Jung keeps lead to win Fontainebleau horse trials
“I am really pleased. My horse was truly fantastic this afternoon and was very energetic physically. It was a real shame that he made a mistake on the water jump. Nevertheless, the beginning of the season is very promising. If everything continues to go well, my objective will be the European Championships in 2009…”
Up until the last minute nothing was decided. But it was the German rider Michael Jung with Miss Meller TSF who won the Generali CICW*** of Fontainebleau, a stage of the Eventing World Cup. Despite a pole that was knocked over on the show jumping course (which incurred 4 faults), he was victorious with a total of 45.4 points.
Michael, who was the European Young Riders Champion in 2003 and is only 25, managed to keep a cool head. He was last to jump in the final competition of the weekend, the show jumping event, and remained concentrated until he had finished the round. It was a wonderful demonstration.
Bérénice Villoing and Djina finished in second place, with a total of 55.5 points. “It is my best result in this level of competition. I would never have imagined that I would finish in second place in a competition with these kinds of riders,” said the young French rider who is 29 and who was nonetheless pre-selected for the European Championships in 2005. Just one point behind, the 4th best rider in the world, Australia’s Clayton Fredericks and Ben Along Time finished third. He was also third last year competing with Nullabor. “It is a good result for the beginning of the season.”
As for Nicolas Touzaint, the rider who was the favourite of the stage, his 20 penalty points (5 poles knocked over), put him back into 8th place in the competition’s overall ranking.
Out of the 37 riders and horses at the start of this third and final show jumping event, only 12 of them managed to have a clear round. It must be said that the course, which was dreamed up by the course designer Pierre Michelet, was far from easy. It was made up of 12 fences, which were 1.25 m in height, including a triple (oxer-upright-oxer) for fence no. 6 and a double vertical with a stride separating the two fences at the end of the course (no.10) followed by a spa and had a lot of surprises in store for the riders. As usual, he played with the horses’ flexibility, the distances and the ground. “I think that I have more or less hit the target. At the end, I will see if I have 10% or 30% of clear rounds, and I will know if I have got the balance right or not”, he said the day before.
Results (24.03.08)
CIC*** Fontainebleau 2008
1º. Michael Jung (Ger) / Miss Meller: 45.4 Pontos
2º. Bérénice Villoing (Fra) / Djina: 55.5
3º. Clayton Fredericks (Aus) / Ben Along Time: 56.5
4º. Lucy Wiegersma (Gbr) / Shaabrak: 56.6
5º. Pascal Leroy (Fra) / Glenburny Du Leou: 57.8
6º. Clayton Fredericks (Aus) / Nullabor: 58.2
7º. Joanna May (Gbr) / Faere Vision; 62.3
8º. Nicolas Touzaint (Fra) / Hildago De L'ile: 64.5
9º. Bertrand Vuatoux (Fra) / Jerico De Janiere: 64.7
10º. Alex Hua Tian (Chi) / Magenta: 67.3