Oct. 5 Lexington, Ky.
The U.S. riders caught a poorly timed case of that dreaded show jumping plague, the four-faultitis, today at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. No American rider put a clear round on the board, and they dropped from first to third. “None of our rubs went our way today,” said McLain Ward.
It’s nail-bitingly close at the top of the team standings. Just one rail separates first from seventh after Round 1 of the Nations Cup team competition has concluded. It was an extremely tense day in the show jumping ring, with lots of drama.
As of today, Germany has taken over the lead with 17.80 faults to their name. Brazil lies second, with 18.49 faults, and the U.S has dropped to third, with 18.69 faults. Canada lurks in fourth with 18.93 faults. The seventh-placed team, Australia, has 21.87 faults to their name—just a smidge more than a rail’s difference. Round 2 tomorrow night will be a real battle!
In other news, Saudi Arabian rider Khaled Al Eid has taken over the lead in the individual standings today aboard Presley Boy, a horse he bought just this summer. Mexican rider Jaime Azcarraga used to ride the powerful black stallion.
Not Quite How They Planned
Lauren Hough had to lead off the whole day’s events today as first rider on course. She and Quick Study were clean until the last, but felled the front rail there. Conrad Homfeld built a masterful course today, and the last line was a true challenge. Homfeld built an oxer leading to either a long four or a very short five strides to an extremely tight oxer-vertical two-stride combination. Then, riders had to accelerate again for six strides on a bending line to the last oxer. Hough had the last oxer down and a time fault to lead off the U.S. effort.
“I was a bit cautious of the time allowed, because I knew it would be tight. I maybe should have pushed a bit more for it,” she said. “He went a bit too far to the right on the way to the last and just touched the front rail.”
Mario Deslauriers went second for the U.S. He was delayed a bit when Urico pulled a shoe in warm-up, but said he felt ready going into the ring. “It was really no problem; I don’t think it affected him,” Deslauriers said. But Urico just barely stepped on the tape on the far side of the water for 4 faults. “He drifted left over the wall, and that kind of put me off my track for the water [which was next off a bending line],” Deslauriers said. “He tried really hard to jump the water clean. We must have just touched it.”
Urico turned himself inside out to jump clean through the really tight two-stride combination at the end of the course that caused a lot of problems, but then dropped a rail at the last oxer. Deslauriers said it was just an unlucky rail, that Urico overjumped the front rail a bit and cut down on the back rail. His 8 faults today dropped him from first in the individual standings to 22nd.
Laura Kraut also had an uncharacteristic rail on Cedric. She said he felt much more settled in the warm-up, after having been rattled by four-in-hand carriages driving by yesterday, but he toppled the rail at the B element of the triple. “He’s normally really good at triple combinations, so maybe I should have helped him a bit more, but he was really smooth and jumped well,” Kraut said. “With Nations Cups, you almost rather one rider have a complete disaster and the rest go clean than what we’re doing now, 4 faults after 4 faults.”
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Unfortunately, team anchor, McLain Ward, didn’t buck the trend. The crowd stamped their feet and cheered loudly, but Sapphire just brushed the front rail of an oxer and it fell. It was a fence that didn’t cause much trouble on an otherwise difficult course. “It wasn’t a fence I was concerned about, but I had to ride her really strongly at the water jump, since she’s not usually very impressed by the water and horses had been having faults there all day,” Ward said. “She was still a little too strong when I got to that oxer [two jumps after the water], and I simply got too close to it. I can’t fault her; I just got too close.” The rail dropped Ward from second individually to ninth.
Anything Can Happen Tomorrow
To show just how close the standings are, think about the fact that when Eric Lamaze, the last rider for Canada, went into the ring, a clear round would have confirmed second place spot for them. But Lamaze and Hickstead crossed the timers just a shade too late, and picked up 1 time fault. The 1 penalty dropped the Canadian team to fourth in the standings, just .24 points behind the U.S. Lamaze took a lot of time to get Hickstead’s enthusiastic gallop under control for the last line.
