Tina Lund made it a magnificent double when landing her second victory in the FEI World Cup Jumping 2004/2005 series in Vigo, Spain tonight.
The Danish rider, who turned 24 last month, showed that her win in Mechelen (BEL) in December was no fluke when, once again, she was last to go against the clock and threw caution to the wind to demote Germany’s Lars Nieberg to runner-up spot.
At the Belgian fixture there were a colossal 18 through to the timed round but only seven found all the answers in the first round tonight.
Vigo is a sea-port town in the beautiful region of Galicia in northern Spain where betting is a big part of the sport of show jumping and it was Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum who started favourite to take the class after winning last night’s Preliminary competition.
The German ace however joined 10 others to share eighth place when making just a single error with Goldfever and it was Belgium’s Ludo Philippaerts and Chatman who set the jump-off target with another clear round in 42.22 seconds.
Nieberg and his gallant mare Lucie went into the lead when finding a quicker route home to stop the clock in 41.77 but Frenchman Philippe Rozier was very nearly faster still with Heritiere D’Adrier who crossed the line more than a second sooner but who left a pole on the floor for four faults in 40.35 seconds.
Belgium’s Dirk Demeersman and Clinton recorded another four fault result in 41.22 seconds and it was looking very much like Nieberg had it in the bag when the next two French runners, Jean-Marc Nicolas with JPC Modesto Equifoam and Philippe Leoni with Cyrenaika also faulted once, but Lund has shown that she is not a lady to be trifled with and came out with all guns blazing.
This was only the seventh World Cup competition of her career but the former European Young Rider Champion is growing in confidence all the time and has huge faith in her 11 year old mare Andante.
"I saw the rest of them go and they were all fast riders with fast horses but I knew the track would suit my mare. Like in Mechelen there was a long gallop to the last and this is what she really loves so I could go at top speed and never take a pull – she has a big stride and right now she is jumping unbelievably" the young Danish rider said afterwards.
She knows a bit about being competitive because her father, Fleming Lund, is a former international soccer player and her Swedish boyfriend, Tobias Grahn, is a top-flight footballer in Denmark. "I get a lot of support from them" she said and she has now decided that she always wants to be last into the ring – "I like coming in last – I’m getting pretty good at it!" she added.
With 42 points now to her credit she has shot up the leaderboard to joint-10th position and the bright lights of Las Vegas are calling. "Wouldn’t it be so exciting to get to the final in Las Vegas - I think maybe now I can go there and I can hardly wait" said the young rider who, rather appropriately, cites dancing as one of her favourite leisure pursuits.
Lars Nieberg had to settle for second place but has now easily overtaken Britain’s Nick Skelton at the top of the league leaderboard with just three more qualifying rounds remaining.
There is a four-week break before the next leg which takes place at Paris-Bercy on 12 March when the hunt for those precious World Cup points will be renewed with ever-increasing urgency.
RESULT:
1, Andante (Tina Lund) Den 0/0 41.59; 2, Lucie (Lars Nieberg) Ger 0/0 41.77; 3, Chatman (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 0/0 42.22; 4, Heritiere D’Adrier (Philippe Rozier) Fra 0/4 40.35; 5, Clinton (Dirk Demeersman) Bel 0/4 41.22; 6, JPC Modesto Equifoam (Jean-Marc Nicolas) Fra 0/4 43.06; 7, Cyrenaika (Philippe Leoni) Fra 0/4 44.63; equal 8, VDL Groep Fleche Rouge (Leopold Van Asten) Ned, Laguina (Richard Davenport) GBR, Goldfever (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger, Candy (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst) Ger, Campus (Steve Guerdat) Sui, La Toya (Markus Fuchs) Sui, VDL Groep Grande Dame (Jan Tops) Ned, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kurten) Irl, Tidy Van Gelut (Kristof Cleeren) Bel, VDL Groep Eve des Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra, Cash (March Kutscher) Ger 4 faults; 19, Majestic (Alvaro Munoz Escassi) Esp 5 faults; equal 20, Masdecaballos Maestro (Luis Alvarez Cervera) Esp, Canturo (Bernardo Alves) Bra, Loro Piana Imperium (Jonella Ligresti) Ita, Kannan (Michel Hecart) Fra, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GBR, BMC De Sjiem (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Ned, Hermine d’Auzay (Daniel Etter) Sui, Sundance K (Franke Sloothaak) Ger 8 faults; equal 28, Tessio (Stein Endresen) Nor, Fleur de Lisle (Miguel Honrubia Alvarino) Esp, Melansa (Mikael Forsten) Fin, Cigale du Taillis (Eugenie Angot) Fra 12 faults; 32, Lady des Hayettes (Gregory Wathelet) Bel 20 faults; equal 33, Hofgut Liederbach’s Ingmar (Pia Luise Aufrecht) Ger, Nababo (Marina Frutuose de Melo) Por, I Cavalli del Sole Fideglio de Ravel (Pilar Cordon Muro) Esp Eliminated; equal 36, Grandilot (Otto Becker) Ger, Contact (Julien Epaillard) Fra, Van Schijndel’s Curtis (Piet Raymakers) Ned Retired.
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING 2004/2—5 LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 10 IN VIGO:
1. Lars Nieberg - 66
2. Nick Skelton - 60
3. Marcus Ehning, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - 50
5. Wim Schroder - 48
6. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst - 45
7. Richard Davenport, Toni Hassmann - 44
9. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 43
10. Christophe Barbeau, Tina Lund - 42
12. Marco Kutscher - 41
13. Eric Van der Vleuten- 40
14. Rodrigo Pessoa - 38
15. Michael Whitaker, Philippe Leoni - 37
17. Gerco Schroder - 35
18. Thomas Velin - 33
19. Ludo Philippaerts, Steve Guerdat – 32.
Campus
