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The FEI

Federation Equestre Internationale News

4 June 2003

FEI GANDINI WORLD JUMPING RIDERS RANKINGS
The gap between Beerbaum (No 1) and runner-up Fuchs is getting smaller

There are now 285 points (last month 625) between the leader of the FEI Gandini World Jumping Riders Rankings Ludger Beerbaum (GER) and his runner-up Markus Fuchs (SUI).

Fuchs had a good month with a victory in the Grand Prix of Aach, while Beerbaum claimed victory in the Derby of Hamburg.

At the end of the month, Fuchs will drop his June 2002 points, i.e.294 points in total (mainly from Aachen where he had finished 3rd in the Grand Prix and had achieved a double clear round in the Nations Cup in 2002). Beerbaum will drop a huge amount of points (731), which will bring him dangerousely closer to the Swiss rider. Indeed, the defending European Champion will drop all the points he earned at the 2001 European Jumping Championship in Arnhem, which are still counting for 50% in his total score
until the end of June.

Jos Lansink (BEL) went up from 7th to 5th place, while Otto Becker and Lars Nieberg both went down one place (they are now 6th and 7th respectively). For the first time, Robert Smith (GBR) enters the Top Ten (from 11th to 9th place). Good progression also for the Italian rider Gianni Govoni, who is now World No 10. The Italian rider finished 2nd in the Grand Prix of CSIO Rome and 2nd in the Grand Prix of his home town of Modena.

FEI BCM WORLD DRESSAGE RANKINGS

Ulla Salzgeber leads the FEI BCM World Dressage Rankings with a score of 80.386. She is followedf by naide Capellmann (GER) with an unchanged score of 78.814 and Lisa Wilcox (USA) with 78.395. Ingrid Klimke (GER) and Isabell Werth exchange places and are now 6th and 7th respectively. Heike Kemmer (GER) goes up one place and enters the Top 10.

COMPLETE RANKINGS ON www.horsesport.org, section consult, results


SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE UPDATE
Ireland wins St Gallen Super League after a thrilling jumping-off France still leads the standings

Irish eyes were smiling in St Gallen as the boys in green stormed to victory in the third leg of the Samsung Super League series and moved ever-closer to the league leaders from France who, this time around, had to settle for third place.

The Swiss, competing on their home ground but unable to claim Super League points as they are not part of the series, were runners-up after a third-round jump-off between Marcus Fuchs and Ireland's Robert Splaine while the British slotted into fourth spot behind the French, and the Italians produced a much-improved performance to finish fifth.

Legendary course-designer, Paul Weier, who has been connected with the horse show at St Gallen for more than 30 years, celebrated his retirement with a track that was big, technical and difficult, and the line from the water at fence five to the following oxer at fence six proved the bogey of the day.

All four German riders faulted here at their first attempt, but three clears from the Irish gave them the advantage after round one as last year's Samsung Leading Horse and Rider combination of Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal provided the discount score when collecting five faults.

The Swiss were lying second at this stage, obliged to carry the four faults picked up by Steve Guerdat and Innovation when, despite clears from Beat Maendli (LB Pozitano) and Willi Melliger (Gold du Talus), Tinka's Boy slammed on the brakes at the double, fence four, for Markus Fuchs.

It was a day full of surprises as the French could only produce one clear, from Gilles Bertrand de Balanda (Crocus Graverie), first time out while Michel Hecart's Quilano de Kalvarie, so impressive at La Baule, stopped at the Samsung oxer at fence eight leaving his side to count the two four-fault performances from Eric Levallois (Diamond de Semilly Ecolit) and Reynald Angot (Tlaloc M).

In round two, a toe in the water for pathfinders Robert Splaine and Coolcorran Cool Diamond left the Irish looking more vulnerable and, as in all Nations Cup classes, the competition could have swung in any direction at this stage. O'Connor however rallied with a clear and that meant that only one of the eight-fault results from both Kevin Babington (Carling King) and Billy Twomey (Luidam) were counted, leaving Ireland on a total of 12 over the two rounds.

