FEI World Cup Jumping Final In Las Vegas

Belgium's Ludo Philippaerts took the early lead at the FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Las Vegas tonight when winning the opening speed leg with his grey stallion Parco.

German riders filled five of the top 10 placings with Marcus Ehning and Gitania in second ahead of Markus Beerbaum and Constantin who set a cracking pace when first into the ring, and Kimberley Frey kept the USA in the frame when fourth with Marlou.

The small arena at the Thomas & Mack centre presents its own unique set of problems but course-designer, Brazil's Guilherme Jorge, was satisfied that he achieved the correct result. "It was a big challenge to build a course for these top riders - I was under a lot of pressure but the footing is good. I didn't expect so many clear rounds but I was happy with the course because the best ones finished on top and the others could handle it too" he said.

His 12-fence track began over an inviting triple bar but there was no let-up for the riders with fences coming up in very quick succession leaving little time for hesitation and no forgiveness for error.

"The most problems were from fences 3, 4 and 5" said Marcus Ehning, "basically if you had a good start then the rest of the course went ok but you had to get it right from the very beginning". Markus Beerbaum agreed - "the key jump on the track was number three" he said.

This was on oxer ridden off a sharp right-hand turn right in front of the pocket entrance and it was here that hopes faded for America's Lauren Hough when, meeting it wrong, Clasiko ground to a halt before continuing on and then stopping again at the first element of the double at fence 6.

Pathfinder Markus Beerbaum had made it look deceptively easy, producing a superbly tight turn to the vertical at fence eight which brought him home clear in 62.70 seconds. He only learned he had qualified for the event two weeks ago due to other riders falling out. "I was jumping on the US circult a lot over the winter and I only found out I could come to Las Vegas two days after I got home from Tampa, Florida. Maybe it was not so bad because I got some practice indoors before travelling back here" he said.

His wife, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, is one of the fancied contenders for this weekend's title however and Markus said he never expected to finish ahead of her today. "I was definitely surprised" he explained, "but I liked going early in the competition and I rode as fast as I could and it worked out. I was very excited when I went through the timer at the finish, I knew it was a good performance for myself and my horse but I realised it was even better than I had thought when I saw the problems for the other riders - then I knew I might finish in the top five".

A prominent finishing position in this first leg is vitally important and Marcus Ehning's time of 62.62 with the big grey Gitania pushed Markus Beerbaum out of pole position but Ehning's advantage was short-lived when Ludo Philippaerts followed him into the ring and was quicker still.

The partnership between the Belgian rider and Parco, a son of another beloved ride of Ludo's, Darco, is one cemented over time and this horse and rider who know each other so very well were in perfect harmony tonight.

Cruising from the start Ludo steered a tight line the whole way round the track and almost paid the price for his brave turn to the final triple combination when the top pole on the vertical first element rolled but stayed in position as he broke the beam in 61.57 seconds. "I turned really short to the last and I was lucky there but my horse jumped really great" he pointed out.

He has suffered a series of misfortunes in recent years with success slipping from his grasp in the final stages of the some of the bigger championship events but there was something convincing about his result tonight and Ludo insisted that he will not be fazed by the pressure on this occasion. "I want to stay in front, my horse is fit and happy" he said, "but many horses here are in good form and it is a very open competition".

That is certainly how it looks and with Marco Kutscher, who breezed around with Cash to slot into fifth, lying just ahead of Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly in sixth and then triple World Cup champion Rodrigo Pessoa in seventh spot with Baloubet there is no room for complacency.

Meredith was last into the ring and Shutterfly was sharp but obedient, as always jumping with great extravagance and staying focused despite a dare-devil turn to the triple combination.

Rodrigo showed just how threatening he could be when keeping in touch with the leaders despite the addition of four extra seconds in this Table C competition when Baloubet, brilliant and bursting with enthusiasm, was a little too strong on his approach to the treble. Hitting the front element however he still recorded a time of 63.99 when the seconds were added and the stallion looked to be in his element under the bright Las Vegas lights and can be expected to improve position when the fences get bigger in tomorrow's second leg.

