Sammi Birch and Finduss PFB
The final leg of the 2019 FEI Eventing Nations Cup is ready to start at Boekelo in the Netherlands
16 countries have representatives completing this year with 12 teams taking part in the Nations Cup competition including Australia fielding its first Nations Cup team of the year
Sammi Birch riding Finduss PFB, Chris Burton riding Blenheim winner Clever Louis and Kevin McNab riding his wife Emma’s Fernhill Tabasco riding are team members with Catherine Burrell on Duke and Ben Leahy on Imperial Plan competing as individuals under the new Olympic format rules
Chris Burton (above) and Kevin McNab (below)
New Zealand has three young guns with James Avery riding One of a Kind and Sam Lissington riding Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ both getting their Senior New Zealand call up and Jesse Campbell on Cleveland rounding up the team while Dan Jocelyn and Bruce Haskell are competing as individuals.
Another name associated with New Zealand, the horse Leonidas II, previously ridden by Sir Mark Todd, is also taking part but will be ridden for Ireland by Padraig McCarthy who is joined by Cathal Daniels and Brian Morrison on the Irish team
Wearing the Silver Fern for the first time, James Avery (above) and Sam Lissington (below)
Germany, Britain, France, USA, Japan and Sweden bring forward their three member teams, but all eyes will be firmly on Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands who have the chance to pick up the last remaining team spot for Tokyo
Heading into the final leg of the Nations Cup Series, Sweden leads on 435 points, Italy is second on 425 points and Switzerland is third on 365 points. Sweden and Italy both gained Olympic qualification at the FEI European Championships but the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium have not yet qualified. The Netherlands is currently on 355 points and Belgium on 300
Switzerland's Tiziana Realini presents Toubleu de Rueire (above) and Tim Lips with Bayro for The Netherlands (below)
Boekelo will also provide another chance for the new Olympic format to be tested. Each team has just three riders with no drop off score but a replacement rider is allowed to be substituted. Breaking with the normal dressage routine for Nations Cup, Boekelo has scheduled all team riders to complete their dressage phase on Thursday before the individual riders take to the arena later on Thursday and Friday
The first team rider into the arena will be Germany’s Michael Jung riding fischerRocana at 9:30am
Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST
