FEI World Cup™ Jumping: Mechelen (BEL)

It was a total whitewash for the home side in Mechelen, Belgium tonight when Dirk Demeersman, Jos Lansink, Judy-Ann Melchior and Patrick McEntee filled the top four places in the seventh leg of the 2006/2007 FEI World Cup™ Jumping series. This was a first-ever World Cup victory for 42 year old Demeersman who claimed the winners prize of a brand new Land Rover car after leading the seven others a merry dance in the eight-horse jump-off with a great speed round from the 10 year old gelding Tymoon Caloo Meerchen.

Lucien Somers has been designing courses at the Nekkerhal Arena in Mechelen for 25 years now and, once again, came up with a track that asked plenty of questions. "Big and difficult, with a few strong combinations" was the winner's description of today's test to which only a select few found the correct answers.

Demeersman was fourth into the ring in the opening round to show the way however, and Brazil's Alvaro Miranda de Neto was next to do likewise with Ad Laguina when thirteenth to go. Then two more Belgians joined the clear-round brigade when Patrick McEntee riding Ever Mury Marais Z and Jos Lansink with his 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games super-star Cavalor Cumano were foot-perfect in quick succession. Norway's Tony Andre Hansen has been increasingly impressive in recent months and he too left all the timber intact with a good run from his grey gelding Camiro while the last three places were taken up by the final three runners - Geneva FEI World Cup™ winner Steve Guerdat from Switzerland riding Tresor, Judy-Ann Melchior for Belgium with the handsome black mare Grande Dame and Germany's Christian Ahlmann riding Sinclair.

A total of eight horse-and-rider combinations finished with that ever-frustrating total of four faults to miss out on the jump-off including Holland's Jeroen Dubbeldam with BMC Up an Down and America's Peter Wylde, re-united with the great mare Fein Cera whom he partnered to take individual bronze at the WEG in Jerez in 2002.

Demeersman was first in against the clock and he had worked out his options very carefully indeed. "My horse is naturally very fast so I tried to stay clear without going too crazy but being fast enough at the same time" he explained afterwards. As it happened, his plan worked out to perfection. Having set the target with a great round in 36.81 seconds he then stood back and watched the others try to do better but, one by one, they found it just a bit too difficult to match. Alvaro Miranda de Neto brought his 11 year old mare home almost two seconds slower and with one fence on the floor but, next to give it a try, Patrick McEntee left all the fences up but trailed the leader by more than three seconds when breaking the beam in 40.87 seconds. Jos Lansink's Aachen hero, Cavalor Cumano, is sometimes more careful than quick but the spectacular jumping stallion was only just over a second off the pace when crossing the line in 38.16 seconds to slot into second spot. And that was where he remained when Tony Andre Hansen brought Camiro home in the cautious time of 42.45 seconds, Steve Guerdat beat the winning time when stopping the clock in 36.57 but dropped a fence, Judy Ann Melchior was two seconds off the winning time and Christian Ahlmann, last to go and giving it his best shot, made a single mistake while recording the quickest jump-off time of 36.56 seconds.

Demeersman was much-pleased with Tymoon Caloo Meerchen. "He is a 10 year old BWP gelding by Skippy and I have him about one year but I feel he is just coming into himself now. He has been lacking confidence when jumping combinations - he was inclined to have a little panic in doubles and triple combinations when I got him first - but he has been getting better and better over the last few months and in October we won the Grand Prix at Leeuwarden and then he was ninth in Frankfurt. I feel he is growing more confident every day" the rider pointed out.

The 20 points collected for today's victory leave the Belgian rider lying 18th on the Western European League leaderboard as the second half of the 2006/2007 FEI World Cup™ Jumping series gets underway, but Demeersman is unsure whether he will continue to chase points to try to get to the final in Las Vegas in April. "I had always planned to go to Amsterdam at the end of January so I think I will wait to see how I get along there and then have another look at it" he said tonight.
The 17 points earned tonight by Jos Lansink move him up to joint-11th spot with a total of 27 points to date while Judy-Ann Melchior has shot up from ninth to fourth behind Holland's Albert Zoer in third, Germany's Christian Ahlmann in second and Swiss rider Beat Mandli who maintains the lead with a total of 64 points going into the last six qualifying competitions. The eighth leg of the series takes place at Leipzig in Germany on 21 January.