The Swiss drew level when Maendli and Guerdat each made one mistake while Willi Melliger recorded the only double-clear performance of the whole competition but Marcus Fuchs found himself in trouble again and retired with Tinka's Boy.

By now it was clear that only Ireland could claim the maximum Samsung Super League points as France had to settle for a finishing total of 16 ahead of the British with 19 faults on the board but the biggest shock of the day was yet to come. The Swiss opted to send Fuchs back into the ring to take on Ireland's Robert Splaine in a head-to-head to decide the final placings.

Tinka's Boy had clearly not been on form all day and returned home with two fences on the floor in a fast time of 44.81 seconds and when Splaine and his Irish-bred stallion Coolcorran Cool Diamond collected just two time faults it was all over.

From County Cork in the deep south of Ireland, Splaine has produced this Irish Draught stallion to great effect this season and he was absolutely delighted with the result.

The Irish were inconsistent last season and looked short of horse-power at the beginning of this year but the emergence of a new group of horses and riders has strengthened their position and things are now looking a lot more optimistic. However they are still trailing the French on the Samsung Super League leaderboard going into the next round in Aachen in just under three weeks time.

RESULTS:
1. Ireland - 12 faults (Jump Off, 2 faults in 55.40 seconds): Robert Splaine/Coolcorran Cool Diamond 0+4, Cian O'Connor/Waterford Crystal 5+0,
Billy Twomey/Luidam 0+8, Kevin Babington/Carling King 0+8.
2. Switzerland - 12 faults (Jump Off, 8 faults in 44.61 seconds): Beat Maendli/LB Pozitano 0+4, Willi Melliger/Gold du Talus 0+0, Steve
Guerdat/Innovation 4+4, Markus Fuchs/Tinka's Boy Elim+Ret.
3. France - 16 faults: Eric Levallois/Diamant de Semilly Ecolit 4+4, Raynald Angot/Tlaloc M 4+0, Michel Hecart/Quilano de Kalvarie 7+5, Gilles Bertrand
de Balanda/Crocus Graverie 0+4.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE STANDINGS AFTER 3 COMPETITIONS
1. France - 27
2. Ireland - 20.5
3. Great Britain- 15
4. Germany - 13.5
5. Sweden - 7
6. Belgium - 6
7. Italy - 5
8. Holland - 3.5.


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.

OLYMPIC SELECTION TRIALS IN AACHEN

The Selection Trials for the Jumping Competition of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens will be held from 12 to 15 June 2003 in Aachen. Sixteen Nations are on the list of the nominated entries.

The best three placed teams from Olympic Qualification Group F (Africa and Middle East) and G (South East Asia, Oceania) will earn their Olympic ticket in Aachen, and so will the best 5 individuals.

Teams: Australia, Egypt, Jordan, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, New Zealand and Qatar
Individuals: China, India, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines and South Africa

The Horse Inspection will be held on Thursday 12 June at 16:00. The first Jumping competition will be held on Saturday 14 at 17:00 and the second on Sunday 15 at 12:45.


DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP MEETING
Düsseldorf (GER), 26 May 2003

The Development Working Group established by the FEI Strategic Planning Committee held its first meeting on the 26th May in Düsseldorf (GER). The meeting was also attended by the FEI 1st Vice President Mr Freddy Serpieri., The FEI Sports Director Mr Michael Stone and the FEI Development Project Manager Ms Jacqueline Braissant.

The Group identified that one of the major problems facing the developing NFs was a lack of structure and local coaches.

It was agreed that the development of NFs structure was imperative in order to help develop the coaching structure and following that the competition structure.

The main objectives to reach as soon as possible were:

- Creation of a basic structure that could be used by developing NFs to organise the sport in their countries.
- Creation of a universal structure for coaching with an agreed syllabus

This universal structure for coaching would be in the format of agreed levels that are standard in most sports i.e. Level I - IV, Level I being basic and Level IV International coaches.

This system is based on establishing FEI Experts who initiate the system in developing NFs and they then train Tutors who continue the system. The FEI Experts, and through them the FEI, monitor and provide certification for the coaches in close co-operation with the NFs.

