PrintHaving come so close to victory when runner-up in the Samsung Super League Nations Cup at Hickstead, England, on July 29, the U.S. team traveled the short distance to Dublin, Ireland, with high expectations on Aug. 4-7.
Holding onto second position on the Samsung leaderboard, with 28.5 points, the U.S. team was in a position to overtake Germany, ahead by only 2.5 points. The Germans, winners at Hickstead, were prepared to give everyone another riding lesson, but the British recovered from their slump to jump to victory in Dublin over Germany, with the U.S. team tied for third with Belgium.
A victory at Hickstead had eluded them by only a single point, so the U.S. quartet of Jeffery Welles (Armani), Kimberly Prince (Marlou), Laura Kraut (Miss Independent) and Beezie Madden (Authentic) was deservedly in a positive mood. Even Chef d'Equipe George Morris was optimistic, admitting that the team was strong, despite the loss of McLain Ward, who'd suffered a broken collarbone while falling at Hickstead.
Dublin has always provided tough tracks, and this year would prove no different. But the opposition was relatively weak, and the Americans were hot favorites to take the sixth round of the series.
Course designer Frederic Cottier of France set plenty of questions to be answered in the Nations Cup, and many of those went unanswered.
With Ward out of action, Morris called on reserve rider Welles, 43, with the rest of the squad the same as at Hickstead. Welles, winner of the $17,300 power and speed class on the second day of Dublin, and the striking bay Armani, 10, had the unenviable task as the U.S. pathfinders in the Nations Cup, but they performed impressively, with only one error in the combination at fence 10.
Prince suffered elimination with Marlou after putting in stops at fences 3 and 9, and Kraut faulted twice with Miss Independent, at the 5'2" vertical at fence 5 and again at the 5'2" spread at fence 12.
Madden, pathfinder at Hickstead, was last to go at Dublin, and a confident, clear round from Authentic assured her team's halftime placing of equal third with Belgium and Switzerland.
Zero For Britain
Germany was holding onto second place, with 9 faults, after a single error each from Thomas M?er (Asti Spumante) and Ulrich Kirchhoff (Carino 188) was added to the single time fault supplied by Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst (Diamonds Daylight). René ”ebbel's 12 faults with Farina was the discard score.
From early in the first round, it had become apparent that the entire 12-fence track was proving difficult for all eight teams, and only Britain managed to outsmart Cottier by returning a zero score at halftime. Clear rounds from leadoff man Nick Skelton (Arko III), William Funnell (Cortaflex Mondriaan) and Michael Whitaker (Portofino 63) had assured the clean sheet, with John Whitaker's 4 faults from Exploit Du Roulard being the discard.
The Irish team was desperately in need of a good result to move up from last on the Super League leaderboard, but they weren't in a comfortable position at the halfway point, lying sixth with 16 penalties.
No one fence was to blame for the fact that the 32 riders could only manage seven clear rounds. The first of those clear rounds came from France's Pierre Jarry (Haxelle Dampierre), whose performance would keep his team out of last place halfway through.
The Netherlands' Gerco Schroder (Eurocommerce Milano) and Ireland's Billy Twomey (Anastasia III) were also foot-perfect, but faults still came in abundance from the rest of their teams.
Welles couldn't repeat his first-round performance with Armani and added 8 faults to the American score. But Prince was superb with the Dutch-bred mare Marlou, 11, and recorded a perfectly clear trip.
Germany began to creep back into contention with a second-round clear from Pollmann-Schweckhorst, but the British side looked tough when Skelton completed the only double-clear of the class with the stallion Arko, 11.
Kraut, the third U.S. rider, picked up 4 faults when Miss Independent couldn't clear the water. She then added a further 4 faults at fence 12, leaving the pressure on Madden.
By now Britain was barely hanging on, with John Whitaker's 16 faults used as the discard and Funnell's 12 faults forced to count. Germany was right behind, with M?er adding 8 faults and Kirchhoff only picking up a single time fault.
With only the last group of riders left to jump, the pressure was tremendous.
Madden made only one mistake with Authentic to leave her team with a total of 24 faults, but Belgium's Jos Lansink also faulted once with Cavalor Cumano to tie the two teams up.
Tebbel, having provided Germany's discard score in the first round, was forced to do the same again, as Farina accrued 12 jumping faults and 1 time fault. That left the Hickstead winners with a final score of 18.
Still, another win seemed within Germany's grasp when Michael Whitaker faulted once at fence 4 with Portofino. But when he only collected a further time fault before passing through the finish line, Britain's win was sealed with a final penalty score of 17.
A smiling Chef d'Equipe Derek Ricketts stated that he "didn't have a great depth of horses for team selection.'' He did, however, voice his concerns over the close proximity of these two Super League rounds and requested that FEI and Samsung officials take a look at next year's schedule to avoid the shows running too close together.
