The British recorded their first victory of the 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI series on their home turf at Hickstead this afternoon where the final scoreline raised a few eyebrows.
The Swiss, winners at the previous round in Rotterdam, filled last place with a colossal score of 66 faults while the Germans who have been heading the series leaderboard for some considerable time, picked up a total of 33 to slot into second-last spot as Kevin Byewater's 12-fence track and the sweltering heat took their toll. France slotted into second, bolstered by the double-clear from anchor-man Julien Epaillard who was the only rider to steer his horse home without incident in both rounds, while the USA finished equal-third along with the Dutch, the Irish were fifth and the Swedes were sixth.
The Dutch and Irish are battling it out at the bottom of the league table but little has changed because today's result still leaves the team in green at the bottom of the order while the orange brigade maintain their narrow advantage. Now the seventh leg of the series in Dublin in two weeks time will be even more crucial for the Irish, and their impressive second-round recovery today may at last offer them some hope of seeing off the Dutch. It promises to be a desperate fight to the finish.
The Swiss were already in a lot a trouble by the end of the round one when the 37 faults picked up by the other three riders had to be taken into account after the elimination of Gregoire Oberson as Cartoflex Gazelle refused to even approach the water jump despite a generous time allowance from the judges.
The Irish were carrying 17 despite a brilliant round from Marion Hughes and Heritage Transmission who collected just a single time fault while the USA and Germany were on 16, Sweden carried 13 and the Dutch had 12. The battle for maximum points was going to be played out between the British with nine on the board and the French with just four. John Whitaker's opening 12-fault effort with Peppermill was the British discard score after Robert Smith (Marius Claudius) hit the bogey first element of the double at nine and added a time fault, Michael Whitaker (Mozart des Hayettes) was clear all the way to the final planks and William Funnell jumped clear with his recent Hickstead Derby winner Cortaflex Mondriaan. The French had the whip hand thanks to clears from both Roger Yves Bost (Ideal de la Loge) and Julien Epaillard (Icare du Manet) which left them with just one of the four-fault results produced by Simon Delestre (Inedite de Balme) and Olivier Guillon (Iionesco de Brekka) to be taken into account.
The Swiss added a further 29 faults second time out to leave them trailing the field by a long margin but the Irish rallied well when Hughes, Cian O'Connor (Irish Independent Echo Beach) and Cameron Hanley (SIEC Hippica Kerman) all kept a clean sheet while America stood firm when Anne Kursinski (Roxana), Christine McCrea (Vegas) and Laura Kraut (Anthem) did likewise. Germany however added another 17 faults while the Swedes were obliged to add another eight despite a smart clear from Peter Eriksson and Cardento but two clear rounds for Holland, from Angelique Hoorn (Blauwendraad's O'Brien) and Piet Raymakers Jnr (Van Schijndel's Rascin), did nothing to damage their chances. Hoorn had to turn away from the 1.60m Hickstead planks, last fence on the track, when it fell down before she arrived there and was initially given time faults which were later removed and the Dutch added only four more faults to their total.
John Whitaker was last into the ring for Britain, and although Funnell had faulted twice second time out Whitaker knew he could win it for the host country if he could go clear after a lovely fault-free round from Smith and just a single time penalty from his brother Michael and he did just that. French chances of pole position slipped away when Bost collected four faults at the water, Guillon was yet another victim at fence nine where the distance from the previous triple bar kept creating stride problems and Delestre lowered both the triple bar and the double for eight faults but their final tally of 12 was still good enough for runner-up spot and Chef d'Equipe Jean Maurice Bonneau had the added satisfaction of seeing Epaillard produce the only double-clear of the entire competition.
British Chef d'Equipe Derek Ricketts will be choosing his team for WEG and for the next Samsung Super League round in Dublin on Monday next and today has given him plenty of food for thought. "The course rode more difficult than we expected" he said adding, "it had three combinations, it was a bit unusual". John Whitaker agreed - "it was technical and I was surprised with my horse in the first round because he has been in great form for the last few weeks, he won the Grand Prix at San Patrignano last weekend, but he had three fences down. I'm putting it down to the heat because he sweated up a lot before the first round but he was a different horse altogether the next time out".
Smith explained that the problem at fence nine was created by a choice of a five or six-stride run to the double "I took six the first time and it was wrong so I went for five next time and it was right but it seemed to be different for different horses" he pointed out. Michael Whitaker said that the choice between Mozart and his top ride Portofino for the World Equestrian Games is not his "but I was very pleased with my horse today" he pointed out, "it was only his third nations cup, he's 10 years old and he's only done Barcelona last year, Lucerne this year and Hickstead today".