It was agreed to recommend that future funding of NFs should be dependant on the NFs co-operating with both the establishment of an agreed NF structure and a coaching program.

Following this first stage more detailed work would need to be undertaken using local regional experts. The Members of the Development Working Group who were chosen for there expertise in Training and Development are:

Lt Col. Gerry Mullins (IRL)
Mr Peter Strijbosch (NED)
Mr Jean Phillipe Camboulives (FRA)
Mr Christoph Hess (FRA)
Mr Karl Heinz Giebmanns (GER)


WORLD CUP JUMPING: NEWS FROM THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN LEAGUE

CDIO** JOZEFIN ( by Wojciech Markowski)

A rrecord number of horses and riders attended the 2003 edition of CDIO** in Józefin-Poland. Fifty-three competitors, 78 horses from 18 countries came to Jozefin, in the neighbourhood of capital of Poland Warsaw. Six competitions were organised over three days, including 4 Grand Prix.

Karin Rebhein and Domanio won the Grand Prix A on Friday with 71,417% Elena Sidneva with Artax Condor and Martina Hannover-Strenberg with Ratino H 72,125% were the best riders on Saturday- individual classification during Nation Cup.

Heike Kemmer with Albano won the GP Special with 69,44% (Sunday) Elena Sidneva with Artax Condor won the Kür with 76,050% on Sunday afternoon.

After the winter season break, Artax Condor and Elena Sidneva presented very good tests with a lot of harmony and impulsion. The pair as usual excelled in the passage, pirouettes and changes. Martina Hannover and Ratino H presented very fluent test with very good passage-piaff tour.

The team competition was won by Germany with 210,708 % (Rehbein, Hannover, Kemmer, Rosenbauer), before Russia and Sweden. The small tour was won by outstanding pair E. Kalinina and Onegin (Rus. Traken). Unfortunately the horse was lost during the accident on the way home.
The best polish rider was Jaroslaw Wierzchowski on Wieland, who placed in the small tour.


CDI*** - W MINSK (by Isabel Wessel)

Record crowds attended the recent World Cup Qualifier in Minsk, Belarus. Soaring temperatures and a carnival atmosphere on the Freestyle day ensured a wonderful shop window for the dressage sport and a great day out for around 10,000 spectators who came along.

The qualifying classes on Friday and Saturday were well supported with a strong contingent from Russia as well as good entries from Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Ukraine. In the big tour there was a healthy competitive spirit between Irina Lis, Elena Kalinina and Alexandra Korelova with all their horses showing great talent in piaffe and passage. The Intermediate 11 saw the exciting prospect Sugar Ray Lennix with Elena Kalinina taking the honours while in the Grand Prix the grey Balagur with Alexandra Korelova had the winning position. In the World Cup Freestyle it was the local girl - Irina Lis with Problesk who came out on top with a faultless choreography set to beautiful classical music. The crowds were ecstatic and having been quiet throughout all the tests really gave vent to their enthusiasm in the prize giving.

The outstanding combination in the small tour was Ella Ivanova with Blesk winning all classes by a clear margin with wonderful harmony and elasticity throughout.

The organisers and sponsors were all very satisfied with a great weekend for both the competitors and riders.


CDI***- W LIPICA (by Wojciech Markowski)

The CDI-W Lipica was the second World Cup of the World Cup Central European League 2003/2004 season. Because of the close dates between the shows of Minsk and Lipica and the long distance, the participants in both competitions were a different groups of riders. The show in Lipica was preceded by a show in Barzago (short distance). It causes that many riders from Italy come to Lipica. Lipica is running the show over twenty years. The facility there are one of the best in Europe. This year above 60 horses took part. In big tour dominated Elena Sidneva with Artax Condor and for small tour Carl Hester with Santas. 12 countries were presented.


FEI NORTH AMERICAN DRIVING CHALLENGE

Three of the 7 competitions part of the FEI North American Driving Challenge, supported by Freedman's Harness and Driving Essentials were held. Chester Weber (USA) leads the standings with 17 points ahead of James Fairclough (USA) and Gary Stover (USA). The next event counting for the Series will be held in Blainville, QC (CAN) from 20 to 22 June.


