Sandra Auffarth and Opgun Louvo
The face of the German team trainer, Christopher Bartle, was wreathed in smiles as the last one of his riders, Sandra Auffarth, galloped into the arena at Aachen and finally took the win. For Sandra it has been a case of so near but so far in the past two years as Chris Burton has clinched the DHL Prize individual title but Chris was already out of the competition, withdrawing Graf Liberty from the competition before the final cross country day due to a virus. Not only did Sandra win the individual title but the German team was triumphant in the FEI Nations Cup with an emphatic win. Following their previous win in Strzegom, this has moved Germany up the FEI Nations Cup rankings to third place overall but the win here must also signify, as if we didn’t already know, that this will be the team to beat in Normandy. No wonder Christopher was smiling
Ingrid Klimke and FRH Escada
Only three riders completed the course of 35 jumping efforts clear and under time – Germany’s Sandra Auffarth riding Opgun Louvo, Ingrid Klimke riding FRH Escada and Michael Jung riding La Biosthetique Sam. These riders were first, second and third finishing on scores of 33.80, 40.20 and 41.20. Ingrid was not part of the team but Dirk Schrade’s 10th place on Hop and Skip meant that the team finished on a score of 129
Great Britain finished second in the team competition and their young rider, Izzy Taylor on Orlando showed that she is ready for a major championship, even though the horse she had been selected on for Normandy, Allercombe Ellie, has had to be withdrawn. 31 year old Izzy was disappointed with her ‘unnecessary and expensive’ four faults on Frank Rothenberger’s show jumping course on Friday; indeed without them she would have been ahead of both Ingrid and Michael at the end, but she certainly rode the cross country with determination and skill, finishing only 1.6 time penalties over the allocated time and in fourth place individually.
Izzy Taylor and Orlando were impressive
Her team mates William Fox-Pitt riding Chilli Morning and Piggy French on Jakata both incurred 7.2 time penalties on the cross country to finish in ninth and thirteenth while Zara Phillips in 25th was their team discard score. Fourth placed Karin Donckers of Belgium on Fletcher van’t Verahof (below) picked up four time penalties but just squeezed in front of Andrew Nicholson. Andrew and Nereo rode a very good round to be just outside of the time – 0.8 penalties, moving them up from 16th place to finish in sixth
The rest of the Kiwis had mixed fortunes with poor old Lucy Jackson, who started so well in the dressage, parting company from Willy Do at the Rolex Water Complex, fence 8B. Tim Price and Wesko, who were in second place going into the final cross country phase, retired part way through.
Equestrian Sports New Zealand coach Erik Duvander said the plan for Wesko had always been to get the championship-like experience in the dressage and showjumping at Aachen, but the horse was not up to full fitness for the fast-tracked Aachen cross country.
Tim’s wife Jonelle and her very smart grey Faerie Dianimo finished in 16th place after picking up 10.4 time faults, having taken a slight detour at one point on the course but this young horse certainly looks like a great one for the future. The New Zealand team finished in fourth place behind the French who also had some good cross country performances; the very handsome young Maxime Livio and Qalao des Mers moved from 18th to 7th with a great ride incurring only 1.6 time while his team mate Astier Nicholas also jumped from 19th to 8th with only 3.6 time on Piaf de b'Neville. Thomas Carlile, fourth going into Saturday’s cross country phase, had an unfortunate run out at Fence 17, the DHL Complex dropping him down to 19th. However with only two time penalties, it shows that these young French guys can be quick around a course
Others who were close to time were Camilla Speirs and the 15.1h Portersize Just a Jiff, back after his injury at London 2012 and, according to Camilla ‘faster than ever’. Their 4.4 time penalties moved them up from 33rd to 17th and it is lovely to see the little horse, which has taken Camilla from Pony Club to the Olympics, back looking so good
Paul and Kilronan were the best placed Australians
Paul Tapner showed some stickability at one point on the flying grey Kilronan who is Normandy bound and Paul was obviously pleased at the end of his round. They finished the best of the Australians with only 8.4 time penalties on cross country in 11th place while Andrew Hoy also moved up the leader board with a good round on Rutherglen, finishing in 15th place
The third Australian team member Kevin McNab riding Clifton Pinot incurred 20 penalties at the tricky Fence 15 which brought several riders unstuck and racked up some time penalties to finish in 31st and the Australian team in seventh
View our cross country day photo gallery here
