Albert Zoer completes recovery winning in Bordeaux

It took the full length of this Rolex FEI World Cup™ season for Albert Zoer to regain his old form. The double fracture of Zoer’s leg didn’t just destroy his Olympic dream, it kept the Dutch rider away from success for months. Zoer limbed his way walking the courses of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ competitions, the right feeling only slowly came back to the leg that even today contains some screws. In Bordeaux Albert Zoer completed his sportive recuperation, winning the 10^th leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ competition.

“This is great for more than one reason”, said Albert Zoer after receiving the 40.500 euro check. “It’s wonderful to have found my old form back. It’s super that Okidoki jumps the way he does. He’s the old Oki again! And I needed the 20 points badly, I suppose I will qualify for Las Vegas now.”

Two ‘first’ horses

Last summer Albert Zoer had developed into one of the very few riders in the world who could catch up with the likes of Meredith Michaels Beerbaum, having two ‘first’ horses of supreme quality to do the tough job. 36 hours after winning the Aachen Grand Prix, Zoer smashed the bones in his leg, training one of his young horses. He returned to the circuit in the indoor season, but he was hardly able to walk the course. “It took quite a while for me to get the right feeling back”, said Albert.

The rider from the north of Holland had to get used to the idea that winning ribbons was not something to be taken for granted. The success machine went on the blink, World Cup points were very hard to pick up.

Nervous by nature

But it took even longer for Albert’s top horse Okidoki to return to its old form. “Oki is a bit nervous by nature. He had been away from the circuit for months and had to return in the indoor season. That did not suit him at all, with all the noise and tension in the indoor arena’s. Bit by bit he started to concentrate more and jump better. Today, for the second weekend in a row, he gave me the old feeling.”

What Okidoki also gave to his rider was the full 20 points, ensuring Zoer of a place in the final in Las Vegas.

9 of the top 10

The ‘Jumping International de Bordeaux’ had attracted 9 of the top 10 riders, which forced course designer Frank Rothenberger to build both big and technical. “This was one of the toughest courses so far in the World Cup competition”, said Albert Zoer. “It was high and you needed to be in control all the time, having to push forward and then hold back in the lines.”

The ideal amount of eight combinations qualified for the jump off, another 11 combinations on only four faults showed that the challenge was far from excessive. Yet Ludger Beerbaum retired All Inclusive NRW after three faults in the triple combination and also the winner of the Leipzig and Zürich legs Jessica Kürten took her sensitive mare Quibell out of the competition.

Surprise of Zürich

When Albert Zoer entered the arena of the Parc des Expositions for the jump off, three riders had preceded him, none of them returned with a clean sheet. Mikael Forsten was in the lead, the big surprise of Zürich had a fast round aboard Isaac du Jonquet, knocking down one fence (4/35.10 seconds). “I didn’t intend to be super fast”, said Zoer, “I had made my own plan. But in the beginning I didn’t stick to that. Going from the second to the third fence I wanted to skip one stride, but it just didn’t work out. Luckily, Oki helped me and stayed clear brilliantly.”

Indeed the time of 36.57 seconds left room for improvement, as next rider Gerco Schröder showed. He pushed his mare Eurocommerce Milano to 34.80 seconds, but the risks the small jockey from Holland took left him with four faults.

Marco Kutscher and his scopy stallion Cornet Obolensky were the only ones to equal the double clear status of Zoer and Okidoki, but the impressive grey stallion played around just 0,7 seconds too much.

Jos Lansink was the last rider standing in the way of 20 valuable World Cup points. Valentina van ‘t Heike, not the easiest horse, was quicker than Okidoki, but Lansink had to settle for third place when a rail went down.

Gerco in the lead

Ranked fourth, Gerco Schröder gained another 13 World Cup points and took the lead in the Western European League. With Vigo, Göteborg and ‘s Hertogenbosch still to go, the picture is getting clearer. Some riders are already saving their horses for the grand final in Las Vegas. But the margins are small, in the lower ranks of the competition anything can still happen. Pressure is rising, nerves are wrecking, let’s see who has the best final sprint!

Results of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ competition in Bordeaux:

1)      Albert Zoer (NED), Okidoki, 0-0/36.57 sec

2)      Marco Kutscher (GER), Cornet Obolensky, 0-0/36.64 sec

3)      Jos Lansink (BEL), Valentina van ‘t Heike, 0-4/34.59 sec

4)      Gerco Schröder (NED), Eurocommerce Milano, 0-4/34.80 sec

5)      Mikael Forsten (FIN), Isaac du Jonquet, 0-4/35.10 sec

6)      Pius Schwizer (SUI), Unique X, 0-4/36.19 sec

7)      Kevin Staut (FRA), Le Prestige st Lois, 0-4/36.45 sec

8)      Michel Robert (FRA), Mme Pompadour, 0-4/37.12 sec

Standings after 10 of 13 competitions:

1) Gerco Schröder (NED), 60

2) Edwina Alexander (AUS), 57

3) Steve Guerdat (SUI), 51

4) Albert Zoer (NED), 50

5) Jos Lansink (BEL), 48

6) Daniel Etter (SUI), 45

6) Mikael Forsten (FIN), 45

8) Marcus Ehning (GER), 44

9) Ludo Philippaerts (BEL), 41

10) Jessica Kürten (IRE), 40

11) Ben Maher (GBR), 39

11) Geir Gulliksen (NOR), 39

11) Thomas Velin (DEN), 39

14) Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (GER), 37 (already qualified)

15) Lars Nieberg (GER), 36

16) Max Kühner (GER), 34

17) Rutherford Latham (ESP), 33

18) Helena Lundbäck (SWE), 30