Holding onto second position on the Samsung leaderboard, with 28.5 points, the U.S. team was in a position to overtake Germany, ahead by only 2.5 points. The Germans, winners at Hickstead, were prepared to give everyone another riding lesson, but the British recovered from their slump to jump to victory in Dublin over Germany, with the U.S. team tied for third with Belgium.
A victory at Hickstead had eluded them by only a single point, so the U.S. quartet of Jeffery Welles (Armani), Kimberly Prince (Marlou), Laura Kraut (Miss Independent) and Beezie Madden (Authentic) was deservedly in a positive mood. Even Chef d'Equipe George Morris was optimistic, admitting that the team was strong, despite the loss of McLain Ward, who'd suffered a broken collarbone while falling at Hickstead.
Dublin has always provided tough tracks, and this year would prove no different. But the opposition was relatively weak, and the Americans were hot favorites to take the sixth round of the series.
Course designer Frederic Cottier of France set plenty of questions to be answered in the Nations Cup, and many of those went unanswered.
With Ward out of action, Morris called on reserve rider Welles, 43, with the rest of the squad the same as at Hickstead. Welles, winner of the $17,300 power and speed class on the second day of Dublin, and the striking bay Armani, 10, had the unenviable task as the U.S. pathfinders in the Nations Cup, but they performed impressively, with only one error in the combination at fence 10.
Prince suffered elimination with Marlou after putting in stops at fences 3 and 9, and Kraut faulted twice with Miss Independent, at the 5'2" vertical at fence 5 and again at the 5'2" spread at fence 12.
Madden, pathfinder at Hickstead, was last to go at Dublin, and a confident, clear round from Authentic assured her team's halftime placing of equal third with Belgium and Switzerland.
Zero For Britain
Germany was holding onto second place, with 9 faults, after a single error each from Thomas M?er (Asti Spumante) and Ulrich Kirchhoff (Carino 188) was added to the single time fault supplied by Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst (Diamonds Daylight). René ”ebbel's 12 faults with Farina was the discard score.
From early in the first round, it had become apparent that the entire 12-fence track was proving difficult for all eight teams, and only Britain managed to outsmart Cottier by returning a zero score at halftime. Clear rounds from leadoff man Nick Skelton (Arko III), William Funnell (Cortaflex Mondriaan) and Michael Whitaker (Portofino 63) had assured the clean sheet, with John Whitaker's 4 faults from Exploit Du Roulard being the discard.
The Irish team was desperately in need of a good result to move up from last on the Super League leaderboard, but they weren't in a comfortable position at the halfway point, lying sixth with 16 penalties.
No one fence was to blame for the fact that the 32 riders could only manage seven clear rounds. The first of those clear rounds came from France's Pierre Jarry (Haxelle Dampierre), whose performance would keep his team out of last place halfway through.
The Netherlands' Gerco Schroder (Eurocommerce Milano) and Ireland's Billy Twomey (Anastasia III) were also foot-perfect, but faults still came in abundance from the rest of their teams.
Welles couldn't repeat his first-round performance with Armani and added 8 faults to the American score. But Prince was superb with the Dutch-bred mare Marlou, 11, and recorded a perfectly clear trip.
Germany began to creep back into contention with a second-round clear from Pollmann-Schweckhorst, but the British side looked tough when Skelton completed the only double-clear of the class with the stallion Arko, 11.
Kraut, the third U.S. rider, picked up 4 faults when Miss Independent couldn't clear the water. She then added a further 4 faults at fence 12, leaving the pressure on Madden.
By now Britain was barely hanging on, with John Whitaker's 16 faults used as the discard and Funnell's 12 faults forced to count. Germany was right behind, with M?er adding 8 faults and Kirchhoff only picking up a single time fault.
With only the last group of riders left to jump, the pressure was tremendous.
Madden made only one mistake with Authentic to leave her team with a total of 24 faults, but Belgium's Jos Lansink also faulted once with Cavalor Cumano to tie the two teams up.
Tebbel, having provided Germany's discard score in the first round, was forced to do the same again, as Farina accrued 12 jumping faults and 1 time fault. That left the Hickstead winners with a final score of 18.
Still, another win seemed within Germany's grasp when Michael Whitaker faulted once at fence 4 with Portofino. But when he only collected a further time fault before passing through the finish line, Britain's win was sealed with a final penalty score of 17.
A smiling Chef d'Equipe Derek Ricketts stated that he "didn't have a great depth of horses for team selection.'' He did, however, voice his concerns over the close proximity of these two Super League rounds and requested that FEI and Samsung officials take a look at next year's schedule to avoid the shows running too close together.
