Samsung Super League in Aachen

As it has done so many times before, the Samsung Super League turned up another surprising result today at the Mercedez-Benz Prize Nations Cup of Aachen, when the much-fancied German team failed to shine on their home ground while the USA stormed to their second victory in the 2005 series.

The Americans finished with a total of 13 faults to leave them with a significant eight-fault advantage over the joint runners-up from Holland and France but the under-dog Irish were bitterly disappointed when a dramatic second-round mistake for Billy Twomey denied them second position and dropped them to last. The Swiss and British shared fourth ahead of Belgium in sixth, but nobody could have expected that the European show jumping champions from Germany would finish seventh, and just two faults ahead of the unfortunate Irish who have now plummeted once more to the bottom of the leaderboard.

That is not a good place to be going into the series finale in Barcelona on September 18th and they know it.

Frank Rothenberger's 12-fence track provided plenty of problems and only America's McLain Ward riding Sapphire and Holland's Gerco Schroder with Eurcommerce Monaco found all the answers in both rounds.

Ward is still only part-recovered from the broken collarbone injury he suffered in a fall at Hickstead last month, making today's performance all the more remarkable, and his Chef d'Equipe, George Morris, said "he gave his horse a fabulous ride today, he's a great performer under pressure".

Mr Morris described the course as "big but not technical. There were some big, narrow fences and the big oxer towards the end of the track (fence 10) which was on a downhill slope took its toll. The last line was difficult too, with a gymnastic vertical and then a steady seven or forward six strides to the combination which had a short two-stride distance between the last two elements" he said.

"Most of the week here in Aachen the courses were very trappy but today's track was much more straight-forward. It proved very difficult, but we just had four wonderful riders and four very nice horses - that's what clinched it for us" he added.

The Americans and Dutch were already looking good when sharing the lead with four faults each at the halfway stage when the British were carrying just five, the Swiss had six, the Irish and French carried eight, Germany had already collected nine and the Belgians were bringing up the rear with 16.

Germany's team and individual European gold medal winning partnership of Marco Kutscher and Montender never showed their true form and provided the discount score in both rounds while Marcus Ehning and Gitania provided the home side's only foot-perfect performance when clear in the first round.

As the second round progressed the Dutch began to look vulnerable when European bronze medalist Jeroen Dubbeldam returned a 12-fault result with BMC Nassau while Leon Thijssen and Nairobi picked up 13, but Schroder's second clear and Harrie Smolder's five-fault score with Oliver steadied the decline.

A single time fault for Herve Godignon and Obelix and just one error from Gilles Bertran de Balanda and Crocus Graverie saw the French improve even though Florian Angot's eight-fault score with First de Launay had to be taken into account and their final tally of 21 left them on level-pegging with The Netherlands.

The Swiss and British suffered a bit of a collapse, the Swiss adding 16 more faults to their tally while the British added 17.

Markus Fuchs produced the best Swiss performance when picking up just one time fault first time out with La Toya and then clipping the top rail of the triple bar, a fence that caused few other problems throughout the day, at his second attempt.

New British star Ellen Whitaker was most impressive when collecting only a single time fault with Locarno in round one when her uncle, Michael Whitaker, jumped clear with Portofino, but Nick Skelton provided the best British score at the end of the day when adding nothing to his first-round four faults with Arko and the British and Swiss shared fourth place with 22 faults each at the end of the day.

The Belgians meanwhile made a rapid recovery when, despite a disappointing discount 12-fault score for Jean-Claude Vangeenberghe and Osta Rugs Quintus, Jos Lansink and Cavalor Cumano fought the perfect rearguard action, adding nothing to the four-fault second-round results achieved by Dirk Demeersman (Clinton) and Ludo Philippaerts (Parco). Their total of 24 faults was still good enough to secure sixth place.

Sensationally, the Germans just couldn't seem to get it together and the addition of a further 21 faults proved very costly indeed as they slotted into second-last spot. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Checkmate provided the best home-side result with a single error in each round but perhaps the successes Germany has enjoyed in recent months were reflected in the less than sparkling performances seen today when they completed with a total of 30 faults on the board. Its difficult to be brilliant all the time.

