On the eve of his 55th birthday, Thomas Fruhmann underpinned his dramatic return ton top-level show jumping when recording his second victory of the 2005/2006 World Cup Jumping season at Leipzig in Germany today.
The veteran Austrian pipped Germany's Ludger Beerbaum with a breathtaking last-to-go ride with his 10 year old horse The Sixth Sense and, after a long period in the shadows, looks set to qualify for the final in Kuala Lumpur in April.
From a starting field of 40, a total of 13 horse-and-rider combinations jumped clear over Frank Rothenberger's first round track to go through to the jump-off and Ireland's Jessica Kurten, winner of the US$760,000 Grand Prix in Dubai nine days ago and last into the ring today having won Friday's Preliminary competition, just missed out when collecting four faults with Castle Forbes Libertina.
Sweden's Maria Gretzer and Spender S set the early target when, first to go against the clock, they came home clear again in 37.09 seconds. Belgium's Patrick McEntee (Sherryj Mury Marais Z) had two fences down but then German star, Ludger Beerbaum, shaved over three seconds off Gretzer's time with a superb run from the brilliant 14 year old mare Gladdys S.
That really put it up to the rest of them and Markus Beerbaum collected eight faults with Leena as he attempted to rise to the challenge thrown down by his brother. With six of the jump-off contenders flying the German flag it seemed very likely indeed that the honours would stay at home and Marco Kutscher reinforced the German attack when steering Cash home in 34.15 seconds to slot in temporary second spot.
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson proved no threat when picking up four faults in 35.64 seconds while Germany's Ulrich Kirchhoff was slower still but clear in 35.92 seconds with Carino. Otto Becker and Dobel's Cento kept up a strong pace in their fault-free run but 34.35 seconds was never going to be quick enough and when Finland's Sebastian Numminen and Sails Away faulted twice, Frenchman Philippe Leoni and Cyrenaika FRH were clear but slow and Holland's Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce Monaco lowered two on their tour of the track it was still looking good for Ludger with just two left to go.
Heinrich-Hermann Engemann, winner of the opening round of this series in Helsinki in October, put his foot to the floor when second-last into the ring with Aboyeur who scorched home in the super-fast time of 33.01 seconds but leaving a pole on the ground, and when Fruhmann set off he knew exactly what he had to do.
"Ludger did a really fast time and I just knew that I had to go as fast as I possibly could if I was to have any chance of beating him" the Austrian rider said afterwards and, with The Sixth Sense in top gear, he did just that. Fruhmann's riding style is a little unorthodox but his 10 year old horse has had no difficulty in forging a trusting relationship with his rider who, after a lifetime in the saddle, knows a special horse when he finds one. "The Sixth Sense is world class" he said afterwards. "At home he jumps better over 1.60m than he does over 1.50m and he really enjoys his competitions" he added.
Setting off at a cracking pace the Austrian partnership blazed a trial to come home clear in 33.12 seconds - almost a full second quicker than Ludger Beerbaum - to seal a significant victory and to shoot up from 16th to 6th place on the World Cup Jumping leaderboard. His surprise win in Geneva marked a major moment in Fruhmann's career as he had all but quit top-class competition in recent years for a number of reasons including the lack of a truly competitive horse.
"I'm very surprised at the form of my horse. He has done very little really and this was only his fourth World Cup competition so I'm also very pleased" he said. "Now I will go to the qualifying rounds at Bordeaux and Vigo and hopefully make it to the final if I can" and, with 40 points already to his credit, it looks very much like he should make the cut.
Bordeaux takes place in two weeks time and, with just three further legs of the series remaining after that, the pressure is rising fast in the race for those precious points. Second place in today's class still only leaves Ludger Beerbaum with 25 and well down the leaderboard in 14th position, while third-placed marco Kutscher also has plenty to do with only 22 to his tally so far but Switzerland's Beat Mandli is sitting comfortably at the top of the Western European League table with 56 points while Gerco Schroder lies second and is well-qualified for the Malaysian finale with 52 points to date.
RESULTS:
1. The Sixth Sense (Thomas Fruhman) Aut 0/0 33.12; 2, Gladdys S (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 0/0 33.70; 3, Cash (Marco Kutscher) Ger 0/0 34.15; 4, Dobel's Cento (Otto Becker) Ger 0/0 34.35; 5, Carino (Ulrich Kirchhoff) Ger 0/0 35.92; 6, Spender S (Maria Gretzer) Swe 0/0 37.09; 7, Cyrenaika FRH (Philippe Leoni) Fra 0/0 37.15; 8, Aboyeur W (Heinrich Hermann Engemann) Ger 0/4 33.01; 9, Grandina (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 0/4 35.64; 10, Leena (Markus Beerbaum) Ger 0/8 34.10; 11, Sails Away (Sebastian Numminen) Fin 0/8 35.21; 12, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder) Ned 0/8 37.03; 13, Sherry Mury Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) Bel 0/8 42.31; 14, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kurten) Irl 4/64.84; 15, Hofgut liederbach's Abrisca (Pia-Luise Aufrecht) Ger 4/64.89; 16, Gio Granno (Manuek Fernandex Saro) Esp 4/65.81; 17, Candy (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst) Ger 4/66.06; 18, Quel Homme (Rene Tebbel) Ger 4/66.09; 19, Sandro Boy (Marcus Ehning) Ger 4/66.10; 20, Okidoki (Albert Zoer) Ned 4/66.15; 21, Clausen (Holger Wulschner) Ger 4/66.67; 22, Topic van't Voorhof (Bernardo Alves) Bra 4/67.04; 23, ET Royal Volo (Tony Andre Hansen) Nor 4/67.09; 24, Pherna (Julie Kayser) Aut 4/67.64; 25, Godsend du Reverdy (Thomas Velin) Den 4/67.79; 26, Pikeur Calanda (Franz-Josef Dahlmann) Ger 5/69.18; 27, Alfredo (Ben Maher) GBR 5/71.85; 28, Verelst Goliath (Marc van Dijck) Bel 8/66.71; 29, For keeps (Lars Nieberg) Ger 8/66.87; 30, Aquino (Franke Sloothaak) Ger 8/67.51; 31, Audi's Jikke (Eric van der Vleuten) Ned 8/68.03; 32, Rezonanz (Vladimir Beletskly) Rus 9/69.37; 33, Cattani (Geir Gulliksen) Nor 9/70.37; 34, La Toya (Markus Fuchs) Sui 12/65.78; 35, Luidam (Billy Twomey) Irl 12/67.85; 36, Argelith Stakkato (Eva Bitter) Ger 12/68.10; 37, Checkmate (Meredith Michales-Beerbaum0 Ger 12/81.53; 38, Nike (Katharina Offel) UKR 13/72.00; 39, Unique X (Pius Schwizer) Sui 17/69.57; 40, Killian (Giuseppe Rolli) Ita Ret.
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING 2005/2006 LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 8 IN LEIPZIG:
1. Beat Mandli - 56
2. Gerco Schroder - 52
3. Marcus Ehning - 48
4. Robert Smith - 46
5. Heinrich Hermann Engemann - 41
6. Thomas Fruhmann - 40
7, Nick Skelton - 34
8. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst - 32
9. Juan Carlos Garcia, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 28
11. Pia-Luise Aufrecht, Philippe Leoni - 27
13. Piet Raymakers - 26
14. Ludger Beerbaum, Harrie Smolders - 25
16. Thomas Velin, Patrick McEntee - 23
18. Marco Kutscher, Linea Ericsson, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, Jessica
Kurten, Markus Beerbaum - 22.
The WEBSITE for FEI World Cup Jumping in Leipzig, Germany is www.engarde.de. Show President and Show Director is Volker Wulff, Show Secretary is Conny Reuss - mobile ++49173 3506259, email reuss@engarde.de and Press Officer is Andreas kerstan - mobile ++49177 827970, email akerstan@kerstan.de.
The NEXT leg of the series takes place in Bordeaux, France from 3-5 February. Show President is Marc Lecoq, Show Director is Francois-Bernard Martin and Show Secretary is Sabine Palau. Press Officer is Marie-Sol Fournier, Tel: +33556 119943 or email presse@bordeaux-expo.com. WEBSITE: www.jumping-bordeaux.com.
For all information on the FEI World Cup Jumping final in Kuala Lumpur (26-30 April) check out the WEBSITE www.klworldcupfinal.com or contact Press Officer Lo Wai Fai at email waifai@asiapromote.net or Tel (mobile) +6012 209 0068 . Show Director is Peter Winton, email paw@asiapromote.net.
2005/2006 FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING SERIES - CALENDAR OF EVENTS: 1, Helsinki (Finland) - 6/9 October; 2, Oslo (Norway) - 14/16 October; 3, Verona (Italy) - 4/6 November; 4, Stuttgart (Ger) - 16/20 November; 5, Geneva (Switzerland) - 8/11 December; 6, London-Olympia (Great Britain) - 13-19 December; 7, Mechelen (Belgium) - 26/30 December; 8, Leipzig (Germany) 19/22 January; 9, Bordeaux (France) - 3/5 February; 10, Vigo (Spain) - 9/12 February; 11, 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) - 23/26 March; 12, Goteborg (Sweden) - 13/16 April. Final Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 26/30 April.
BIOGRAPHIES of riders competing in the FEI World Cup Jumping series are available at www.horsesport.org.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RULES for World Cup Jumping riders from FEI
website www.feiworldcup.org.
FEI World Cup Jumping has entered its 28th year. The series, created
in 1978, today comprises 13 leagues on all continents. The best riders
from 116 World Cup preliminary competitions will qualify for the Final
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which takes place from 26 to 30 April 2006.
The title-holder is Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.
The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), founded in 1921, is the
international body governing equestrian sport recognised by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 133 National
Federations.
Equestrian sport has been on the Olympic programme since 1912 with
three disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. It is one of the
very few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms. It is
also the only sport which involves two athletes - horse and rider - and
the FEI has relentlessly concerned itself with the welfare of the
horse.
For more information contact:
FEI Communications, Muriel Faienza m.faienza@horsesport.org or consult
FEI website www.horsesport.org.
Campus
