France take gold at Haras Le Pin
France has won the FEI Nations Cup Eventing on home soil at Haras Le Pin in Normandy yet again
The French team of took a narrow lead early on thanks to excellent performances by Sebastien Cavaillon with Sarah D’Argouges, Gwendolin Fer with Romantic Love, Ugo Provasi with Shadd’oc, and Stanislas de Zuchowicz with Covadys de Triaval in the dressage phase
They then remained on top of the standings through Saturday's show jumping and the final cross country phase, finishing on a combined total of 99.5 penalty points to win the third leg of this year's Nations Cup Eventing Series
The Dutch team of Sanne de Jong, Aliene Ruyter, Jordy Wilken and Laura Hoogeveen on 113.1 points took second place after proving to be worthy challengers throughout the event. Sanne de Jong; Aliene Ruyter; Jordy Wilken; Laura Hoogeveen
Third place went to the Sweden team of Christoffer Forsberg, Frida Andersen, Sofia Sjoborg and Hanna Berg who finished on 135.1 points after going down to the wire to beat fourth-placed New Zealand by just 0.01 points.
France’s triumph follows victories for Great Britain at Houghton Hall and Germany at Strzegom in the first two legs of the series, setting it up perfectly for the remaining three legs at Bromont, Arville and Ballindenisk before the finals at Boekelo in October
In the Individual competition, first place went to France’s Gwendolen Fer and Traumprinz, winning on 27.3 points ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price riding Happy Boy (28.0) and Germany’s Josephine Schnaufer-Völkel and Pasadena 217, who led for most of the competition, in third (28.4)
Gwendolen Fer and Traumprinz