For the Irish, their last-place result was nothing short of devastating. Without some of their top riders due to recent clashes with the team management they were never looking strong, but they put up a marvellous fight in the first round before disaster struck. Last man in for his team, Billy Twomey knew that the 12 faults picked up by pathfinder Shane Breen could be discarded if he could bring his horse home without penalty and he also knew that this would secure runner-up spot for his beleaguered side. He jumped clear all the way to the final combination but, going in strong, he took a big check between the second and third elements and his mare, confused and off-balance, stopped.

Bringing her around again he then hit the second element before crossing the line, and the 12 faults he collected brought the Irish total to 32 and slotted them into last place.

It was all smiles for George Morris however as the USA heads to Barcelona next month with a four-point lead at the head of the 2005 Samsung Super League leaderboard. With the big Spruce Meadows Masters tournament in Calgary, Canada attracting most of the top teams during the previous week the selection process for Barcelona is not quite so simple though, and Mr Morris said today "we're out in front now and I hope we can win the Super League but we will be sending some different horses and riders to Spain - we'll certainly be giving it our best shot".

And things could look very different after the final round, with the double-points available at the last fixture likely to prove very influential indeed.

RESULTS:
1. USA - 13 faults: Armani (Jeffery Welles) 4/5, Miss Independent (Laura Kraut) 4/12, Sapphire (McLain Ward) 0/0, Authentic (Beezie Madden) 0/4.
Equal 2. The Netherlands - 21 faults: BMC Nassau (Jeroen Dubbeldam) 0/12, Oliver Q (Harrie Smolders) 8/5, Nairobi (Leon Thijssen) 4/13, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder) 0/0.
Equal 2. France - 21 faults: First de Launay (Florian Angot) 4/8, Obelix (Herve Godignon) 4/1, Crocus Graverie (Gilles Bertran de Balanda) 0/4, Cigale du Taillis (Eugenie Angot) 9/9.
Equal 4. Switzerland - 22 faults: La Toya (Markus Fuchs) 1/4, LB No Mercy (Christina Liebherr) 4/4, Cantus (Niklaus Schurtenberger) 1/8, Tijl van het Pallieterland (Steve Guerdat) 5/13.
Equal 4. Great Britain - 22 faults: Arko (Nick Skelton) 4/0, Cortaflex Mondriaan (William Funnell) 5/13, AK Locarno (Ellen Whitaker) 1/12, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) 0/5.
6. Belgium - 24 faults: Osta Rugs Quintus (Jean Claude Vangeenberghe) 8/12, Clinton (Dirk Demeersman) 4/4, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts) 8/4, Cavalor Cumano (Jos Lansink) 4/0.
7. Germany - 30 faults: Gitania (Marcus Ehning) 0/8, Montender (Marco Kutscher) 8/12, Checkmate (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) 4/4, L'Espoir (Ludger Beerbaum) 5/9.
8. Ireland - 32 faults: World Cruise (Shane Breen) 0/12, Condios (Dermott Lennon) 4/8, Killossery (Shane Carey) 13/4, Anastasia (Billy Twomey) 4/12.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE LEADERBOARD (after Round 7 in Aachen):
1. USA - 43
2. Germany - 39
3. Great Britain - 37
4. Switzerland - 28
5. France - 27.5
6. Belgium - 19
7. The Netherlands- 18.5
8. Ireland - 15

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!

For further information about the seventh leg of the 2005 Samsung Super League series in Aachen check out website www.chioaachen.de or contact Press Officer Niels Knippertz at tel:             +49241 91710      , fax +49241 917199, email niels.knippertz@aachen2006.de.

The final takes place at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona on Sunday 18 September. Show President is Joaquin Calvo Jaques, Show Director is Hanspeter Vogelsanger and Press Officer is Isabel Suter - contact isuter@rcpolo.com, tel:             +3493203 1008      , fax +3493205 5516, website www.csiobarcelona.com.

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.