Dublin is the next port of call for the 2006 Samsung Super League series and the Germans maintain their lead going into the closing stages but are still being stalked by the Americans who are only three points behind while the French are only one further point in arrears and almost five points ahead of the Swiss in fourth. Great Britain lies just fractionally behind in fifth ahead of Sweden and the Dutch and Irish are locked in mortal combat in an effort to avoid relegation.
RESULT:
1. Great Britain 10 faults : Marius Claudius (Robert Smith) 5/0, Cortaflex Mondriaan (William Funnell) 0/8, Mozart des Hayettes (Michael Whitaker) 4/1, Peppermill (John Whitaker) 12/0.
2. France 12 faults : Ideal de la Loge (Roger-Yves Bost) 0/4, Inedite de Balme (Simon Delestre) 4/8, Ionesco de Brekka (Olivier Guillon) 4/4, Icare du Manet (Julien Epaillard) 0/0.
Eq 3. USA 16 faults: Roxana (Anne Kursinski) 16/0, Neuville (Molly Ashe) 4/4, Vegas (Christine McCrea) 4/0, Anthem (Laura Kraut) 8/0. Eq 3. The Netherlands; Van Schijndel's Curtis (Piet Raymakers) 4/4,
Blauwendraad's O'Brien (Angelique Hoorn) 20/0, Van Schijndel's Rascin (Piet Raymakers Jnr) 4/0, Nouvelle (Wout Jan Van der Schans) 4/0.
5. Ireland: World Cruise (Shane Breen) 8/8, Heritage Transmission (Marion Hughes) 1/0, Irish Independent Echo Beach (Cian O'Connor) 8/0,
SIEC Hippica Kerman (Cameron Hanley) 9/0.
6. Sweden: VDL Cardento (Peter Eriksson) 12/0, Conan (Helena Lundback) 5/8, Calibra (Lotta Schultz) 4/4, Nostradamus (Svante Johansson) 4/4.
7. Germany: Leonardo B (Thomas Voss) 4/12, Team Harmony Coupe de Coeur (Rene Tebbel) Elim/9, Carino (Ulrich Kirchhoff) 4/4, Aboyeur W (Heindrich Hermann Engemann) 8/4.
8. Switzerland: Daloubet d'Evordes (Celine Stauffer) 12/4, Cartoflex Gazelle (Gregoire Oberson) Ellim/Elim, Con Spirito R (Theo Muff) 4/12, LB Casanova (Christina Liebherr) 21/13.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI 2006 - LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 6 AT
HICKSTEAD :
1. Germany - 35.125
2. USA - 32.0
3. France - 31.0
4. Switzerland - 26.625
5. Great Britain - 26.0
6. Sweden – 18.125
7. Netherlands - 14.125
8. Ireland - 12.0
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
For more information on the 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI at the All England Jumping Course in Hickstead check out WEBSITE www.hickstead.co.uk. Show President is Douglas Bunn, Show Director is Lizzie Bunn and Press Officer is Peter Jeffery - contact jeffery.communications@btopenworld.com, tel - +441273 834175 .
The next leg of the series takes place in Dublin, Ireland on Friday 11 August. Show President is Dr Austin Mescal, Show Director is Gerry McAuliffe, Show Secretary is Brian Reid and Press Officer is Kaleigh Cunningham email kaleigh.cunningham@rds.ie. WEBSITE www.rds.ie.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI : 2006 CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
ROUND 1 - La Baule (Fra) 4-7 May; ROUND 2 - Aachen (Ger) 17-21 May; ROUND 3, Rome (Ita) 25-28 May; ROUND 4 - Lucerne (Sui) 1-4 June; ROUND 5 - Rotterdam (Ned) 22-25 June; ROUND 6 - Hickstead (GBR) 26-30 July; ROUND 7 - Dublin (Irl) 9-13 August; ROUND 8 and FINAL - Barcelona (Esp) 14-17 September.
You can access all the latest Samsung Super League news and information on website www.samsungsuperleague.com and don't forget that BIOGRAPHIES on all riders competing in the series are available at http://bios.horsesport.org.
Want to know more? You can check the full RULES for the Samsung Super League series on the FEI website, www.horsesport.org - section jumping/rules.
The Samsung Super league consists of the eight most prestigious horse shows at which the world's eight best national teams compare their merit. The Super League is connected to the Samsung Nations Cup series through a promotion/relegation system at the end of each season.
Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest electronics companies, is committed to supporting international sporting events thereby returning corporate profits to the public and working towards a more harmonious and equitable society.
For more information:
Contact FEI Communications, Malina Gueorguiev,
m.gueorguiev@horsesport.org or consult FEI website www.horsesport.org.
Campus
