Samsung Super League leaders, Germany, look set to forge further ahead on the leaderboard as they send out their big guns for the next leg of the 2004 series in Lucerne next Sunday. In the driving seat after victory in the opening round at La Baule, they finished joint-fourth in Rome which proved good enough to maintain their position at the head of the league table but just 1.5 points now separate them from the Dutch who stole the show at the Italian fixture. The Dutch were inconsistent throughout the 2003 series, winning on their home ground in Rotterdam but finishing well down the line elsewhere. They put in a truly solid performance to come out on top last Friday however and Jan Tops, Piet Raymakers, Wim and Gerco Schroder and Leopold Van Asten will be hoping to consolidate their position in five day’s time. Snapping at Holland’s heels just 0.5 points further adrift are the British who showed true grit when recovering from a near-disaster in the first round of Friday’s competition to come back with three superb clears second time out. This rocketed them up to runner-up spot and Michael Whitaker, Nick Skelton, Robert Smith, Richard Davenport and Scott Smith will be looking for a chink in the Dutch armour to further improve their ranking. It will be difficult to find a weak spot in the German line-up however as Ludger Beerbaum, Marco Kutscher, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Lars Nieberg and Susanne Behring have been sent to do battle. Ludger is always a formidable team player while Meredith claimed runner-up spot at the recent FEI World Cup Final in Milan in which Marco slotted into fifth. Lars Nieberg did not enjoy a good run of luck there but has a strong string of horses and it will take an exceptional team effort to hold back the German challenge. FEI World Cup champion Bruno Broucqsault makes his 2004 Samsung Super League debut this weekend and the flying Frenchman will be accompanied by Florian and Reynald Angot, Gilles Bertran de Balanda and Edouard Couperie. The defending Super League title-holders are lying fourth on the league table at this early stage but are only three points behind the leaders and although they have failed to dominate the 2004 series in the same way as they did last season they look ready pounce at any moment. Peter Wylde was named on the American squad for Lucerne but will not be competing as his horses are still in the US following the Olympic team trials during which he was selected for Athens. Olympic veteran Katie Monahan Prudent may have switched her allegiance to France after her marriage to show jumper Henri Prudent but the 50 year old rider, who has displayed a real flair for coaching, is Chef d’Equipe to the US squad for this Super League tour and will be handing out advice based on real experience to Kimberly Frey, Judy Garofalo, Candice King and Laura Kraut. Kimberly, 39 years old from Hume in Virginia and Judy who is 25 years old and hails form Dover Plains, NY already have two Super League rounds under their belts. Laura who is based in Wisconsin and Candice, from Wellington in Florida, are more regular visitors to the European circuit and counter-balance the relative lack of experience of the first two riders who, however, have acquitted themselves admirably at this highly competitive level of team jumping over the past month. Belgium and Italy currently share sixth position on the league table and Jos Lansink, Philippe Lejeune, Ludo Philippaerts, Stanny Van Paesschen and Jean-Claude Vangeenberghe will be hoping to improve Belgian chances this weekend. They finished bottom of the pile in Rome after a fall for Jean-Claude and a 28-fault scoreline for Ludo but Stanny’s double-clear was superb and the result seemed almost unkind as Dirk Demeersman faulted just once in each round. The Italians finished eighth in La Baule but were third on their home ground last week. They struggled long and hard to stay in the Super League family last season and need another decent outing this time out to keep their heads above water but the Irish, it appears, are already drowning. Two poor performances in succession have left them in eighth place, three full points behind the Belgians and Italians and with just 2.5 points on the board. This is a nation which was enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, running rampant through the Samsung Nations Cup in 2000 when winning 10 legs of the series, taking the European team title in 2001, producing the World Champion in Jerez and then finishing second in last summer’s inaugural Super League season. Chef d’Equipe Tommy Wade will accept no criticism however and said after Rome "it is not a disaster by any means and I’m not too worried. The potential is there, we have some great riders and horses and I believe we will stage a recovery as the series progresses". If he needed reassurance he got it from the double-clear produced by Cian O’Connor and just a single mistake in each round from Jessica Kurten but individual brilliance is no consolation in a team sport and Jessica, Cian, Marion Hughes, Billy Twomey and Cameron Hanley will be feeling the pressure on Sunday. Also lining out on the day will be a Swiss team, ineligible for Super League points but quite entitled to take on the best in the world on their home soil and Markus Fuchs, Christophe Barbeau, Fabio Crotta, Steve Guerdat and Christina Liebherr will be keen to give the Super League tigers a mauling. ************** For full details about the next leg of the Samsung Super League 2004 in Lucerne on Sunday 6th June you can consult website www.csio.ch or contact: Peter Wyrsch, Bengtalstrasse9, CH-9500, Wil, Switzerland, telephone ++4143960 6670, fax ++41 71911 8230, Natel ++ 41 79406 5207 , email wy@da-ats.ch and George Zehnder, Brunnenstrasse 7, CH-8604, Volketswil, Switzerland telephone ++ 41 1908 3131, fax ++41 1908 33130, Natel ++41 79430 4149 , email zehnder@pferdewoche.ch. SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 LEADERBOARD (AFTER ROUND 2 IN ROME): Germany 13 points Holland 11.5 points Great Britain 11 points France 10 points USA 6 points Equal 6. Belgium and Italy 5.5 points 8. Ireland 2.5 points. SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 CALENDAR OF EVENTS: ROUND 1, La Baule (Fra) 6-9 May; ROUND 2, Rome (Ita) 27-30 May; ROUND 3, Lucerne (Sui) 3-6 June: ROUND 4, Rotterdam (Ned) 17-20 June; ROUND 5, Aachen (Ger) 13-18 July; ROUND 6, Hickstead (GBR) 21-25 July; ROUND 7, Dublin (Irl) 4-8 August; ROUND 8 and FINAL, Barcelona (Esp) 16-19 September. SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE – NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
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