Sovereign victory by the Germans at Aachen's Nations Cup
The German team rode to a sovereign victory in the renowned Mercedes-Benz Prize, the show jumping Nations' Cup, collecting only 4 faults in two rounds. 38,000 spectators, among them North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President, Dr. Jürgen Rüttgers and the former Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, followed the competition that was impaired by stormy weather and heavy rain.
In fact both Christian Ahlmann with the Holstein stallion Cöster by Calato and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum with the Hanoverian gelding Shutterfly by Silvio rode two clear rounds each. Only Ludger Beerbaum's Zangersheider gelding L'Espoir knocked a fence in the second round. The fourth team member, Marcus Ehning, won't forget this Nations' Cup in a hurry, and not just because of the result either: Namely the reigning World Cup Final title holder didn't even had to ride into the ring with his Holstein mare Gitania by Capitol I. In the first round his team colleagues had all finished the course clear, so his ride wouldn't have been able to improve the result. And he didn't have to ride the final round, because it was already clear that the German team were the winners. The 32-year-old rider from Borken explained placidly: “The main thing is that we won, it doesn't matter how. I still feel like part of the team even if I didn't contribute much towards the victory.”
Ludger Beerbaum commented on his result soberly. He had originally planned to ride the stallion Goldfever in the Nations' Cup, but then he decided to saddle L'Espoir instead. “I am trying to qualify for the World Equestrian Games and have to make sure that L'Espoir keeps fit over the next few weeks.” L'Espoir hasn't got the same experience as the other horses in the team, who have already competed at World Cup Finals or Championships.
The German national coach, Kurt Gravemeier, was indeed satisfied and pleased with the outcome, but he didn't want to show too much optimism: “It is almost frightening. The World Cup Final, the Nations' Cup victories of this spring… I hope we haven't found our top form too soon.”
The US-American team consisting of three very experienced female riders, Margie Goldstein-Engle, Lauren Hough and Beezie Madden, displayed “women's power”. Supported by McLain Ward, the team only collected eight faults. This brought them second place ahead of the riders from Great Britain. The English team had given a newcomer a chance: Tim Gredley, 20-years-old and still eligible to compete as a Young Rider, established himself superbly in the circle of top show jumpers. He already proved his talent in the Nations' Cup Final in Barcelona last year. He impressed the crowds at the Soers with two solid rounds, only collecting one time fault. With a total of eleven faults, the British team took third place ahead of Switzerland (15), Sweden (16), France (17), Ireland (21) and the Netherlands (29).