Media updates

FEI World Cup Jumping Update

Media updates
30 January 2005 Author: webmaster
Lars and Loreana set Amsterdam Alight ... 

Lars Nieberg stormed to victory at the eighth leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series in Amsterdam today and rocketed up from 12th to slot into third place on the leaderboard with just five legs of the series remaining.

Third-last to go in the 10-horse jump-off the German rider took a fearless run between the final two fences to take the lead, and neither Denmark's Thomas Velin (Equest Carnute) nor fellow-countryman Marco Kutscher (Controe) could match his pace and courage.

Dutch course-designer Rob Jansen presented a track that was, according to the eventual winner, "plenty big and technical" but he produced just the right number of clear rounds to ensure a truly exciting chase against the clock.

Amongst the 13 frustrated four-faulters were Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa (Carlot 3), Germany's Ludger Beerbaum (Couleur Rubin) and Marcus Ehning (For Pleasure) and French rider Eugenie Angot (Cigale du Taillis) but Finland's rising star Sebastian Numminen continued to impress when, second into the ring in the opening round, he steered the 11 year old mare Miss Speed to a perfect tour of the track.

Another nine horses had jumped before Holland's Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce Monaco followed suit, and then Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and the ever-reliable MacKinley and Belgium's Marc Van Dijck and Verelst Goliath also left all the poles intact.

Higher up the order the clear rounds came in quicker succession as Otto Becker (L'Espoir), Wout jan Van der Schans (Broere VDL Atlantic), Leipzig winners Nick Skelton and Arko, and Nieberg, Velin and Kutscher put themselves in the frame.

Numminen kicked off the second round with a single mistake from the promising Miss Speed in a slow time of 41.61 seconds so it was Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce Monaco who set the early target when clear in 35.57 seconds.

Bengtsson and MacKinley immediately bettered that however when crossing the line almost two seconds sooner while Van Dijck was trailing the Swede at the top of the order and Schroder in second spot when next to go clear in 36.21 seconds.

Becker was a little slower again when crossing the line without penalty in 36.29 seconds while Van der Schans set off at a terrific pace but left two fences on the floor as he galloped through the finish in 33.85 seconds so Bengtsson still held the advantage with just four left to go.

Skelton and Arko however are brimming with confidence after their brilliant Leipzig win and when the British partnership raced around in 33.85 seconds they overtook the Swedish pairing and really piled the pressure on the remaining three.

Next into the arena was Nieberg and his 10 year old mare. "I didn't have time to watch the others go but I knew Rolf-Goran and Nick were fast so I just decided I would try my best – I wasn't sure I could beat them but I decided to give it a go" he said afterwards.

Shaving every corner and galloping all the way he asked Loreana to really lengthen, covering the distance between the final two fences in seven strides instead of eight, and that was the deciding factor as he broke the beam in 33.42 seconds.

Velin made a brave effort but did not try to take out a stride on the run to the last to complete clear in 33.81 seconds and when Kutscher had one fence down the Dane slotted into runner-up spot behind Nieberg, pushing Skelton down to third.

"Loreana is a great mare. She is a 15 year old Holsteiner by Lord and she was ridden before by Aachas Von Buchwald. She has won a lot of Grand Prix competitions and was winner of the World Cup in Verona in 2003 – she was very brave today and now I plan to go to Bordeaux next weekend and Vigo the following week" the winner said.

Today's result brings some big changes to the FEI World Cup Jumping leaderboard, with Nick Skelton now taking a commanding lead having picked up another 15 points to leave him with a total of 59 to date.

Bengtsson moves into second place with 50 points while Nieberg's maximum-point result puts him into joint-third along with Wim Schroder carrying 48 points. With just five days to go before horses and riders line out again in Bordeaux the FEI World Cup Jumping 2004/2005 series is rapidly gathering momentum and riders are trying ever-harder to collect those all-important points which will take them to the final in Las Vegas in April.

RESULT: 1, Loreana (Lars Nieberg) Ger 0/0 33.42; 2, Equest Carnute (Thomas Velin) Den 0/0 33.81; 3, Arko (Nick Skelton) GBR 0/0 33.85; 4, MacKinley (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 0/0 33.94; 5, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder) Ned 0/0 35.57; 6, Verelst Goliath (Marc Van Djick) Bel 0/0 36.21; 7, L’Espoir (Otto Becker) Ger 36.29; 8, Controe (Marco Kutscher) Ger 0/4 35.15; 9, Miss Speed (Sebastian Numminen) Fin 0/4 41.61; 10, Broere VDL Atlantic (Wout Jan Van der Schans) Ned 0/8 33.30; equal 11, Pinocchio (Peter Wylde) USA, VDL Groep Fleche Rouge (Leopold Van Asten) Ned, Campus 8 (Steve Guerdat) Sui, Couleur Rubin (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger, Cigale du Taillis (Eugenie Angot) Fra, Loro Piana Imperium (Jonella Ligresti) Ita, BCO VDL Oranta (Angelique Hoorn) Ned, Eurocommerce Montreal (Wim Schroder) Ned, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel, Joel (Gert-Jan Bruggink) Ned, Quibell (Jessica Kuerten) Irl, For Pleasure (Marcus Ehning) Ger, Carlot 3 (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 4 faults; 24, Nicolette (Robert Whitaker) GBR, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger, Granie (Markus Fuchs) Sui, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR, BMC’s De Sjiem (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Ned, Camirez B (Toni Hassmann) Ger, ET Royal Volo (Tony Andre Hansen) Nor, Hofgut Liederbach’s Ingmar (Pia-Luise Aufrecht) Ger, Audi's Jikke (Eric Van der Vleuten) Ned, Melansa (Mikael Forsten) Fin, Coster (Christian Ahlmann) Ger 8 faults; 35, Kannan (Michel Hecart) Fra 12 faults; 36, Majestic (Alvaro Munoz-Escassi) Esp Elim; equal 37, Van Schijndel Optical (Piet Raymakers) Ned, HBC Jacomar (Marc Houtzager) Ned Retired.

FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 8 IN AMSTERDAM:

1, Nick Skelton - 59
2, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - 50
3, Lars Nieberg, Wim Schroder – 48
5, Toni Hassmann - 44
6, Christophe Barbeau- 42
7, Eric Van der Vleuten, Richard Davenport – 40
9, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 37
10, Marcus Ehning - 35
11, Gerco Schroder - 34
12, Thomas Velin - 33
13, Christian Ahlmann - 31
14, Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst, Rodrigo Pessoa - 29
16, Otto Becker - 28
17, Steve Guerdat - 27
18, Marco Kutscher, Philippe Leoni - 26
20. Michael Whitaker, Robert Whitaker - 24.

For further details about the latest FEI World Cup Jumping fixture in Amsterdam contact Show Director and Press Officer Chris Van Dam at email chris@eqi.nl, mobile ++31 65 393 3150 or Press Officer Tita Heybrock at email titia@eqi.nl, mobile ++31 20 465 5446. Website address is www.jumping-amsterdam.nl.

The next round of the series takes place in Bordeaux, France on Saturday 5 February 2005. Contact Press Officer Marie-Sol Fournier at email presse@bordeaux-expo.com. Show Director at Bordeaux is Francois-Bernard Martin, email direction@bordeaux-expo.com and Show Secretary is Sabine Palau, email s.palau@bordeaux-expo.com. Website address is www.jumping-bordeaux.com.

X