Chris Burton and Holstein Park Leilani will be having their last run together at Aachen
Eventing
The first horse inspection is done and tomorrow sees the start of the eventing! Australia has now named the team as Paul Tapner and Wickstead Didgeridoo, Bill Levett and Silk Stone, Chris Burton and Holstein Park Leilani and Andrew Hoy with Cheeky Calimbo. Murray Lamperd, whose blog has been proving very popular throughout his overseas campaign, will ride his and his wife Jade's thoroughbred Under the Clocks as an individual.
Ten nations are represented the CICO 3* with teams from Australia, Britain, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the USA participating in the Nations Cup. The dressage starts at 8:30am in the Deutsche Bank stadium on Friday while the show jumping will be in the huge atmosphere of the Main Stadium from 6:15pm that evening. The cross country starts at 10am on Saturday and live streaming of all events is available here
Germany, whose team features three Olympic gold medallists, is a favourite to win as are the Kiwis with again three Olympic bronze medallists but Australia is probably fielding one of its most experienced sides for a long time.
This will be the last team appearance for Chris Burton’s ride Holstein Park Leilani who will be returning home to her owners, Jade and Jean Findlay, in Australia. Chris, who is the defending individual champion at Aachen, has some great young horses coming up but no doubt this will be a loss at the top level for him
“I’m excited to be at Aachen but very sad that this will be my last show on HP Leilani. What a great horse she has been,” he said.
The full list of competitors and countries is available here
See our Thursday trot up gallery here
Jumping
The main class of the day, the Mercedes-Benz Prize, the 14th qualifier of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2013 took place under lights in the huge Aachen arena attracting a field of eight teams.
The turreted water took its toll but Werner Muff (NEVER LAST) of Switzerland looks good
The starting order was; Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands and Ireland and four teams – France, Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands – were eligible for Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping points in Europe Division 1.
Although the competition started out in daylight, the second round took place under lights which may have had a bearing on the outcome. In the first round, Frank Rothenberger’s imposing 12-fence track had taken its toll, including Belgium’s Desteny van het Dennehof, ridden by Gregory Wathelet, who took fright at the turreted take-off board for the water and did not return in the second round
“My horse was maybe a bit injured after the jump at the water. We tried him over a few fences in the warm-up and he wasn’t happy so we decided he wouldn’t jump again” said Gregory afterwards.
Ermany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum also had some problems here saying “I went into the water in both rounds. After the first round we analysed it, I had been too deep, so I tried not to be too deep the next time and I came too big! It’s Bella’s first Nations Cup at Aachen and her first under lights. I’m hoping to improve her water jumping for sure”.
However, despite losing one combination, the Belgians were leading with six faults in hand over second placed French team, with Germany in third place and the Dutch in fourth. Ireland were in fifth with 21 faults, the British were in sixth with 22, the Swiss were next in line with 23 while Saudi Arabia, with only three team members, had 34 faults as the second round got underway.
With Gregory Wathelet out, the Belgian team were forced to count all three remaining scores including eight faults from Nicola Philippaerts although Demeersman enjoyed a good clear round with Bufero. The Germans too each had faults and the French dropped from reckoning but Gerco Schroder’s double-clear for the Dutch with stallion London sealed victory. Only Ludo Philippaerts could save the day for The Netherlands and he had one rail in hand but a very long stride to the final vertical was his undoing
“I rode for the time after the triple combination and went forward, but the horse backed off the last and it was too far, we had no chance” a disappointed Ludo said afterwards.
Gerco was obviously delighted with the 11-year-old stallion London, his partner at the London 2012 Olympic Games with whom he won double silver.
