Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum stormed to victory in the FEI/Gandini Top 10 Final presented by Rolex in Geneva tonight where the battle of champions kept spectators on the edges of their seats.
Riding the 11 year old Shutterfly the 34 year old American-born rider produced two rounds of pure magic and defending champion Rodrigo Pessoa from Brazil had to settle for runner-up spot while Marcus Ehning finished an unlucky third.
It was a competition full of drama with several horses finding the electric atmosphere in the Palexpo exhibition hall too much to handle, but Michael Whitaker kicked off the competition with just a single mistake from Portofino at the middle element of the combination in the first round, completing with five faults on the board when adding one more for time.
Fellow-Briton Robert Smith and Kalusha hit exactly the same vertical while Belgium’s Ludo Philippaerts and the eight year old Tornado lowered both the triple bar at fence eight and the following vertical and Germany’s Otto Becker and Lando hit the oxer at fence three.
Switzerland’s Markus Fuchs got a great reception from the crowd as he entered the ring but he found himself battling to keep his mare’s attention between the second and third fences and had to ride for his life most of the way around the arena as Granie struggled to concentrate, coming home with 12 faults.
Toni Hassman’s Camirez B is another experienced campaigner but lowered the bogey second element of the combination at fence five and then the triple bar along with the second element of the final double for another 12-fault result but his German counterpart Marcus Ehning followed with a copybook clear.
Unlike so many of those who had gone before, Ehning’s big 13 year old mare just got on with her job and powered around the colossal 12-fence track designed by Heiner Fischer and Rolf Ludi, rattling the oxer at fence 10 but leaving all the poles intact to set the first real target when clear in 62.97 seconds.
Rodrigo Pessoa displayed his already legendary horsemanship when steering Carlot 3, a horse he has been riding for only 10 days, to match that but in the slightly slower time of 63.65 seconds but Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum, winner of the FEI/Gandini Top 10 final in both the inaugural season in 2001 with Goldfever and again in 2002 with Gladdys had a very difficult round.
He was partnering Goldfever again this time but the 13 year old horse was very unsettled, spooking wildly on the line between fences two and three and Beerbaum seemed to be struggling for control much of the way around, doing well to come home with just one time fault along with 12 more for three fences down.
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly concluded the first round however with a foot-perfect exhibition of good jumping, stopping the clock in precisely the same time as Pessoa.
Goldfever regained his composure to execute a clear to kick off the second round and both Hassmann’s Camirez B and Fuchs’ Granie did likewise while Phillipaerts’ youngster Tornado R made just a single error and collected one additional fault for time at his second attempt over the course which was now reduced to eight fences.
Whitaker, who gained his place in the Top 10 final when America’s Beezie Madden decided not to compete, produced a lovely second-round clear so, carrying just five faults after his first effort, he was now putting himself into contention as he crossed the line 52.77 seconds.
Smith and Kalusha added eight more faults to complete with 12 and Becker and Lando hit the third to finish with a total of eight and this left just the three first-round clears to battle it out in the closing stages.
Pessoa once more showed his class when bringing Carlot home clear in 48.13 seconds but Michaels-Beerbaum shaved almost six seconds off that with a superb turn at the mid-way stage and a brave gallop to the last.
"I expect Marcus to give everything" she said before Ehning went into the ring, "I know he will but I’m very pleased with my own performance" she added.
And Ehning and Anka did give it everything they had, scorching around and up on time as they raced to the last but although the clock showed a time of 42.16 seconds, 0.20 faster than Shutterfly, the final fence fell for four faults to leave them in third place behind Pessoa.
Michael Whitaker lined up in fourth and the British rider, who blamed himself for Portofino’s first-round error – "I was over-riding" he explained – had every reason to be well-pleased as he became a father for the third time yesterday when his newest daughter, Katy, was born.
He pocketed 21,000chf for today’s result while Ehning earned 25,000chf and Pessoa took 33,000chf as runner-up.
"I’m delighted with Carlot" he said, "he is German-bred by Carthago and used to be ridden by Maria Sundberg from Sweden. This was my first show with him and I think he's a top-class horse – I’m looking forward to the future with him" he added.
Michaels-Beerbaum claimed the 45,000chf winners purse but it was the victory in this prestigious competition that meant most to her.
"I knew Rodrigo was riding a new horse and was not as fast as he might have been but I had to go as fast as possible in the second round because Marcus Ehning was coming after me and I had to put the pressure on" she said.
"I’m so happy to be not only the very first No. 1 female rider in the world but to be the winner of the Top 10 final as well. Many women have the belief that they can compete with the best male riders in the world - for women its difficult because this is a male-dominated sport but the difficulty is more mental than physical – pressure is something you deal with whether you are male or female and I felt really relaxed today" commented the 34 year old rider who is based in Thedinghausen near Bremen in northern Germany.
This was the fourth FEI/Gandini Top 10 final and the formula certainly seems to be a crowd-pleaser. Eleanora Ottaviani who organises the event on behalf of the International Jumping Riders Club and who is now working on the staging of next year’s European Show Jumping Championship in San Patrignano, Italy believes the competition is something special.
"It’s the perfect formula for TV and asks for a big effort from the horses and riders – two big rounds in a short time – the horses and riders have to be in peak physical condition and we have the best of the best competing against each other so the spectators are truly entertained" she pointed out.
"This is a dream come true for me" said Michaels-Beerbaum. "It’s a great honour to ride in the Top 10 and I hope that other women competitiors will see that we girls can do it as well as any of the rest of them".
RESULT:
FEI/Gandini Top 10 Final presented by Rolex – 1, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 0/0 42.36; 2, Carlot 3 (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 0/0 48.13; 3, Anka (Marcus Ehning) Ger 0/4 42.16; 4, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR 5/0 52.77; 5, Lando (Otto Becker) Ger 4/4 49.71; 6, Camirez B (Toni Hassmann) Ger 12/0 45.65; 7, Granie (Markus Fuchs) Sui 12/0 48.17; 8, Kalusha (Robert Smith) GBR 4/8 48.71; 9, Goldfever (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 13/0 54.89; 10, Tornado R (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 10/5 60.50.
Campus
