Thrilling three-way tie in first round of Furusiyya Final

There were plenty of surprises in the first round of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2016 Final at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona (ESP) today when Belgium, Germany and USA shared top spot on a zero score and the newly-crowned Olympic champions from France disappeared from the reckoning.

 

Only eight of the 18 participating sides could qualify for Saturday night’s spectacular finale, and the French missed out when slotting into eleventh place. However Switzerland, Great Britain and Italy have made the cut after finishing with four faults each, and the last two places went to The Netherlands and Ireland. The remaining nations – Brazil, Qatar, Spain, Austria, Egypt, Colombia, Mexico, Sweden and Australia – will now join the French in tomorrow night’s Longines Challenge Cup.

It was quite a surprise when the Belgians managed to produce such an impressive performance, as the defending Furusiyya champions have had a poor season in the 2016 series. “I’m very happy with the way the horses jumped and the riders rode, but maybe the result today was a bit unexpected”, admitted Belgian Chef d’Equipe Dirk Demeersman. “Last year we came with a team with a lot of experience, but this year we came with a team with not so much. However we have been showing good results in the last few weeks” he pointed out.

Tested

The 80-seconds time-allowed over the track set by Spain’s Santiago Varela proved fairly easy to get, but his course certainly tested the 72 horse-and-rider partnerships that took it on. The bogey of the day was the final line from the oxer at fence 11 to the triple combination at 12 on a right-hand bend, and then the final planks at fence 13. Time and again horses either stood off or got too close to the oxer and had that down, and many were off-balance for the triple combination. “I think I gave them enough to do today” Varela said this evening. “I wanted to see how they would react to the arena because it has only been built since July and it takes time to be perfect, but the horses jumped very well on it and I think it was a great class!”

The French looked vulnerable from the start, Philippe Rozier and Rahotep de Toscane kicking off with a 21-fault scoreline so when team mates Kevin Staut (Reveur de Hurtebise HDC), Roger Yves Bost (Sydney Une Prince) and Penelope Leprevost (Flora de Mariposa) each had a fence down their 12-fault total would be too much at the end of the day.

The Germans were the first to post three clear rounds, world no. 1 Christian Ahlmann steering Taloubet home with the greatest of ease before Marcus Ehning (Pret a Tout) and Daniel Deusser (First Class van Eeckelghem) followed suit. Ludger Beerbaum, lining out for his country in his very last Nations Cup, made it all the way to the final planks before having that down with Casello. The Americans and Belgians however had to wait for their fourth and last riders to complete the track before posting their zero scorelines, Laura Kraut (Zeremonie) anchoring the US total and Gregory Wathelet (Coree) doing likewise for Belgium.

Great start

Rio 2016 individual gold medallist Nick Skelton got the British off to a great start with a super clear from Big Star and when Michael Whitaker backed that up with a great round from Viking they were well in contention for one of those top-eight places. All the they had to add at the end of the day was the single error from Scott Brash and Ursula, and the Swiss and Italians were the same, clears from Steve Guerdat (Corbinian) and Martin Fuchs (Clooney) ensuring Paul Estermann’s four with Lord Pepsi would be all the former would count. The Italians showed the same kind of grit that earned them victory in the Furusiyya leg in Dublin this summer with clears from Piergiorgio Bucci (Casallo Z) and Lorenzo de Luca (Ensor de Litrange) backed up by single mistakes from their team-mates

The battle for the last two places was possibly the closest of the day, and the Brazilians were unlucky to lose out. Rodrigo Pessoa set them up with an opening clear from Citizenguard Cadjanine Z but when Stephan de Freitas Barcha (Landpeter do Feroleto) put a foot in the open water and lowered the last and then Felipe Amaral (Premiere Carthoes BZ) did the same and also hit the vertical at fence 10 then it seemed their chances were dashed. But a brilliant last-line clear from Pedro Veniss and the stunning stallion Quabri de L’Isle left them on an eight-fault total that looked good enough to see them through to Saturday’s finale. However the Dutch matched that when last-to-go Gerco Schroder (Glock’s London) repeated Harrie Smolders opening clear with Emerald.

Rescued

And then the Irish were suddenly rescued by their last-line partnership, Greg Broderick with MHS Going Global. Darragh Kenny (Go Easy de Muze) and Denis Lynch (All Star) each left a pole on the floor, but a clear from Broderick could dispose of Shane Breen’s opening double-error with Golden Hawk and, if the Irishman was quick enough, he could also snatch a qualifying spot for his country. Because if the Dutch, Irish and Brazilians were all tied for seventh place then time would decide which teams would get through to Saturday night’s extravaganza.

Cool as a breeze Broderick set off at a cracking pace, and when the scoreboard showed a clear round in 73.71 seconds that was good enough to slot his team in behind the Dutch and put paid to Brazilian chances.

Despite their fault-free score lines, the leading sides were not going to let today’s strong result go to their heads however. “I was very happy with the way all four horses jumped today and it’s great to be in the Final on Saturday, this is the target from today’s qualifier, but we all start on a zero score on Saturday so we have to do it all over again” said German Chef d’Equipe Otto Becker. It will be an emotional night for Ludger Beerbaum as he says farewell to the team sport on which he has had such influence during his long and illustrious career. But he didn’t want to get caught up in the emotion today. “After 30 years I feel very lucky to do the job the way I’ve done it. I have had a lot of support and I have no regrets. Now I’m looking forward to whatever is left”, he said tonight.

The big question is whether “whatever is left” includes helping his country to claim the coveted 2016 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping title.

 

Result:

 

1.  Germany 0 faults: Taloubet Z (Christian Ahlmann) 0, Pret a Tout (Marcus Ehning) 0, First Class van Eeckelghem (Daniel Deusser) 0, Casello (Ludger Beerbaum) 4.
2.  USA 0 faults: Ohlala (Lauren Hough) 0, Capital Colorado (Audrey Coulter) 8, Barron (Lucy Davis) 0, Zeremonie (Laura Kraut) 0.
3.  Belgium 0 faults: Bisquet Balou C (Nicola Philippaerts) 4, Cas de Liberte (Niels Bruynseels) 0, Grand Cru van de Rozenberg (Jerome Guery) 0, Coree (Gregory Wathelet) 0.
4.  Switzerland 4 faults: Quorida de Treho (Romain Duguet) 8, Corbinian (Steve Guerdat) 0, Lord Pepsi (Paul Estermann) 4, Clooney (Martin Fuchs) 0.
5.  Great Britain 4 faults: Big Star (Nick Skelton) 0, Viking (Michael Whitaker) 0, Ursula (Scott Brash) 4, Ornellaia (John Whitaker) 8.
6.  Italy 4 faults: Casallo Z (Piergiorgio Bucci) 0, Ensor de Litrange (Lorenzo de Luca) 0, Antonio (Gianni Govoni) 4, Tower Mouche (Bruno Chimirri) 4.
7.  Netherlands 8 faults: Emerald NOP (Harrie Smolders) 0, VDL Groep Arera C (Maikel van der Vleuten) 8, Caruso LS La Silla (Jeroen Dubbeldam) 8, Glock’s London NOP (Gerco Schroder) 0.
8.  Ireland 8 faults: Golden Hawk (Shane Breen) 8, Go Easy de Muze (Darragh Kenny) 4,, All Star (Denis Lynch) 4, MHS Going Global (Greg Broderick) 0.

 

Full result here