“I had two fantastic rounds. London was in great shape yesterday, I was going to jump him in a small class but I decided to go in the bigger one and he was brilliant. I’m really happy with him” he said
Full results here
Dressage
Although the Dutch beat the Germans in the Nations Cup Jumping, the home side took victory in the third leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage 2013 series in the Prize of Family Tesch Grand Prix CDIO
The German team included 2013 Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage title-winning partnership of Helen Langehanenberg and the stallion Damon Hill NRW (above), who scored the highest individual mark of the day - 81.128 helping to secure team victory. Her team mates comprised of Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino FRH, who took individual second place, Isabell Werth and Don Johnson FRH and Fabienne Lutkemeier with D’Agostino
Denmark, the hosts of the Ecco FEI European Championships in Herning in eight weeks time, were very pleased with their team second place with Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a frequent visitor to Australia, and Digby taking third place ahead of team-mate Anna Kasprzak and Donnperignon in fourth.
The U.S. Team of Steffen Peters, Tina Konyot, Jan Ebeling and Shelly Francis earned a third-place finish on a team total of 217.298 and Steffan Peters enjoyed a fifth place individually riding the 11-year-old Legolas
9 teams competed in today's third leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage 2013 pilot series with two teams - Finland and Spain - fielding just three riders. The Netherlands continues to head the series table going into the final leg at Hickstead, Great Britain on 4th August, but have only a two-point lead over Sweden in second spot while Germany lies third, another eight points behind.
Results:
1. Germany 232.150: D'Agostino (Fabienne Lutkemeier) 71.830, Dablino FRH (Annabel Balkenhol) 77.043, Don Johnson FRH (Isabel Werth) 73.979, Damon Hill NRW (Helen Lengehanenberg) 81.128.
2. Denmark 223.043: Fitou L (Lone Bang Larsen) 71.979, Akeem Foldager (Andreas Helgstrand) 68.426, Digby (Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein) 75.638, Donnperignon (Anna Kasprzak) 75.426.
3. USA 217.298: Doktor (Shelly Francis) 69.596, Rafalca (Jan Ebeling) 70.936, Calecto V (Tina Konyot) 71.064, Legolas (Steffen Peters) 75.298.
4. Sweden 210.042: Liza Minelli (Jeanna Hogberg) 68.723, Fleetwood (Malin Hamilton) 70.234, Triviant (Charlotte Haid Bondergaard) 67.787, Toy Story (Patrik Kittel) 71.085.
5. Netherlands 208.532: Vorst D (Diederik van Silfhout) 68.319, Ulysses la Haya (Laurens van Lieren) 67.319, Unlimited (Stephanie Peters) 68.064, Kingsley Siro (Danielle Heijkoop) 72.149.
6. Belgium 207.511: Vradin (Simon Missiaen) 69.745, Lucky Dance (Julie de Deken) 64.936, Le Beau (Philippe Jorissen) 66.213, Donnerfee (Claudia Fassaert) 71.553.
7. Spain 207.127: Famous Boy (Borja Carracosa) 64.574, Numberto (Severo Jesus Jurado Lopez) 71.106, Grandioso (Jose Daniel Martin Dockx) 71.447.
8. Great Britain 203.618: Pegasus MK (Anna Ross Davies) 66.511, Marakov (Michael Eilberg) 68.681, Weltzin (Hanah Biggs) 61.106, Pasoa (Nikki Crisp) 68.426.
9. Finland 198.340: Soraya ll (Stella Hagelstam) 67.319, Skovlunds Mas Guapo (Mikaela Lindh) 71.447, Sini Spirit (Emma Kanerva) 59.574.
The weather may have cooled but the crowds are out in force for equestrian action and, of course, shopping
Driving
The USA’s Chester Weber, a four-time FEI World Championship medallist and nine-time USEF Four-in-Hand National Champion, currently leads the individual driving competition in Aachen after topping the Preis der Fa. Horsch on Wednesday. He repeated the feat on Thursday winning the Prize of Martello Immobilienmanagement GmbH & Co. KG with a score of 38.21.
The Prize of Martello Immobilienmanagement GmbH & Co. KG marked the first phase of Team competition in the CAIO-4. Leading the competition is the Dutch Team on a total of 87.29; the United States currently stands in second place after Thursday on a score of 98.5 and the team from Germany lies third with a score of 100.8.
The driving competition continues on Friday with the Prize of Soers cones phase, which will be counted towards Individual standings.
View our full photo gallery from Thursday at Aachen
Live streaming of the Aachen CHIO is available each day here