“I couldn’t go any faster to the last line. If that’s where I got the time fault, I’m OK with it, because if I’d gone faster, I would have had a rail down,” Lamaze said. “That line was really difficult for my horse, all built on half-strides. This course was incredibly technical and careful. This course wasn’t so much a test of scope, but a real test of rider ability.”
Germany didn’t have a perfect day. In fact, Carsten-Otto Nagel on Corradina was the only clear round for them. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was their drop score on Checkmate, with 8 faults, and Janne-Friederike Meyer and Marcus Ehning both posting scores of 4. “We just have to stay calm for tomorrow,” said German chef d’equipe Otto Becker. “It is an unbelievably close competition.”
Listen to an interview with Marcus Ehning.
Brazil moved up from seventh after the speed round to second after Round 1 of the Nations Cup. Clear rounds from Rodrigo Pessoa and Alvaro Miranda vaulted them up the rankings. Bernardo Alves was their drop score on Vancouver d’Auvrey with 12, and Pedro Veniss put just 5 on the board with Amaryllis. All four Brazilian riders are based in Europe. “We don’t really do Nations Cups because we have just the four top-level riders,” said Pessoa. “We concentrate on international championships and we all do our separate preparations. We got together a couple of weeks ago to get our horses into shape, and then shipped here.”
Pessoa has plenty of individual international accolades, with three World Cup Finals wins and the 1998 individual WEG gold medal, but the Brazilian team has never been in the running for a medal. Pessoa emphasized that with as close as the class is, the team medals are still very much in the air. “Tonight we’re sitting here pretty as 1, 2, 3, but tomorrow we could be 7, 8, and 9,” he said.
Who’s Leading The Pack?
The individual standings are just as volatile as the team. While U.S. riders led the way yesterday in the speed leg, today’s rails were costly. And Hungarian wunderkind Sandor Szasz had three rails today to drop him to 55th individually, out of the running for the individual final.
Saudi rider Al Eid is now sitting pretty on top after placing fifth in yesterday’s speed leg and then adding just 1 time fault to his score today. He’s not a stranger to international success, having taken the individual bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. “He’s an unbelievable rider with a lot of feeling,” Pessoa said. “With this horse, he’s a very tough competitor. He jumped two beautiful rounds today and there’s no doubt he can go all the way.” Al Eid rides Presley Boy, a 13-year-old black Dutch Warmblood stallion. Presley Boy had a good record with Mexican rider Azcarraga and was a familiar face at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) and Spruce Meadows (Alta.) venues.
Pessoa himself is in second with HH Rebozo, and Belgian rider Philippe Le Jeune is third on Vigo D’Arsouilles. Ward and Deslauriers still have a good chane to make it to the final individual qualifying round, in which the top 25 compete, but Kraut and Hough are out of the individual running.
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Listen to an interview with Philippe Le Jeune.
Tomorrow is Round 2 of the Nations Cup, at 7:30 p.m., which will decide the team medals. Homfeld said the course will be exactly the same track as today’s course, but he’s going to remove the water jump and replace it with a jump. He also said he’ll be adjusting the dimensions of some of the jumps. Pessoa asked hopefully “So, you’ll be putting them down a hole then?”
Homfeld grinned and said, “No, we won’t be going that way.” Expect lots more great jumping tomorrow night.
Catch up on all the WEG show jumping action, and check in with the other WEG sports at the Kentucky Horse Park. For full results, check the official Alltech FEI WEG site.
News Of Note
• Taizo Sugitani jumped a brilliant clear round for Japan today on Avenzio 3, putting them in 12th individually. The Japanese had a great day, with Daisuke Fukushima also going clear over the tough track, but they couldn’t overcome their high scores from yesterday’s speed leg and the team finished in 14th.
• There is universal and overwhelming praise for Conrad Homfeld’s courses, which have been technical and testing, but haven’t created any real ugly moments. “Conrad is just a genius,” said Laura Kraut.
• The footing at the Kentucky Horse Park, by Otto International, is getting rave reviews for its performance.
• France was much touted as the team to beat after their stellar win in the Meydan League Nations Cup series this year. They were third after the speed leg yesterday, but dropped to fifth today. Kevin Staut, currently the No. 1 ranked rider on the FEI rankings, was their only clear round today.
