Kai-Steffen Meier and painter's Maxim make easy work of the elephant trap
It was a foggy morning as the first horses set out on course at Le Lion d’Angers with the ‘babies’ having the first look at probably the longest track of their lives so far. The 4620 m cross country course designed by Pierre Michelet had an optimum time of 8' 53'', which is a long course for these young horses, as Izzy Taylor pointed out yesterday
However most of them, including Izzy’s Jockey Club Fleurelle handled the day’s exertions well with only four competitors not making it around the course. Two were eliminated and one retired at Fence 8A (view the fences here), an elephant trap fence at the Fort Briand, while Czechoslovakia’s Miloslav Prihoda JR fell at Fence 10A and only two other horses picked up jumping penalties at 6C and 17B. It was therefore a very nice course for these young horses to get their teeth into and the time was also manageable with only nine of the 36 finishers picking up time penalties.
This meant that there was not a huge change to the leader board with just two moving out of the top ten; Spain’s Eduardo Via-Dufresne, sitting in seventh place after the dressage, was one that fell at 8A and a few time penalties for Raf Steegmans and Sara Bertoli moved them down a touch. But the top six, all with double clear rounds, stayed firmly in their places.
Lara's Ducati D’Arville wasn't going to touch this one!
Kai-Steffen Meier held onto the top spot on Painter's Maxim with a lovely round and he goes into the show jumping with two penalties in hand over his wife Lara on Ducati D’Arville. It would be a great coup for the young stallion Painter’s Maxim to win this prestigious class but there is less than a rail between the top four and he is being chased by not only his stable mate but also two top combinations; Izzy Taylor on Jockey Club Fleurelle and Chris Burton on Fire Fly who both put in fantastically measured and ridden cross country rounds.
Although these horse’s ages means that there isn’t a great deal of history to go on at this level of competition, all four horses have had a rail in recent competitions which should make it quite nail biting on the final day, especially after such a long cross country course.
Izzy Taylor and Jockey Club Fleurelle
Out of contention for a podium finish but still impressive on the cross country course was the winner of the recent KBIS British Eventing 6YO Championship at Osberton, Amy Crerar’s Sankro.
This pair displayed great harmony and were pretty much foot perfect around the course – this horse would be the one we would take home without a doubt, but I don’t think that Amy would let him go in a hurry! Amy, who is a full time chiropractor and therefore an amateur rider, told us more about this horse at Osberton and you can watch their cross country ride to win that title here
Chris Burton and Fire Fly
6YO results after cross country here
Ingrid Klimke and Weisse Duene
The 7 Year Old Championship saw more problems on course with Fence 21 – the Cottage de l’Atoll on top of a bank which dropped steeply to two angled brush fences – claiming one eliminated combination ( again, sadly Miloslav Prihoda, this time on Eagle Eye, not a good day at the office) and 14 refusals. Merel Blom’s The Quizmaster really didn’t like it with two refusals here, moving them from seventh after dressage down to 51st and it even caught out Jonelle Price on Obos Impressive who jumped the second brush, but definitely outside the flag
Charlotte Dobretsberg on Vally K, third after dressage and Kitty King on Vendredi Biats, fourth, both also picked up jumping penalties; Charlotte at Fence 10 which claimed a couple of other scalps and Kitty at Fence 13B while Ireland’s Sophie Richards on SRS Adventure dropped out of the top ten with 19.2 time penalties
Pippa Funnell and Billy Walk On (above) and Maxime Livio in third place on Vroum d'Auzay (below)
However Jonelle moved up with her second horse Cooley Showtime into sixth place on 47.3, 10.4 penalties behind the leader Ingrid Klimke who showed that last year’s blip on Weisse Duene is well and truly behind them. Ingrid still leads on 36.9 and Pippa Funnell is hot on her heels on Billy Walk On with a score of 39. There is then a bit of a gap to the rest of the field with Maxime Livio in third and fifth places and Gemma Tattersall in sixth after a very well ridden cross country round on Chilli’s Gem.
7YO results after cross country here
Australia's Kevin McNab moved up from 28th to 15th with a double clear on Vihara Du Causse
