Eventing Aachen, Aston-le-Walls and highlights
New Zealand triumphs as Germany is forced to relinquish its Aachen stronghold, while the Brits have a testing time
IN horse sport nothing is guaranteed, and that certainly proved true in Aachen. While Germany’s Julia Krajewski held on to a commanding dressage lead to claim individual glory aboard Chipmunk FRH, the home side suffered problem after problem on cross-country day to finish in an unprecedented fifth. Instead it was New Zealand who took team victory after consistent performances across the board.
Defending champions and favourites Germany laid down the gauntlet with four predictably strong dressage scores. They extended their lead after the showjumping, with Julia holding the top two spots overnight on the recent Bramham CCI3* winner Chipmunk and her team ride Samourai Du Thot, but things began to unravel on cross-country day, where Rüdiger Schwarz’s deceptively tricky track proved extremely influential.
It was a rollercoaster day for Julia, and disaster struck when she and Samourai Du Thot were eliminated for three refusals at fence 16, a combination of skinnies incorporating a sunken road that proved the downfall for several.
“‘Sam’ is very intelligent and if he wants to do it he is hard to beat, but you need him 100% on side and today he wasn’t,” reflected Julia, who recovered brilliantly to jump a foot-perfect clear on Chipmunk with 6.4 timepenalties, finishing just 0.6 of a penalty ahead of Australia’s Chris Burton.
“But ‘Chip’ couldn’t be more different to Sam,” she added.
“He’s more genuine, honest and straightforward, but he’s young and a big horse, so going quickly over such an intense course is difficult and I need more time to set him up. I played it safe at the skinnies — I took longer to the first and into the second water, too, and I was thrilled with how he answered every question. Clearly it just took one round for me to pull myself together!”
But the problems had kept on coming for the rest of the German team; Andreas Dibowski (FRH Corrida) and Kai Ruder both jumped clear but racked up hefty time-penalties. Kai’s 12-year-old Colani Sunrise refused to leave the start box for a full 40 seconds, and wasted more time when scrambling through the second water complex — almost going through the barriers afterwards.
Even last year’s individual winner, Ingrid Klimke with SAP Hale Bob OLD, came to grief with a run-out at fence 16.
In contrast, New Zealand produced amazingly consistent performances, with Tim Price, Clarke Johnstone, Mark Todd and Blyth Tait all jumping clear, elevating them from overnight third into the top spot.
Tim had a couple of heartstopping moments riding
Joanne Pullan’s 11-year-old mare Cekatinka — like several, they did not quite make the three strides in the second water combination — but still flew home to finish third.
“It was a great, testing course, both in terms of jumping and time, which is what we expect here,” said Tim. “The mare was fantastic and looked after me a couple of times.
“For us, the priority was a solid team performance and that’s what has been thrilling — we’ve all gone out and delivered everything we wanted for the team.”
Of the 37 combinations that started the cross-country, 25 delivered clear rounds, but typically for Aachen, the real test of the track was the time. Chris Burton was the only rider to come home within the allotted 7min as he raced into the runner-up spot with Quality Purdey, and that was by just 0.01 of a second.
“I was impressed with the horse — I didn’t think she’d do it actually,” Chris admitted. “I knew the last part of the course would be hard to be fast over, so I purposely tried to get up on the clock early on. The atmosphere coming into the main stadium was incredible though — the horses prick their ears and perk up.”
SIXTH FOR TEAM GBR
THE British contingent finished in a disappointing team sixth. Oliver Townend was sixth after dressage, but he and Ballaghmor Class dropped to 16th after two down in the showjumping — which he put down to the 11-yearold Courage gelding’s tendency to be babyish when jumping towards crowds. It went downhill further on cross-country day when an awkward jump at the skinny element of the first water complex pitched Oliver off the side. Both he and the horse were uninjured.
Team first-timer Imogen Murray finished best of the British riders in 24th, having been the drop score overnight. Dressage isn’t Ivar Gooden’s strong point, but they crept up the leaderboard and would have finished in the top 15 if not for an unfortunate 20 penalties for a circle before the first water, that Imogen put down to a “steering malfunction” and initially thought she had got away with.
“I’m annoyed, but we’re both inexperienced and it’s been the most amazing experience and a huge learning curve,” said Imogen, who only received the call-up to replace Nicola Wilson on the Nations Cup team on the Monday. “It was stressful getting ready to come here in just a day, but you can’t say no to Aachen!”
Gemma Tattersall and Sarah Bullimore both had unfortunate run-outs, Gemma and Pamero
4 at the skinny element of the second water after the 11-yearold visibly hit a wall of fatigue and had to be nursed home, and Sarah and Reve Du Rouet at the combination of skinnies that had caught out the German riders.
“He’s always difficult with crowds and there were so many people at that fence,” said Sarah of the 14-year-old Balou Du Rouet son. “He was jumping beautifully, but then at the last minute he got distracted and lost concentration. He can be so stubborn, but when he gets it right he’s unreal.”
Britain’s individual, Tina Cook, withdrew before the cross-country after the 11-year-old Billy The Red misbehaved in the dressage, but he did showjump clear.