Cor blimey, Coree
Brits have a less than perfect show at Aachen but European and US riders enjoy more luck — and some hair-raising weather bears an influence
A SHARP rain shower during the Rolex grand prix made for slippery conditions in Aachen’s expansive grass arena, but it resulted in a gripping four-way finale.
Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet — the penultimate rider in the jump-off — risked it all and shaved the corners where possible with the big-hearted mare Coree to land the top honours.
“I had to take a risk in the jump-off today and it certainly paid off,” said Gregory, who first spotted the 11-year-old when she was competing as a young horse.
“I followed her as a six-yearold — she was under the same ownership as my horse Conrad — before she was sent to me at eight.
“The plan was to sell her on but I was very lucky to find an owner who bought her for me to keep the ride. I think today she was giving it all back to us and I could not be prouder of her.”
Portugal’s Luciana Diniz and another tough mare, Fit For
Fun 13, set the bar with a speedy round in 47.4 seconds, before the winning Belgian slashed her time by 0.8 of a second.
Luciana had the crowd on the edge of their seats when
surviving a scary moment as her mare slipped turning into the Mercedes-Benz fence. However, Fit For Fun 13 showed she was all heart and scope, picking up for her rider to clear the substantial oxer with ease.
“There is a lot of trust between us and I’ve always believed in the power of quiet riding and serenity with my horses,” said the runner-up. “I always have quiet confidence with her that we can do our best.”
Eventual third, Dutch rider Marc Houtzager, conceded to the slippery conditions and gave his mount Sterrehof ’s Calimero more space round the turns, producing a nice clear round. While the show's leading rider Laura Kraut (USA) had her foot to the metal aboard her gutsy mare Zeremonie. However, an unlucky pole rolled at the final Rolex oxer put her out of contention for the winner’s €330,000 (£295,880) prize-pot.
EARLY CHALLENGES SORT THE FIELD
THE top quartet were the only riders able to produce a double clear following the second round over Frank Rothenberger’s sizeable track. It was, in fact, the initial round in this grand prix that proved the most influential, with some of the very best riders being caught out.
An imposing double at fence seven — an upright to a huge oxer — saw the most penalties, with Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum (Chiara 222) and Swiss rider Steve Guerdat (Bianca) faulting here.
British hopes were pinned on Scott Brash and his super mare Ursula XII. Having raised concern during Friday’s Nations Cup when they uncharacteristically racked up the penalties (see p64), it was reassuring to see Ursula regain her scope. The pair finished on four faults after tapping a pole in the initial round.
The luck of the Irish dwindled during Sunday’s feature class when Cian O’Connor was another four-faulter, and Bertram Allen’s fortunes changed when a rain shower hit midway through his round.
Hector Van D’Abdijhoeve was jumping well until he tried to put down going over a substantial oxer, taking out the poles and throwing Bertram up his neck before the rider called it a day.
GLORY FOR GERMANY
“IT took us eight years to win the Nations Cup here and now we have done it twice in a row,” quipped the German chef d’equipe Otto Becker, after his team once again swept the renowned Aachen turf with a victory in the Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup.
German trailblazer Marcus Ehning and the 14-year-old gelding Pret A Tout set the bar high, producing two flawless clear rounds.
His team-mates, Philipp Weishaupt and Maurice Tebbel (see box), also bagged double clears for the home nation.
Philipp, who had appendix surgery last month while riding at Spruce Meadows, returned with his 2016 grand prix-winning ride LB Convall.
Mirroring last year, the Germans concluded on a zero score and, as they were the only team to do so, there wasn’t a jump-off.
Marco Kutscher was the winning team’s drop score after Clenur took a serious dislike to the water jump.
“He has jumped open water seven times this year and this is the first time he’s had a problem,” explained Marco. “It really took me by surprise.”
Switzerland and the USA settled for joint runner-up spot, with both teams finishing on eight penalties.
Double clears came courtesy of the USA’s Laura Kraut (Zeremonie) and McLain Ward (HH Azur) and Swiss riders Steve Guerdat (Hannah) and Werner Muff (Daimler).
‘SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED’
LUCK was not on the side of the British camp on Nations Cup day, and with a total of 54 penalties picked up after the two rounds, chef d’equipe Di Lampard was left “returning to the drawing board.”
Drama unfolded early on in the competition when trailblazer Guy Williams’ top horse Titus sadly sustained a near-fore strained ligament when putting a foot down in the water during the initial round.
Proving just how genuine the 17-year-old gelding is, he continued to jump — albeit knocking the next three fences down — before Guy pulled him up ahead of the final fence and swiftly dismounted.