Laura Kraut was another victim of fence three, falling when Anthem refused here, and joined fellow-American Lauren Hough and Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Al Sharbatly on the list of eliminations but Kimberley Frey is determined to keep the US to the fore when the action resumes on Friday night.

"I have not been jumping my horse outdoors. I went to Tampa and jumped in a covered ring there and then competed at Charlotte in North Carolina where the ring is even smaller than it is here so we didn't feel awkward in the arena tonight" she explained. "Sometimes we Americans are not so used to indoor jumping because we compete outside a lot but I've prepared for this" she pointed out and that preparation is now paying dividends.

"This is my first World Cup final but I believe 100% in my horse and I'm not that surprised that I finished so well today and I'm looking forward to tomorrow" she said confidently.

Ludo Philippaerts was looking quietly confident too however and if he can hold his nerve then the pressure is on everyone else.

RESULT OF FIRST FINAL COMPETITION - NOTE LAST NUMBER RELATES TO WORLD CUP POINTS CARRIED FORWARD TO TOMORROW'S SECOND COMPETITION:
1, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 61.57 - 42;
2, Gitania (Marcus Ehning) Ger 62.62 - 40;
3, Constantin (Markus Beerbaum) Ger 62.70 - 39;
4, Marlou (Kimberley Frey) USA 63.12 - 38;
5, Cash (Marco Kutscher) Ger 63.25 - 37;
6, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 63.30 - 36;
7, Baloubet du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 63.99 - 35;
8, Lucie (Lars Nieberg) Ger 64.02 - 34;
9, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR 64.64 - 33;
10, Tempete V/H Lindehof (Eric Lamaze) Can 65.28 - 32;
11, Candy (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst) Ger 65.43 - 31;
12, Ilian (Schuyler Riley) USA 66.06 - 30;
13, Couleur Rubin (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 66.31 - 29;
14, Andante (Tina Lund) Den 66.34 - 28;
15, Hooligan de Rosyl (Bruno Broucqsault) Fra 67.18 - 27;
16, Arko (Nick Skelton) GBR 67.43 - 26;
17, Isovlas Pialotta (Steve Guerdat) Sui 67.83 - 25
18, Cyrenaika FRH (Philippe Leoni) Fra 68.25 - 24
19, Roxanne (Eric Flameng) Bel 68.89 - 23
20, Coco Cabana (Candice King) USA 69.05 - 22
21, Crazy Love (Ales Opatrny) Cze 69.71 - 21
22, El Campeon's So Long (Nicole Simpson) USA 70.00 - 20
23, Sandstone Laurin (Gabriella Salick) USA 70.12 - 19
24, Quibell (Jessica Kuerten) Irl 71.13 - 18
25, Audi's Jikke (Eric van der Vleuten) Ned 71.24 - 17
26, Special Ed (Jill Henselwood) Can 71.36 - 16
27, Eve des Etisse (Hubert Bourdy) Fra 71.91 - 15
28, Laguina (Richard Davenport) GBR 72.01 - 14
29, Roxana (Anne Kursinski) USA 74.36 - 13
30, Sapphire (McLain Ward) USA 77.15 - 12
31, Qwinto (Ibrahiim Bisharat) Jor 77.18 - 11
32, Robinson (Richard Spooner) USA 78.25 - 10
33, Novesta (Gunnar Klettenberg) Est 80.19 - 9
34, Djane de Fontenis (Grzegorz Kubiak) 83.04 - 8
35, Nadia (Georgina Bloomberg) USA 83.62 - 7
36, Suncal's King (Joie Gatlin) USA 86.52 - 6
37, Lord Lester (Akihiro Okabe) Jpn 89.97 - 5
38, Telegraph (John Cottle) NZL 101.78 - 4
equal 39, Clasiko (Lauren Hough) USA, Anthem (Laura Kraut) USA, Neuville (Abdullah Al Sharbatly) KSA