Germany winner of the Samsung Super League with FEI in La Baule (FRA)

As expected, the crack German squad claimed the honours in the opening leg of the 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI series at La Baule in France today but the USA, defending Super League champions, finished a close second with a gritty, determined performance.

The home side finished third, and came dangerously close to dislodging the eventual winners but were denied victory by the misfortune of their final runner Herve Godignon whose 12 second-round faults with Obelix proved very expensive indeed. Switzerland and Holland shared fourth spot ahead of Great Britain in fifth while the Irish, just as they so often did last season, found themselves struggling again but managed to stay ahead of the Swedes whose day began badly and ended with last place in the line-up.

Sweden was already in eighth place at the end of round one, badly hampered by the elimination of their pathfinder Malin Baryard-Johnsson whose veteran ride Butterly Flip stopped at the combination at fence 10. Preceded by a simple vertical but approached on a right-handed curving line this fence claimed a number of scalps as did the water at fence six and the following FEI oxer at seven.

Forced to carry the 12 faults collected by Svante Johansson and Nostradamus and the 17 picked up by Royne Zetterman and Isaac, not even the good single-error effort of rider and Chef d'Equipe Maria Gretzer and Spender S could prevent Sweden's 33-fault first round tally and although Baryard-Johnsson returned an eight-fault result second time out the writing was already on the wall.

Lying second-last after the opening round the Dutch made a superb recovery. Leopold Van Asten heralded the re-bound by adding nothing to the 10 faults picked up first time out with VDL Groep Fleche Rouge while Jurgen Stenfert's discard 23-fault first effort with BMC's Octavia was followed by a single time fault. Albert Zoer and Oki Doki collected five faults in each round while Gerco Schroder improved from an eight-fault first effort to just a single time penalty.

Ireland's Shane Breen and World Cruise accumulated a total of 11 faults, Capt Shane Carey and Killossery collected 16 and Edward Doyle, on his first major nation's cup outing for many years, had two fences down with Effective in round one and then returned one of just 13 clears next time out. Conor Swail's Poncho was struggling however with four on the floor at his first attempt and even more timber-felling before the rider called it a day in round two.

The British were thoroughly consistent with a 14-fault total in each round and Tim Gredley was their star performer when producing one of only three double-clears with Omelli. Nick Skelton's Russel added just one time penalty to five first-round faults but both Mark Armstrong and Thesaura and John Whitaker and Exploit du Roulard notched up 26 apiece. The stronger performances of Gredley and Skelton however ensured that their final 28 fault score left them ahead of the Irish on 35 and the Swedes carrying a colossal 58.

The Swiss ended up sharing fourth spot with the Dutch on a score of 25. Lying third with just nine faults on the board at the half-way stage they failed to hold their ground when Markus Fuchs added four more to his tally of 12 with La Toya, Gregoire Oberson added the discount score of nine to his first-effort eight-fault result with Cortaflex Gazelle Beauval, Niklaus Schurtenberger made a single error after picking up just one first-round time penalty and Pius Schwizer's opening clear with Unique was followed by a double-error.

In the closing stages the real action was played out between the Americans, French and Germans however and it was nip-and-tuck as the final riders took their turn. Margie Engle's first round of jumping was nothing short of electrifying as Hidden Creek's Wapino tried to bank some of the big oxers but the US partnership came home with just two fences down and returned to give a much more composed account of themselves with just a single mistake at their second attempt. Jeffery Welles kicked off the American attack with a double-error but made no mistake next time of asking, while Lauren Hough and Isadora completed with 12 faults on the board and McLain Ward and Sapphire produced one of those very rare double-clears. In the end the US total of 16 was good enough for runner-up spot but when Frenchman Herve Godignon came into the ring for the second time the home side was still in with a good chance of pipping the German leaders.