2006/2007 FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING QUALIFIER PRESENTED BY LAND ROVER
RESULT: 1, Tymoon Caloo Meerchen (Dirk Demeersman) Bel 0/0 36.81; 2, Cavalor Cumano (Jos Lansink) Bel 0/0 38.16; 3, Grande Dame Z (Judy-Ann Melchior) Bel 0/0 38.64; 4, Ever Mury Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) Bel 0/0 40.87; 5, Camiro (Tony Andre Hansen) Nor 0/0 42.45; 6, Sinclair (Christian Ahlmann) Ger 0/4 36.56; 7, Tresor (Steve Guerdat) Sui 0/4 36.57; 8, Ad Laguina (Alvaro Miranda de Neto) Bra 0/4 38.65; 9, Sarah de St Pierre (Koen Vereecke) Bel 4/67.40; 10, SIEC Hippica Kerman (Cameron Hanley) Irl 4/69.49; 11, S&L Bleeker & 11th (Gerfried Puck)Aut 4/69.59; 12, BMC Up and Down (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Ned 4/70.23; 13, Hofgut Liederbach's Abrisca (Pia-Luise augrecht) Ger 4/70.55; 14, Andante (Tina Lund) Den 4/71.02; 15, Fein Cera (Peter Wylde) USA 4/71.16; 16, Albin (Juan-Carlos Garcia) Ita 4/73.65; 17, Bleuwenraad' O'Brien (Angelique Hoorn) Ned 8/65.91; 18, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kuerten) Irl 8/67.39; 19, Sea Coast Conan (Kristof Cleeren) Bel 8/69.01; 20, Controe (Marco Kutcher) Ger 69.34; 21, Inedite de Balme (Simon Delestre) Fra 8/69.50; 22, Canturo (Bernardo Alves) Bra 8/70.55; 23, Locarno (Ellen Whitaker) GBR 8/70.75; 24, Gran Corrado (Yves Houtackers) Ned 8/70.94; 25, Item de Quintin (Niels Bruynseels) Bel 71.06; 26, Nelson Z (Richard Davenport) GBR 8/73.35; 27, Verelst Goliath (Marc Van Dijck) Bel 8/74.05; 28, Spender S (Maria Gretzer) Swe 8/74.44; 29, U-No (Pilar Cordon) Esp 8/74.62; 30, Suzie Quatro (Luciana Diniz) Por 12/70.13; 31, Clausen (Holger Wulschner) Ger 12/70.94; 32, Kira (Gilbert de Roock) Bel 12/74.40; 33, Upsilon D'Ocquier (Daniel Deusser) Ger 16/71.25; 34, Calippo (Maurice Van Roosbroeck) Bel 20/72.23; 35, Ilion Kilen (Ljubov Kochetova) Rus 20/74.61; Equal 36, BMC Octavia (Jurgen Stenfert) Ned, Lacroix (Robert Whitaker) GBR, Ivoire du Rouet (Francois Mathy Jr) Bel, Peu a Peu (Daniel Etter) Sui, Chatman (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel Ret.

FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING 2006/2007 - WESTERN EUROPEAN LEAGUE LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 7 AT MECHELEN:
1. Beat Mandli - 64
2. Christian Ahlmann - 58
3. Albert Zoer - 50
4. Judy-Ann Melchior - 44
5. Gerco Schroder, Rene Tebbel - 42
7. Michael Whitaker - 39
8. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 38
9. Leopold Van Asten, Steve Guerdat - 30
11. Eugenie Angot, Jos Lansink - 27
13 Markus Beerbaum, Tony Andre Hansen - 25
15. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst, Edwina Alexander - 23
17. Patrick McEntee - 22
18. Dirk Demeersman, Harrie Smolders - 20
20. Daniel Deusser, Malin Baryard-Johnsson, Piet Raymakers - 17.

For further information on the FEI World Cup™ Jumping Qualifier at Mechelen consult website www.mechelen-jumping.com. Show President at the Belgian fixture is Wout van de Walle, Show Director is Peter Bollen, Show Secretary is Yolande Wauters and Press Officer is Edith de Reys - Tel (mobile) +32 475 659281, Email edith.dereys@skynet.be.

THE NEXT LEG of the series takes place at Leipzig, Germany from 18-21 January 2007. For full details check out WEBSITE www.engarde.de. Show Director is Volker Wulff, Show Secretary is Conny Reuss and Press Officer is Andreas Kerstan, Tel (mobile) +49 177 827970, Email akerstan@kerstan.de.

2006/2007 FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING SERIES - CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN LEAGUE:
1. Oslo (Norway) 13-15 October: 2, Helsinki (Finland) 19-22 October; 3, Verona (Italy) 10-12 November; 4, Stuttgart (Germany) 15-19 November; 5, Geneva (Switzerland) 7-10 December; 6, London-Olympia (Great Britain) 12-18 December; 7, Mechelen (Belgium) 26-30 December; 8, Leipzig (Germany) 18-21 January; 9, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) 25-28 January; 10, Bordeaux (France) 2-4 February; 11, Vigo (Spain) 8-11 February; 12, Gothenburg (Sweden) 22-25 February; 13, 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) 22-25 March. Final - Las Vegas (USA) 19-22 April.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RULES FOR THE FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING RIDERS FROM FEI WEBSITE www.feiworldcup.org

FEI World Cup™ Jumping has entered its 29th season. The series, created in 1978, today comprises 14 leagues on all continents. The best riders from 132 preliminary competitions will qualify for the final in Las Vegas, USA which takes place from 19 to 22 April 2007. The title-holder is Germany's Marcus Ehning.

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), founded in 1921, is the international body governing equestrian sport recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 133 National Federations.

Equestrian sport has been on the Olympic programme since 1912 with three disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. It is one of the very few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms It is also the only sport which involves two athletes - horse and rider. The FEI has relentlessly concerned itself with the welfare of the horse, which is paramount and must never be subordinated to competitive or commercial influences.