The two lovely French ladies next to me at the first horse inspection for the FEI European Eventing Championships didn’t care that it looked like rain – others had umbrellas but they had their flag, tricolor garlands, some face paint and big smiles to keep them warm. And they weren’t the only ones - the French fans were out in force to see their team of Sidney Dufresne (Tresor Du Mail), Thomas Carlile (Upsilon), Gwendolen Fer (Traumprinz) and Thibaut Vallette (Qing du Briot ENE HN) pass the first horse inspection and there is a definite feeling that they are in with a good chance of scooping another victory here after their golden moment in Rio
Tom Carlile and Upsilon are being tipped as the ones who could prevent Michael Jung from taking a record fourth European title. Michael first won at Luhmühlen (GER) in 2011 on La Biosthetique Sam, followed by Malmö (SWE) in 2013 on Halunke and then Blair Castle (GBR) in 2015 on fischerTakinou to equal Ginny Eliot’s (GBR) record of three successive titles on three different horses
Tom Carlile and Upsilon
Tom arrived at the venue on Monday; unlike Michael, who has competed here many times at the regular event, this is the young French rider’s first visit to Strzegom and he is looking forward to competing as part of the French team after agonisingly just missing out on competing at Rio. Upsilon has settled in well, says the French rider whose parents originally hail from Manchester, and the talented grey stallion is ‘feeling really good’
Upsilon was not quite as fresh however as some of the horses at the first inspection. Austin O’Connor’s Kilpatrick Knight stayed controlled but produced some impressive passage back down the runway, Spain’s Manuel Senra Chover’s horse Cruising also produced a very fancy trot and Banderas was just kept under control by Poland’s Pawel Spisak
Apart from showing off the prancing ponies to the Ground Jury of Ernst Topp (GER), Sue Baxter (GBR) and Slawomir Pietrzak (POL), this first look at the horses is also a good excuse to get dressed up. Our first vote goes to Ground Jury member Sue Baxter who can always be relied upon for a great outfit and this one was found in Vienna
“I happened to be travelling through Vienna between events, passed by a small designer boutique and this caught my eye. I had this event in mind as soon as I saw it – I’ll probably never wear it again!”
The soft suede looking fabric was perfect for the tailcoat jacket and the brown outfit was topped by a jaunty straw trilby
The Austrian team know how to make heads turn - Margit Appelt and Space Jet accompanied by their Chef D'Equipe
The Austrian team had to get another top vote and this was one we were expecting after seeing Margit Appelt in her traditional costume before. However the icing on the cake was the addition of Margit’s team mate Katrin Khoddam-Hazrati trotting up her horse Cosma in brown lederhosen
Continuing the suede theme were our favourite boots of Ingrid Klimke with the German tassels and Sara Algotsson Ostholt also sported a similar pair in blue – in fact Sara’s blue Swedish outfit teamed with her boots was one of our favourite looks
Ingrid and her patriotic boots
Two horses, Albert Hermoso Farras’ Nereo CP (Spain) and Arianna Schivo’s Quefira de l’Ormeau (Italy) were held but easily accepted on re-presenting so 77 horses from 19 countries now go through to the start of competition tomorrow.
The big surprise today was probably the omission of Gemma Tattersall from the British team with Oliver Townend, Ros Canter, Tina Cook and Nicola Wilson making up the team while Gemma on her Rio horses Quicklook and Piggy French on Quarrycrest Echo are riding as individuals
Ros Canter and Allstar B are the second combination into the arena for Britain tomorrow