Di described the injury as being “potentially career threatening considering how old the horse is now.”
Scott Brash’s ride Ursula XII did not relish the Aachen arena like she usually does and picked up a total of 24 penalties. Robert Smith, partnering the stallion Ilton, picked up nine penalties in each round.
The best of the Brits was
Nigel Coupe aboard his recent Hickstead Derby and Cock O’The North winner Golvers Hill. The in-form gelding tapped part C of the problematic treble at fence four before having two down in the second round when the course was “beefed up”.
“Today was a real blow and
‘Some horses might have been at a disadvantage, but it didn’t affect mine’
ERIC LAMAZE ON FINE LADY 5
we have no answers for what happened — it always is a tough course here at Aachen but we are shocked and disappointed by the result,” added Di.
UNLUCKY FOR SOME
NO matter how hard the British riders tried, the fates seem to conspire to keep them out of the top placings in Aachen. However, Cian O’Connor and Bertram Allen flew the flag for Ireland in truly great style.
As well as being a qualifier for the Rolex grand prix, Wednesday’s Turkish Airlines Prize of Europe carried a hefty €100,000 prizefund, meaning the big guns were out in force.
Frank Rothenberger’s course included several trademark fences, such as the double of ditches, but although several horses looked at a spooky semi-circular plank after the combination, 20 reached the jump-off.
Throughout the class, storm clouds rolled towards the stadium and just before the thunder and lightning arrived, a huge gust of wind flattened much of the course. After a short break, the competition restarted until torrential rain made it impossible to carry on. There was another hold and when things got under way again, water was squelching from the surface at every stride.
Despite this, the jump-off was a classic and the packed crowd witnessed an extraordinary winning round. Canadian star
Eric Lamaze produced a daring performance and the brilliant 14-year-old Hanoverian Fine Lady 5 responded in style to take the lead by a huge margin.
Eric had a nervous wait. Bertram Allen and a flying Molly Malone V missed out by 0.09 of a second, then Cian O’Connor made full use of Good Luck’s huge stride to finish 0.03 of a second behind Bertram for eventual third and fourth respectively. The home favourite Ludger Beerbaum used all his experience from last draw to coax a rare turn of speed from Chiara to go just one hundredth of a second ahead of Bertram and take second place.
After winning this class in 2016, Eric Lamaze chose to miss the grand prix, as he was aiming his superstar mare at the Olympics, where they captured individual bronze. Despite the change in the going in this year's competition, the former ride of Germany’s Holger Wulschner who first joined Eric’s string as a speed horse, was unfazed.
“Some horses might have been at a disadvantage, but it didn’t affect mine,” said Eric. “It was a fair test.”
Cian O’Connor said of his 11-year-old stallion: “He’s learning to go faster all the time.”
Cian went on to win the world ranking two-phase on the early drawn Callisto.
“Fast, high, wide — nothing’s a problem for him. Last weekend, he was jumping in the Nations Cup in Falsterbo and now he’s won at the best show in the world,” he said.
The irrepressible Mr O’Connor produced the winning round on Copain Du Perchet CH in Friday’s “speed Derby”, the Sparkasse
Prize. Again, there was no luck for Britain when Guy Williams’ quick round on Casper De Muze, on whom he had finished sixth in the show’s opening class, was spoiled at the final fence.
Cian has headed this class on several occasions.
“I can’t remember if it’s win number five or six,” he said.
“I love this type of traditional competition with natural obstacles.”
In the earlier grand prix qualifier, Robert Smith worked incredibly hard to jump clear over a tough course on Bavi. However, the rules meant that only 25% of
the starters reached the jumpoff and Robert was among five who were clear but failed to get through.
Veteran horses fought out the finish. Kent Farrington took the honours for the USA on 16-yearold Uceko, with Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and 17-yearold Taloubet Z just behind.
Cian and Bertram were back in the money in Saturday’s world ranking winning round competition. In an incredibly quick 15-horse jump-off, Bertram and Molly Malone V ended up
third, less than half a second behind winners Christian Ahlmann and Caribis Z.
Bertram was also involved in the jump-off of that evening’s Sparkassen young horse final. He faced a near impossible task from first to go of 14, but the sevenyear-old Calafrieda, a mare with a lovely attitude, met everything on a perfect stride and finished in fourth place.
Scott Brash produced an
unhurried jump-off round on Hello Senator, the Dutch-bred gelding who finished third for Luc Steeghs in last year’s world seven-year-old championship. The British number one finished third behind Italian winner Lorenzo de Luca (Jeunesse
Van’t Paradijs).
“I’m delighted with the way he’s progressing,” said Scott, who recently moved the son of Carambole up to grand prix.