix in Rome he did not seem to find the experience entirely to his liking. Nine faults from Funnell and eight from Stockdale was counter-balanced by just a single time penalty for Whitaker and his Rome Grand Prix winner Peppermill, but with a total of 18 the British were on level-pegging with the French whose drop-score of 13 faults came from Eugenie Angot and Ilostra leaving the five from Roger Yves Bost (Ideal de la Loge), four from Olivier Guillon (Ionesco de Brekka) and nine from Michel Hecart (Itot du Chateau) to be counted.
The Swedes were hampered by nine-fault results from Helena Lundback (Madick) and Lotta Schultz (Calibra) and carried 14 into the second round when Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and Ninja la Silla made a single mistake and Royne Zetterman and Isaac picked up just one time penalty. US nerves were rattled by a 12-fault result for Laura Kraut and Miss Independent and nine for Richard Spooner and Cristallo but Todd Minikus and Olinda had just one fence down and Beezie Madden's clear with Authentic raised spirits dramatically to leave them on a first-round tally of 13.
The Belgians were just one fault ahead on 12 after an encouraging opening clear from Philippe Lejeune and Vigo D'Arsouilles, while Patrick McEntee's nine faults with Every Mury Marais Z could be discarded when Marc Van Djick (Verlest Goliath) collected four and World Champion Jos Lansink had two fences down.
The Swiss were well in touch when Christina Liebherr and LB No Mercy opened with a clear and with Markus Fuchs' five faults with Nirmette discounted they completed round one on a score of eight when both Werner Muff (Plot Blue) and Beat Mandli (Ideo du Thot) faulted once. They were to slip down the order however in round two. The Germans completed round one carrying only the six faults collected by Ludger Beerbaum and Couleur Rubin after clears from both Marcus Ehning (Noltes Kuchengirl) and Christian Ahlmann (Coster) and the discounted eight from Marco Kutscher and Cash.
Leading the posse was The Netherlands with the five picked up by Vincent Voorn and Audi's Alpapilllion-Armanie. There was considerable pressure on the final partnership of Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce Berlin here after WEG gold medallists Albert Zoer and Okidoki uncharacteristically left four on the floor but Hoorn's opening clear was matched by Schroder to ensure that was discarded.
One of the things that sets the best apart from the rest is the ability to rise above difficulty, and that was exactly what Zoer did second time out when producing a copybook clear. “It was Okidoki's first big outdoor show after a rest and he was just too full of himself in the first round but he had his mind right second time around” Angelique Hoorn explained afterwards. That clear added to another from Hoorn put the Dutch in a strong position, although again Schroder found himself under pressure when Vincent Voorn picked up nine faults. Schroder could afford only one fence down as he came into the ring last to go, but judicious riding saw him collect just a single time penalty to ensure victory for his side who finished on a total of six faults.
Germany added just four more to complete with 10 on the board and take second spot while the USA improved from fifth to finish third on 17 faults thanks to clears from Kraut and Spooner. Belgium added eight more to complete on 20 for fourth spot as the Swiss slipped to fifth when, following elimination for Fuchs and Nirmette, single errors from Liebherr and Muff and five more faults from Mandli had to be counted.
It was second-round clears from Guillon and Hecart that raised the French from the bottom of the order to finish sixth with 22 faults but the Swedes added 13 more to their tally despite a second-round clear from Lundback to complete on a total of 27. The British took a battering however when Skelton and Arko were eliminated for a second time. Funnell could only manage to match his first-round score of nine and when Stockdale picked up 13 faults there was nothing Whitaker could do to save the day so he withdrew.
Results (01.06.07)
CSIO St. Gallen – Switzerland
Nations Cup
1º HOLLAND: 6 points
O´Brien / Angelique Hoorn: 0/0
Alpapillon Armanie / Vincent Voorn: 5/9
Okidoki / Albert Zoer: 16/0
Berlin / Gerco Schroder: 0/1
2º GERMANY: 10
Kuchengirl / Marcus Ehning: 0/4
Couleur Rubin / Ludger Beerbaum: 6/0
Cash / Marco Kutscher: 8/4
Coster / Christian Ahlmann: 0/0
3º USA: 17
Olinda / Todd Minikus: 4/4
Miss Independent / Laura Kraut: 12/0
Cristallo / Richard Spooner: 9/0
Authentic / Beezie Madden: 0/retired
4º BELGIUM: 20
Vigo D´Arsouilles / Philippe Lejeune: 0/9
Every Mury Marais Z / Patrick McEntee: 9/4
Verelst Goliath / Marc Van Djick: 4/4
Turbo R / Jos Lansink: 8/0
5º SWITZERLAND: 21
No Mercy / Christina Liebherr: 0/4
Nirmette / Markus Fuchs: 5/eliminado
Plot Blue / Werner Muff: 4/ 4
Ideo du Thot / Beat Mandli: 4/5
6º FRANCE: 22
Ideal de la Loge / Roger Yves Bost: 5/4
Ilostra Dark / Eugenie Angot: 13/5
Ionesco de Brekka / Olivier Guillon: 4/0
Itot du Chateau / Michel Hecart: 9/0
7º SWEDEN: 27
Madick / Helena Lundback: 9/0
Ninja / Rolf Goran Bengtsson: 4/5
Isaac / Royne Zetterman: 1/8
Calibra 11 / Lotta Schultz: 9/8
8º GREAT BRITAIN: Eliminated
Arko / Nick Skelton: eliminated/eliminated
Mondriaan / William Funnell: 9/9
Corlato / Tim Stockdale: 8/13
Peppermill / John Whitaker: 1/ –