Thomas Carlile and Tenareze
It was a stunning day at Le Lion d’Angers to showcase the world’s top horses on the Pierre Michelet designed cross country course.
The super hot and sunny conditions are not only good for the spectators who flock to watch the big day but also are great for capturing the action on camera, as you’ll see from Libby’s photos. There must be something about the air at this time of year in France as we often get this crisp light effect in our galleries from Pau which is our next event on the agenda
But for now, let’s focus on the FEI World Eventing Championships for Young Horses. In the 7 Year Old class the overnight leader Nicolas Touzaint may have been a bit stunned too to find himself eliminated on the cross country due to three refusals towards the end of the course. The first came at 19, then 20B and finally 20c meant that he was out of the game (you can see all the fences in our cross country gallery here). In general there was little change on the leader board apart from this with only two other eliminations on course and one horse retired, meaning that the top 10 stayed pretty much the same apart from Nicolas and Thomas Carlile is now on top riding Tenareze.
Tenareze lost a shoe just before heading out on the course but this was quickly fixed and Thomas says he felt that the stallion really enjoyed himself this year
“Last year, he had questions, he was more impressed (by his surroundings).But this year it was superb! What he offered me today was fantastic”
Will the defending champion also be able to take the 7 Year Old title this year? We’ll find out tomorrow ......
Lucy Jackson and Lara de Liederkerke-Meier fell out of the top 20 with two stops each, again Fence 20 providing some problems for the ladies while an upward mover was Michael Jung on fischerTakinou from 18th to 13th. Michael also holds third place on fischerRicona behind young British rider Tom McEwan and Toledo de Kerser (above)
6 Year Old
There was also an upset for the leader after dressage of the 6 Year Old class when Belgium’s Vincent Martens retired Eiskonig after their second refusal on course.
Very little between them - Michael Jung (above) and Chris Burton (below)
Again, apart from this major upset, there was little change for the majority of the other combinations and Michael Jung, moving up from second to first, now leads this class on Star Connection. Chris Burton and Dutch Man Retto are in second so, with less than one rail between these two and top British combinations Zoe Wilkinson riding Parkfield Quintessential and Piggy French riding Cooley Dream Extreme in third and fourth place, the show jumping phase will be an exciting one
Zoe Wilkinson and Parkfield Quintessential
Piggy French and Cooley Dream Extreme
Paul Tapner and CounterParty are in 19th place in the 6 YO class