NEWS FROM THE EVENTING WORLD CUP

Bettina Hoy (GER), riding the 11-year old gelding Woodsides Ashby, won the ninth leg of the FEI Eventing World Cup held at the Rodderberg Park Derby (GER) from 22 to 24 May. She performed the qualifier's best Dressage test and cleared the 40 jumping efforts Cross Country course with no penalties. The pair's final score was 38.20 points.

Bettina's performance was all the more remarkable as she not only won the competition but also placed fourth with Unsung Hero scoring 48.20 points. "I am proud of both horses. Ashby has learnt a lot during this last year and is now much more confident in the Cross Country", Bettina Hoy said, who is consistently training towards participation in the 2004 Olympic Games.

This is her third World Cup qualifier after Martinvast-Cherbourg (FRA) in August 2002 and Chatsworth (GBR) two weeks ago. She is also a regular visitor at Rodderberg where she won in 1998 and 2001.

Andreas Dibowski (GER) on Little Lemon B tied with Hoy after the Dressage and Jumping Tests. He came in 20 seconds later following a highly exciting Cross Country and with 44.20 points took the runner up position. In a true spirit of horsemanship and fair play, Dibowski congratulated the winner and paid tribute to her brilliant victory. "The right rider won," he said.

Ingrid Klimke (GER) on Robinson´s Concord placed third with 46.30 points.

The Dressage test was completed by 52 out of the 60 starters. All riders finished the Cross Country without falls, apart from Sweden's Sofia Andler, whose fall with Really Famous had no consequences for either horse or rider. There were 16 refusals for, amongst others, Herbert Blöcker (GER) on Chicoletto, Matt Ryan (AUS) on Bonza Katoomba and Eddy Sans (FRA) on Ecile.

The competitors highly praised the organisers for the preparation of the Cross Country track surface. "The work done here has been fantastic. Such excellent conditions are very important for us riders because they help us choose the competitions we take part in", Bettina Hoy explained.

The full results can be found on http://www.rodderberg.de/turniergmbh/defaultturnier.htm

The next FEI World Cup qualifier will take place from 6 to 9 June at Melbourne (AUS). The Final will be held in Pau (FRA) from 23 to 26 October. It will be contested by 45 of the world's top riders.



EVENTING IN AUSTRALIA
KADI SEALS SYDNEY VICTORY BY A WHISKER...
By Adam Fawcett in Australia
afawcettjournalist@hotmail.com

Kadi Eykamp has beaten her more fancied rivals to walk away the surprise winner of this years CCI*** Sydney International Three Day Event after having the only clear showjumping round to take out the event on 67.80 points, just 2.8 ahead of Catherine Davies and Queen's Ransom.

For Eykamp, the win boosts her chances of making the Australian squad ahead of the 2004 Olympics with the 12 year old black thoroughbred gelding Seal. The combination were one of the few to successfully tackle the difficult Pemulways Waterhole involving a huge bounce in with four strides to an extremely tight arrow head in water.

Heavy rain caused serious damage on cross country day where horses fell and riders struggled to copy with the worsening conditions.

>From a field of fourteen that contested the three star class just over half managed to complete the course. It wasn't just the novice riders who were fighting to stay on top of the course either with five of the three star combinations eliminated including Atlanta and Sydney Gold Medallist Stuart Tinney and World Equestrian Games competitor David Middleton.

The varied and steep terrain, tight turns and wet ground combined with the mind of Australia's leading course designer Wayne Copping saw 23 combinations fail to pass the finishing flags on cross country day but with no fatalities incurred.

The Australian focus now shifts to the CCI*** Melbourne International Three Day Event from June 7 to 9 which will provide many Australian based riders with their last chance to catch the eye of selectors. The event also doubles as the first Australian World Cup Qualifier for the World Cup in October.

IM MEMORIAM

Herbert Schnapke, three decades ago the major German owner of Jumping horses, died recently, aged 91. Schnapke, who owned a leading oil importing company, sponsored, among others, horses of Gerd Wiltfang, Hartwig Steenken and Hermann Schridde.


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