Denmark's Tina Lund created a huge sensation when snatching victory with her last-to-go effort at the sixth leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series in Mechelen, Belgium on Thursday 30 December 2004.
The 23 year old former European Young Rider Champion who lives near Copenhagen steered the 10 year old chestnut mare Andante to a storming round of the jump-off track to demote long-time leader Toni Hassmann to runner-up spot.
A colossal total of 18 first-round clears guaranteed plenty of speed in the timed round and it was the home side's Ludo Philippaerts and Parco who set the early target with another clear when second into the ring with his 12 year old grey son of Darco who crossed the line in 39.08 seconds.
Belgium's Patrick McEntee and Sherry du Mury-Marais Z also left the track intact but their cautious time of 45.60 seconds was never a threat. Britain's Richard Davenport and Laguina, winners at Olympia in London just before Christmas, were only one second behind Philippaert's target time while Germany's Katharina Offel was just fractionally further adrift when breaking the beam with Cim Cristo in 40.23 seconds but another young British contender, Robert Whitaker, then re-set the parameters.
Whitaker has clearly inherited his famous family's fearless attitude against the clock and put it up to the rest of them when improving on Philipaerts' time by .01 of a second with a great round from Nicolette but his advantage was short-lived because, two horses later, Toni Hassmann produced a devastating turn of speed with Camirez who scorched through the finish in 37.64.
There were still seven more to go but it seemed that the German rider's time simply could not be beaten as both Brazil's Bernardo Alves (Canturo) and Switzerland's Christophe Barbeau (Chatwin) were more than a second off the pace before Lund arrived into the ring.
Preparations were already being made to celebrate a second series victory for Hassmann who won the third leg in Verona in November but the behind-the-scenes action suddenly halted in its tracks as Lund launched Andante like a cruise missile.
The daring young Dane refused to be intimidated by the task at hand – "I knew it was a good jump-off track for my mare who has a big stride" she said afterwards and Andante answered her every call.
"This horse has been with me from the very beginning of her career and she has been taken along slowly. She had a foal when she was six years old and in the last two years I have competed with her in three World Cups always going clear in the first round and then having four faults in the jump-off" – this time out however Andante made no mistake.
"I knew Toni had been very fast but I wasn’t really thinking about whether I could catch him or not when I went into the arena," Tina said, "I just wanted to go clear and as fast as I could – I told myself before I went in – I can do this!" she added. And she certainly did.
"I took a big chance at the last fence and it worked well but I know I have a special horse, she has amazing heart" she said, having recovered from the excitement of her success which initially left her speechless and having received her winners prize of a brand new Land Rover.
Lund headed the line-up with Hassmann in second, Whitaker in third, Philippaerts in fourth, Barbeau in fifth and Alves in sixth spot.
This result promotes the Danish rider to joint-15th position on the leaderboard at this half-way stage of the series while Toni Hassmann moves up from seventh to slot into second place behind long-time league leader Wim Schroder from Holland and the top four, which also includes Christophe Barbeau and Dutchman Eric Van der Vleuten, look to have already done enough to book their trip to the FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas next April.
The next leg of the series takes place in Leipzig, Germany on January 23.
Result: l, Andante (Tina Lund) Den 0/0 37.40; 2, Camirez (Toni Hassmann) Ger 0/0 37.64; 3, Nicolette (Robert Whitaker) Gbr 0/0 39.07; 4, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 0/0 39.08; 5, Chatwin (Christophe Barbeau) Sui 0/0 39.16; 6, Canturo (Bernardo Alves) Bra 0/0 39.54; 7, Laguina (Richard Davenport) GBR 0/0 40.13; 8, Cim Cristo (Katharina Offel) Ger 0/0 40.23; 9, Sherry du Mury-Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) Bel 0/0 45.60; 10, Meautry’s Locarno (Luciana Diniz-Knippling) Bra 0/4 38.41; 11, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder) Ned 0/4 40.56; 12, Classic H (H Persson) Swe 0/4 41.28; 13, Polyfee (Lutz Gripshover) Ger 0/7, 52.98; 14, Karioka del Follee (Philippe Lejeune) Bel 0/8, 39.65; 15, L’Accord (Christian Afinnsen Oien) Nor 0/8 42.07; 16, Goldfinger Gerbaux (Gilbert de Roock) Bel 0/8 42.34; 17, Tropical (Johan Philippaerts) Bel 0/8 49.34; 18, Oki Doki (Albert Zoer) Ned 0/12 40.02; equal 19, Energie de Bacon (Jan Vinckier) Bel, Orlando VD Heffinck (Dirk Demeersman) Bel, Cavalor Cumano (Jos Lansink) Bel, Osta Rugs Andiamo Z (Jean-Claude Van Geenberghe) Bel, Heritiere D’Adrier (Philippe Rozier) Fra, Air Jordan Z (Edouard Mathe) Fra, Campus (Steve Guerdat) Sui, Verelst Goliath (Marc Van Dijck) Bel, Cristallo (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst) Ger, Melansa (Mikael Forsten) Fin, Hooligan de Rosyl (Bruno Broucqsault) Fra, Le Coup C (Maurice Van Roosbroeck) Bel 4 faults; equal 31, Lady des Hayettes (Gregory Wathelet) Bel, Cavaldelsolefidelio (Pilar Lucrecia Cordon Muro) Esp, Karondo V. Schl-sslifhof (Theo Muff) Sui, Reggie Roosters (Bert Prouve) Bel, Hofgut Liederbach’s Ingmar (Pia-Luise Aufrecht) Ger 8 faults; 36, Nikon’s Caribean (Roosje Brouwer) Ned 12 faults; equal 37, Cortaflex Mondriaan (W Funnell) GBR, Nanta (Andrea Herholdt) Ita Ret.
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING 2004/2005 LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 6 IN MECHELEN:
1. Wim Schroder – 46
2. Toni Hassmann – 44
3. Christophe Barbeau – 42
4. Eric van der Vleuten – 40
5. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson – 37
6. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum – 32
7. Richard Davenport – 30
8. Marcus Ehning – 28
9. Rodrigo Pessoa – 27
10. Christian Ahlmann – 26
11. Steve Guerdat – 25
12. Michael Whitaker, Nick Skelton, Robert Whitaker – 24.
15. Gerco Schroder, Tina Lund – 22.
17. Philippe Leoni – 21.
18. Jean-Claude Vangeenberghe – 20.
19. Bernardo Alves – 19.
20. Markus Beerbaum, Otto Becker – 18.
Campus
