Kitty King and Cristal Fontaine - World 6 Year Old Eventing Champions
It was an emotional win for Britain’s Kitty King as her and Alex Wakeley’s Cristal Fontaine produced a perfect clear show jumping round on the final day of the FEI World Breeding Federation Eventing Championships for Young Horses in Lion d’Angers, France, to be crowned the 2018 Six Year Old World Champion.
Kitty is no stranger to these Championships, having won the 7 Year Old Championship on Zidante in 2011, who finished third in the 6YO class the year before, but Cristal Fontaine has gone one better by winning at the age of six, and hopefully will be back in 2019
The grey gelding Cristal Fontaine, by Chef Rouge, started well on Friday in third place after the dressage and finished on his dressage score of 25.4, adding another win to Kitty’s already impressive list of achievements, being the first person to ride for Britain at European Championships at all four levels (Pony, Junior, Young Rider, Senior) and also the first person to win medals for Team GBR at all four levels.
Piggy French and Emerald Jonny
When Kitty won on Zidante in 2011, another stalwart of British teams, Piggy French, was third on Kiltealy Brief but she also went one better this year by taking Reserve Champion on Tom March’s Emerald Jonny. It was the first time that Emerald Jonny had showjumped after the cross country in a 3 Day format but he rose to the occasion, jumping a clear to finish on his dressage score of 25.8
A rail apiece for the overnight leader Liz Halliday-Sharp and second placed Millie Dumas cost them dearly, dropping to third (26.4) and fourth (27.3) places, but Liz was still very proud ‘to be on the podium and of what this horse has achieved this week’
France’s Yannick Dirou on California d’Horset, winner of this year’s French National 6-Year-Old Championship at Pompadour, had been quietly lurking just outside the top six for most of this competition but moved from seventh place after dressage and cross country into fourth, thanks to a clear jumping round with just one time fault to finish on 27.5 but the biggest jump into the top six came from Belgium’s Jarno Verwimp on Tabries. They moved up from 11th after the dressage to finish on their dressage score of 28.1 in sixth place while Michael Jung, who was in sixth place after cross country riding Wild Wave, was being driven home to Germany to go to hospital.
Michael did appear in pain after a heavy fall from his seven year old horse Choclat and the hospital examination has shown that he has broken the bone in his upper arm and a piece of his shoulder socket.
“The fractures are so straight that surgery is not necessary and hopefully heal everything by itself” says Michael on his Facebook page “Now it's patience and wait... which unfortunately doesn't count to my strengths!”
Australia’s Chris Burton and Coup De Coeur Dudevin (above) rolled just one rail in the show jumping to finish in seventh place while Kevin McNab took 13th on Grantstown Joules (below), finishing a good competition with a clear round on their dressage score of 33.3
