The man of the moment Michael Jung
Drawing back the curtains at 6:30am this morning it was a pleasant surprise to see that, although dark clouds were scudding across the sky, there was no rain falling in the Scottish Highlands. Sadly it didn’t last for long and by the time the photographers were briefed in the Press Tent, everyone was pulling on their wet weather gear and preparing for the heavy rain that was coming down. I have huge admiration for the photographers in particular who do their job and capture the most amazing moments of cross country in all weather while us woosie journalists huddle under cover in what is known as the ‘Mixed Zone’ at the end of the cross country course to talk to the riders as they, hopefully, complete their ride. The admiration for the photographers pales into insignificance however compared to the respect for the riders tackling this course in the wet and windy conditions today.
The rain was falling steadily as the first rider Theo Van De Vendel of the Netherlands made his way around the course to come home safely as the day’s trailblazer, having put in an additional jumping effort at Fence 4 where he had also jumped the flower basket between the A and B elements. This fence caused some problems early in the course with three refusals here including the second placed rider after dressage, Holly Woodhead and one elimination. Theo wasn’t the only one to do it, much to course designer Ian Stark’s amusement
“For me it was always about the inside line and I thought I’d tempt them with the outside line thinking that maybe they would run out but I hadn’t envisaged all the things they were doing there - two of them even jumping the basket! Crikey, if I’d have put that in the competition they would have objected bitterly!”
Kitty King and Persimmon
The first of the British team riders, Kitty King was surprised to be chosen as the number one rider as it was her first Senior Team start but she had a fantastic ride on Persimmon picking up only 8.4 time faults to finish the day in fifth place “It was quite terrifying to be the pathfinder to be honest. It certainly wasn’t the position I expected to be in when I was picked for the team and I was certainly more nervous this morning than I would normally be. But it was really exciting, Persimmon was absolutely fantastic for me and I couldn’t have asked for more. He was quite feisty but always looking for his jumps and he was straight as a die”
Things didn’t go quite so well for the rest of the British team with Nicola Wilson being ‘absolutely gutted’ to let the team down when One Two Many had a runout at Fence 16b.
“I think he genuinely didn’t see the fence properly and didn’t quite understand what he was meant to be doing. It is obviously a risk to turn around and jump the same fence again but I honestly believed that he wasn’t being naughty and he jumped it beautifully the next time” she said, visibly upset by the mistake and its implications of picking up 20 jumping penalties and 18.80 time penalties, dropping her from fourth to 23rd and adding to the team score.
Pippa Funnell and Sandman 7
The third British team rider Pippa Funnell also picked up 9.6 time penalties but was delighted with her nine year old Sandman 7 having jumped clear around the course. She too was visibly emotional at the end of the course but for slightly different reasons to Nicola
Pippa Funnell
Sadly however their final team member William Fox-Pitt had two run-outs at Fence 17 and opted to retire. Yesterday William had a bad day in the dressage arena and today, one of the last riders on a course that had steadily deteriorated as the weather had worsened, he too was ‘devastated to have let the team down’ but, with the welfare of his horse in mind felt he had no option but to retire.
“Bay My Hero found the conditions really tough out there – he just didn’t enjoy one little bit of it. It took me completely by surprise as he has never made a mistake on cross country in his life. He has always been a very genuine horse and I think it just reflected how he was feeling – the fence was very straightforward, it was in front of him and he just said that he couldn’t do it so you can’t blame him for that” said an obviously disappointed William
With William’s retirement on course, Nicola’s score now had to be counted so, although they remain in second place on the team leader board the German team has a huge margin of 45.6 points with Britain on 168.30 and Germany on 122.70.
Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot ENE HN
France too lost a team member with Karim Florent Laghouag’s Entebbe de Hus falling at Fence 21b, the influential downhill combination, the Haggis, Neeps and Tatties (Fences 21-22), where the middle element – the Haggis – was later removed due to the wet ground. However Thibaut Vallette’s strong fourth place finish on Qing du Briot ENE HN kept them in third place on a collective score of 179.90 with his team mates Matthieu Lemoine finishing in 17th and Thomas Carlile on Sirocco du Gers in 24th
Only two nations succeeded in completing all of their team members – Germany and Spain. While Spain are in sixth place on the team leader board, moving up from 10th overnight, Germany are sitting very pretty at the top and there cannot be much doubt as to who will be wearing gold medals around their neck tomorrow. Ian Stark was very complementary about the way the Germans rode his course and so he should be – their riding was impeccable and Chris Bartle’s training leading up to the event certainly paid off
“I have to say that the German riders excelled not only around the course but particularly at the Malcolm's Lochan Water (Fence 19ab). I thought that they all rode brilliantly with great balance and great feel and I was thrilled to see it”
Dirk Schrade was the pathfinder for the German team and we spoke to him after his round on Hop and Skip who lost a shoe at Fence 17 but still ‘skipped’ around the course
Tim Lips and Keyflow N.O.P.
The Netherlands are currently in fourth place on 209.30 and, although they have already qualified for Rio 2016 thanks to their bronze medal winning performance in Normandy, they were keen to finish a team today. Their second rider, Alice Naber-Lozeman riding ACSI Peter Parker had a fall at Fence 20 so their final rider Tim Lips, riding the oldest horse in the field Keyflow N.O.P. was under instruction to come home safely
Niklas Lindback and Cendrillon
Sweden, like France, is still chasing qualification for Rio and they too lost their pathfinders Johan Lundin and Johnny Cash when they fell at Fence 18. Both Sara Algottson Ostholt and Anna Nilsson completed without jumping faults but with time penalties while Niklas Lindback’s Cendrillon had a run-out in the main arena but he was still happy with the mare in the difficult conditions and Sweden finished the day in fifth place on 247.80
Spain are also still in the running on a score of 253.80 but for the five other teams – Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Ireland and Belgium – sadly their European Championship is over.
