Britain on the up
The track proves jumpable and time achievable, but major nations fall by the wayside while Britain’s riders are superb
THE main talking point on Mark Phillips’ cross-country course was the number of options.
There were numerous places where riders had a choice, but often it was more about making an extra jumping effort to answer an easier question, rather than fast versus slow. Around the whole course, the number of jumping efforts a horse made could vary by up to 10 depending on the routes chosen.
The water at fence 10, the Mars Sustainability Bay, presented a mind-boggling array of options, with the elements up to the letter “g”.
Andrew Hoy joked that Mark’s designing budget must have been too high as there were so many fences, while Sam Watson said: “All those long routes mean more fences for horses to look at and get distracted; they could focus on the wrong element.”
His team-mate, Padraig McCarthy, commented: “The course has a nice flow to get into it, but I think you could be lulled into a false sense of security.
There are decent questions at the end and it’ll be tougher than people expect.
“Mark Phillips is very experienced — he won’t have made everyone come to have a nice trip round the cross-country.”
The great unknown was the weather. The timing of Hurricane Florence depended on which forecast you favoured, while dressage days had sweltered under high humidity and temperatures up to 31°C. The ground walked on the soft side after heavy showers.
“It’s going to be a lottery — you can lose 10-20 seconds in a blink in bad conditions,” said Piggy French.
There were rumours of the course being shortened so it finished part-way up the infamous hill in the final minutes (Mark Phillips, p49), but the full 10-minute distance remained. Elements were taken out of two late combinations.
Riders seemed unanimously in favour of going the full distance, saying this was what they had trained for.
But of the fence tweaks,
Jonelle Price said: “It seems a little bit silly; for me as soon as you’ve jumped fence 20 you’re pretty much bolting home. I think realistically you’re going to make up quite a lot of time up the hill.”
Her words proved prophetic.
HORSE-FRIENDLY CONDITIONS
CROSS-COUNTRY day dawned dry, although clouds hovered menacingly. There were two short heavy showers during the day.
Horses were started at three-minute intervals rather than the planned four, to up the
chances of completing the action before the serious rain. There was, at times, a desperate sense of urgency to get this all-important day of sport in the bag.
The ground came up perfectly and, with cooler temperatures than earlier in the week, the conditions were horse-friendly.
Canada’s Colleen Loach did a good job as the pathfinder on the big grey Qorry Blue D’Argouges, riding forward through the combinations and taking the fewest possible jumping efforts.
She came in 25 seconds over the optimum time, but was followed by Spain’s Carlos Diaz Fernandez (Junco CP) who stopped the clock on the 10-minute optimum time.
Germany’s Kai Rüder
soon articulated the common experience of losing time in the track’s intense middle section and he came in 43 seconds off the pace on Colani Sunrise.
Britain’s Gemma Tattersall was 15 seconds behind the clock at the bottom of the hill, but Arctic Soul showed why he was selected and powered up to come home 13 seconds inside the time while easing down to the finish.
“Having jumped round seven four-stars, it’s a pretty straightforward track for him,” Gemma said.
British team orders at fence 10 were to avoid the shortest route involving a step out of water with a cascade flowing down it, instead opting for a ramp out of the pond and then three fences on a curve.
“We knew he’d make up the time and we didn’t know how that step would ride,” said
Gemma, who moved up to 18th place individually.
The cascade’s first victim was the US horse Tight Lines, who stopped under Will Coleman. With a run-out at fence 14 also on his scorecard, the US effort had started to unravel.
New Zealand’s day also got off to a poor start when Dassett Courage stopped at the step at fence 10 and was later eliminated for cumulative refusals.
“He was so switched off, I couldn’t get him to concentrate, to participate,” said Blyth Tait.
“I’m gutted. My job was to take the pressure off the other guys and instead I’ve heaped it on.”
Andrew Hoy’s fault-free round set Australia off and elevated him to 11th individually.
“Vassily De Lassos gave me one of the greatest rides of my life,” he said.
Sam Watson (Horseware Ardagh Highlight) breezed in under the time for Ireland, having made a last-minute adjustment to take the same route as Gemma through fence 10 after seeing Will’s refusal. This swiftly became the default among the competitive teams.
GERMANS GO DOWN
INDIVIDUAL leader Julia Krajewski was in the next rotation of team riders and she and Chipmunk FRH were
sailing along until fence 14, where they had a run-out at the second corner on the right-hand line.
“I pushed too much to the corner and couldn’t set him up,” she said. “I ended up too close and he couldn’t have jumped it from there.”
US pair Boyd Martin and Tseterleg also had an error of judgement around take-off point, at fence 10’s boat in the water.
“I rode that jump completely wrong. I tried to add a stride right at the end,” he admitted.
“It was a crushing moment, I came up short today.”
These mistakes pushed Germany and the USA out of the team running and it was a similar story for New Zealand when McClaren spooked at the cascade as Mark Todd steered him past it up the ramp at fence 10, running out at the subsequent arrowhead.
Australia too suffered problems when Chris Burton and Cooley Lands ran out at the boat at fence 10, but this supremely fast rider still came home inside the optimum time.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and Ireland were in the ascendant. Maxime Livio added France’s second jumping clear, a few seconds over the time on
Opium De Verrieres, and it was a similar experience for Cathal Daniels. He explained he has eased off Rioghan Rua’s gallop work this year in an effort to improve this hot mare’s dressage
‘I’m proud of Quarrycrest Echo —
he was gritty and dug deep’
PIGGY FRENCH
and it told a little on the hill.
