Marie Kraack and Havana Club.
The French team has taken the lead after Friday’s dressage test during the CICO3* Nations Cup leg at Strzegom in Poland on a total score of 93.40 with the highest placed French rider, Maxime Livio in fourth place on Opium de Verrieres. The current series leader, Sweden is in second place (101.50) and Germany in in third place with seven teams in total competing (102.90).
The British team of Wills Oakden, Alice Dunsdon and Coral Keen are currently on a total score of 104.20, in fifth place behind Italy. The home side, Polish team is currently sixth. German rider Marie Kraack is currently the best in the individual ranking in the CIC3* aboard Havana Club.
"He was really super, he did what we expected from him, and he performed very well" said the rider after her dressage.
Second place for now goes to Linda Algotsson (SWE) riding Fair Spot, and third to the in-form Yoshiaki Oiwa (JPN) with Duke of Cavan.
Yoshiaki Oiwa and Duke of Cavan
"He was very good, I'm happy with the test, he was a bit tense inside, I could have done a nicer test, but otherwise I'm really pleased with him"
The Nations Cup competition in Strzegom is the first test of the new Olympic format, which will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Three riders compete for each team, and their added score counts for the overall classification.
Dressage tests of the short CI competitions have ended on Friday as well. In the 2* competition two riders are in the lead with the same score: Maxime Livio (FRA) with Ariano du Quinze and Mateusz Kiempa (POL) with Libertina. In the one star competition Pia Münker (GER) with Dunkin Donut M. has taken the lead.
Linda’s sister, Sara Algotsson Ostholt is the leader aboard Wega in the CCI3*
“Wega was fantastic! She was amazing to ride, she loves to show off in the dressage arena, and she did so today” said the Swedish rider
The Ostholt family has dominated the competition with Sara’s husband- Frank Ostholt and her brother-in-law Andreas, both representing Germany, have also competed in the CI-long 3*, finishing the dressage in fourth and sixth places
Karin Donckers and Fletcha van’t Verahof
Karin Donckers (BEL) is in the second place so far aboard Belgian-bred gelding Fletcha van’t Verahof. A true Strzegom veteran, regularly competing at the Morawa hippodrome for many years, was happy after her test
“I had a good feeling about our test with Fletcha. I’m happy with how it went, I’m really pleased with my horse. It’s been a very good year for him.”
Christoph Wahler (GER) is currently third in the competition after a good round of 27,10 penalty points. Tomorrow will see all riders take to the cross country course designed by Marcin Konarski who talks us through the CICO3* Nations Cup course
Sara Algotsson Ostholt and Wega
It’s a big challenge to design a cross country course after the previous year’s European Championships as achieving a balance between creating an interesting course for visitors whilst lowering technical requirements can be difficult.
“I hope all this year’s courses will be entertaining for spectators and at the same time friendly and educative for horses and riders. Designing a cross country course for the Nations Cup competition is particularly interesting. It is a team competition and it has its own rules” says Marcin
The Nations Cup cross-country course begins with four easy, but large scale fences, which are designed to help horses find the correct rhythm and for riders to feel in control.
The fifth fence is the first that spectators will be able to observe up close. It’s an enormous yellow-black oxer near a water fence complex. Then we have a longs tretch of canter and a one-stride combination of fences EUROINS 6AB on the top of the hill.
Over the next stretch, horse and rider will be presented with their first serious test on this cross-country route: it’s a combination of two URSUS tractors positioned parallel at a large angle provoking run-out to the left. We are now getting close to the first big fence complex sponsored by KOWAR. It starts with the largest log on the ditch followed by a four element combination, the direct route consisting of a very risky skinny fence, concluding with another big jump through the ditch with the hedge.
Following such an intensive section of the cross-country, there is opportunity to take a breath. On route to the first water fence, there is only one jump through another ditch proceeded by a length of canter where riders will face the PODA LAKE combination which finishes with an innovative corner build with MIM safety cups and arranged in a non-conventional layout.
Now riders go straight to the main water complex, which this year, thanks to our principal partner, is called LOTTO ARENA. First is a massive table and on to the curve line jump into the water through vertical palisade. Next riders turn right and jump out off the water through a combination of skinny fence and corner. Dealing with this question requires high-level skills from the rider and a lot of precision from the horse. All four jumps are situated just a few meters from the visitor’s area, so they will bring a lot of sporting thrill for sure.
A short rest at the main show jumping arena with the task of two big oxers and then we go back to LOTTO ARENA. This part of the course begins with a jump into the water through the big log followed by a very difficult combination of house and corner in the water. It’s not far to the finishing line now. All that’s left to do is to jump the table followed by the final combination on this cross-country route, walls made of Strzegom granite. One last fence and we arrive at the finishing line!