Ludger Beerbaum and L'Espoir had been hampered only by the clock first time out when picking up one time fault and added just four faults in round two. He described the track as "very twisting, so it was difficult to ride it at 400m per minute and this was why there were many mistakes" he said. Marco Kutscher's Montender made just one mistake in the second round as did Otto Becker's Dobel's Cento who completed with a total of five. Without the contribution of newly-crowned FEI World Cup champion Marcus Ehning and his new ride Noltes Kuchengirl the German tally was already at 13 but if Christian Hermon's 17-fault second effort could be discarded the French were still in the game because Florian Angot (First de Launay) added nothing to his first-round four faults and Michel Robert and Galet D'Auzay jumped double-clear. The French tally would stand at just nine faults if Godignon could keep a clean sheet and even if Ehning jumped clear the two sides would be on level pegging. But Obelix faulted at the water and then twice through the combination and it was all over as France dropped to third behind the USA while Germany claimed pole position. With Ehning spared a second effort he now looks like a powerful contender in Sunday's Grand Prix with his lovely new mare.

"She is still only young" Ehning said of the 9 year old Noltes Kuchengirl. "I only got her in December, before that she was ridden by my brother and I'm really pleased with the way she rode today" he added. Beerbaum praised the facilities at La Baule - "they are some of the best in the whole Super League series" he pointed out and Becker spoke about his old partner Dobel's Cento who, at 17 years of age, put in a marvellous performance today. "Even though he is 17 I decided to bring him out at the beginning of the season and see how he was feeling - he is feeling really good and he jumped really well in the second round today so I believe that, even at his age, he must be in with a chance of a place on the team for the World Equestrian Games this summer" he insisted.

Beerbaum pointed out how strong Germany is when it comes to team competition. "We are very lucky in Germany because we have great strength in our pool of riders. We could replace all four of the riders who are here today and still be seriously competitive" he said. Inspiring for Germany but potentially depressing for everyone else because of course he is quite correct. But show jumping has a way of springing its own surprises as the German team learned at their home Samsung Super League event in 2005 where things went strangely awry for them in Aachen. They will be hoping that history does not repeat itself when the 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI series now moves on to the venerated German venue in just two weeks time.

RESULT:
1. Germany - 13 faults: L'Espoir/Ludger Beerbaum 1/4, Montender/Marco Kutscher 0/4, Dobel's Cento/Otto Becker 1/ 4, Noltes Kuchengirl/Marcus Ehning 0/DNS.2. USA - 16 faults: Armani/Jeffery Welles 8/0, Casadora/Lauren Hough 4/8, Hidden Creek's Wapino/Margie Engle 8/4, Sapphire/McLain Ward 0/0. 3. France - 21 faults: First de Launay/Florian Angot 4/0, Galet D'Auzay/Michel Robert 0/0, Ephebe for Ever la Silla/Christian Hermon 9/17, Obelix/Herve Godignon 5/12.Equal 4, Switzerland - 25 faults; La Toya/Markus Fuchs 12/4, Cortaflex Gazelle Beauval/Gregoire Oberson 8/9, Cantus/Niklaus Schurtenberger 1/4, Unique/Pius Schwizer 0/8.Equal 4, The Netherlands - 25 faults: VDL Groep Fleche Rouge/Leopold Van Asten 10/0, BMC's Octavia/Jurgen Stenfert 23/1, Oki Doki/Albert Zoer 5/5, Eurocommerce Berlin/Gerco Schroder 8/1.6. Great Britain - 28 faults: Russel/Nick Skelton 5/1, Omelli/Tim Gredley 0/0, Thesaura/Mark Armstrong 13/13, Exploit du Roulard/John Whitaker 9/17.7. Ireland - 35 faults: World Cruise/Shane Breen 6/5, Killossery/Capt Shane Carey 8/8, Effective/Edward Doyle 8/0, Poncho/Conor Swail 16/Ret. 8. Sweden - 58 faults: Butterfly Flip/Malin Baryard/Johnsson Elim/ 8, Nostradamus/SvanteJohansson 12/12, Isaac/Royne Zetterman 17/5, Spender S/Maria Gretzer 4/DNS.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI 2006 : LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 1 AT LA BAULE:

1. GERMANY - 10
2. USA - 7
3. FRANCE - 5
4. SWITZERLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS - 3.5
6. GREAT BRITAIN - 2
7. IRELAND - 1
8. SWEDEN - 0.5

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.