Piggy French had a fantastic round and kicked Quarrycrest Echo on up the hill to give Britain a second clear inside the time and sit eighth individually.
“It was twistier and harder than predicted,” she said. “He’s not thoroughbred or the most experienced so I’m proud — he was gritty and dug deep.”
British individual Tina Cook took her lead from her compatriots and also finished clear with Billy The Red, albeit six seconds over the time. She moved up nine places to 14th.
“He was quite bullish, which isn’t a complaint, but he was an eager boy to get on with it,” said Tina.
Also in this tranche of individual riders was France’s Astier Nicolas, who had one of the best rounds of the day, including taking the direct route through fence 10, to move up to fifth on Vinci De La Vigne.
US individual Lauren Kieffer had a fall when Vermiculus left a leg at the big parallel into the Land Rover Turn (fence 18).
The third Canadian team rider, Jessica Phoenix, also came to grief here despite a valiant effort to stay on when Pavarotti was overkeen at the two squirrels.
FRANCE CLAIM THE BRONZE SPOT
THE third batch of team riders brought bright spots for the USA and New Zealand, although it was too late for their teams. Lynn Symansky was clear inside the time on experienced thoroughbred Donner to rise eight places to ninth, while Tim Price and Cekatinka gained three spots for sixth.
Tim said: “She’s very fast — she was underrated as a younger horse because she gets low over her fences, but she’s very deliberate and knows where her legs are.”
Meanwhile, 6.8 time-faults dropped Australia’s Emma
McNab from seventh to 20th on Fernhill Tabasco. Thibaut Vallette hung onto fourth despite being three seconds slow on Qing Du Briot ENE HN, and France’s team bronze position was confirmed when Sidney Dufresne (Tresor Mail) recorded the nation’s fourth jumping clear.
For Ireland, Padraig McCarthy
moved up two places to seventh with a clear inside the time aboard Mr Chunky.
“It wasn’t his ideal course — he likes to run and jump. He’s not so good at braking and turning, so it wasn’t as comfortable as I might have hoped and we had a hairy moment coming out of the last water,” said Padraig. “He’s a big, strong horse and he dug really deep.”
Tom McEwen’s round on Toledo De Kerser was an exemplary piece of flowing riding and he brought levity to his interview when he admitted he had lost his whip before his round, “although I’m sure I had it yesterday”.
“I was wandering round looking in all the trunks and then Gemma kindly lent me her pink one. I had my hand round the pink bit for most of the round,” he grinned.
Pink whip or not, he was up to 10th and the Brits’ end-of-day lead was confirmed, regardless of fourth rider performances.
KLIMKE TAKES THE LEAD
THERE was a touch of drama among the last individuals. Italy’s Simone Sordi fell at the third-last when Amacuzzi left a front leg on the fruit box and Aussie Bill Levett had a dunking when Lassban Diamond Lift left a leg on the boat at fence 10.
The delay after Simone’s fall meant Ingrid Klimke was held briefly at the start, which did not suit a keen SAP Hale Bob OLD.
“He already wasn’t so sure why he’d waited so long, then when I wasn’t allowed to go I tried to trot back and he didn’t want to,” said Ingrid, explaining that the first combination at fence
five steadied “Bobby” and made him concentrate.
She finished dead on the optimum time to take over the individual lead.
Ros Canter was not far behind and rode a confident, accurate round to rise to individual silver.
“There’s a sense of impending doom,” she said of her long wait. “I knew I had to go fast, which is out of my comfort zone as I’m ‘Captain Slow’.”
Sarah Ennis and Horseware
Stellor Rebound’s super clear inside the time elevated them from sixth to individual bronze and confirmed Ireland’s team silver overnight, while Jonelle Price whisked round in her usual speedy fashion on Classic Moet.
Unsurprisingly, she seemed deflated the cross-country had not been tougher — and criticised the fact there had been talk of shortening the track.
“It would have been an absolute joke had we been made
to run over 7min 50sec in these conditions, and making that call potentially on Thursday night and even on Friday morning, it’s slightly worrying who’s making these calls,” she said.
Interestingly, Chris Burton said the opposite, pointing out most riders were down on their markers at the bottom of the hill, so had the course finished at that point, there would have been fewer inside the time.
“Without the hill we could have had a more exciting time and not seen such tired horses. Our sport’s got to improve and needs to get shorter,” he said.
Norway’s Heidi Bratlie Larsen’s Euforian was pulled up on course by the ground jury and Swedish team member Anna Freskgård’s Box Qutie finished lame. Both were taken for treatment in horse ambulances and diagnosed with
soft tissue injuries.
But overall, this was an excellent day for eventing. A figure of 21% inside the time marked a softer course than many recent championships, but this was the first time the World Championships has been pitched at three-star rather than four-star technicality. Also, ideal conditions will always up the percentage of pairs who make the time and no designer can bank on such luck.
There were no horse falls and all the 16 teams completed, the first time this has happened at a World Championships since 1994.
However, the course did play a serious part in shuffling the leaderboard, with big scalps taken, pre-event favourites Germany and New Zealand dropping out of the running and Ireland moving up to silver from seventh after dressage.
‘I knew I had to go fast, which is out of my comfort zone as
I’m “Captain Slow”’
ROS CANTER