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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
Samsung Super League News : Dutch Delight in Rotterdam!
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In
what can only be described as a bizarre twist to the Samsung Super
League, the Dutch came out on top in the second-last leg of the
series at Rotterdam today when completing with the only zero score
of the competition.
Fault-free
performances in both rounds for Eric Van der Vleuten (Audis
Jikke), Jan Tops (Grande Dame) and Albert Zoer (Lowina) meant
that the final Dutch rider, Peter Geerink, did not have to jump
while the line-up of teams at the end of the competition was in
stark contrast to what might have been expected.
The
French completed with just four faults on the board but few would
have dreamed that the Italians and Swedes would join them in second
place after their run of recent form and while Great Britain slotted
into fifth carrying nine faults ahead of Belgium with 12, it was
left to Germany and Ireland, two nations with different but very
definite expectations for a considerably better result, to share
seventh place with 13 faults apiece.
Heavy
rain and poor ground conditions combined to set the scene in which
it was decided to keep the first-round course at just over 1.40m
and this may well have had a strong influence on the end result.
Super
League courses have, to date, been considerably more challenging
but the new grass sown in the Rotterdam arena this summer failed
to take root, leaving the going deep and difficult to negotiate,
so a reduction in the fence heights was introduced for safety
reasons.
While
this suited some horses very well indeed it failed to inspire
others and the German squad found themselves at the bottom of
the order after the first round. The Irish fared little better,
picking up nine faults while the British carried five at the halfway
stage. France and Italy completed round one with just four faults
each but it was neck-and-neck between Sweden, Belgium and Holland
when all three nations completed their first effort with zero
on the board.
Anyone
familiar with Nations Cup competition knows that anything can
happen in the second round but that the lowest-placed teams have
little chance of making much of an improvement and this was how
it turned out for Germany when, despite three clears at their
second attempt and a double-clear for Alois Pollmann Schweckhorst
and Candy, they still had to share last place with the Irish.
Billy
Twomey and Anastasia went double-clear for Ireland while Peter
Charles picked up only a single time fault in his first effort
with Pershing but reigning World Champion Dermott Lennon and his
new ride OBOS Quality provided the discount score in both rounds
when collecting a total of 28 faults while Cian OConnor
and Waterford Crystal added four more to their first-round score
of eight.
Belgiums
chances were severely hampered when Ludo Philippaerts, whose luck
has surely left him in recent days, fell on the flat between fences
to return with 34 faults on the board in the second round after
a perfect opening effort with Kira and when only Jos Lansink and
High Valley Z remained clear this time out they had to settle
for sixth spot.
On
a different day, the British performance would have been good
enough to secure a much better placing - William Funnell producing
an excellent double-clear from Cortaflex Mondriaan even though
this is a horse that much prefers bigger fences, Robert Whitaker
going clear with Qualite after just a single mistake first time
out, nine faults in total for Mark Armstrong and Graf Gold and
five faults for Scott Smith and Cabri dElle making up their
tally.
There
was, however, nothing normal about this competition as the Italians,
who have struggled long and hard throughout the Samsung Super
League series carried only the one error from Vincenzo Chimirri
and Askoll Rosa in the opening round to complete without anything
further to add when Roberto Arioldi (Loro Piana le Mato) was double-clear,
and Vincenzo and Emanuel Fiorelli (Western Union Equinoxe Morin)
were error-free in round two leaving Bruno Chimirri with no reason
to return to the ring again.
Surprisingly,
Malin Baryard produced the worst Swedish result with just one
fence down for Irco Sun in both rounds and the Swedes would have
gone into a jump-off with the Dutch for first place but for a
mistake from Maria Gretzer and Cinderella in round two after both
Helena Persson (Classic H) and Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Mac Kinley)
were foot-perfect at both attempts.
The
French, normally so much better than the rest, could not improve
on their first-round four-fault result when adding no further
penalties Bruno Broucqsault (Dileme de Cephe), Lauren Goffinet
(Flipper dElle), Hubert Bourdy (Eve des Etisses) and Christian
Hermon (Ephebe For Ever) joining the Italians and Swedes in runner-up
spot and helping to boost the French position at the top of the
leaderboard despite the fact that the 16 available points had
to be shared.
For
the Dutch however it was a clear and definitive victory. In a
truly testing Nations Cup competition double-clear performances
are somewhat of a rarity but in this remarkable Super League leg
in Rotterdam a total of 11 horses left all the fences standing
in both rounds and the team from The Netherlands had three of
these double-clears.
Van
der Vleuten, Tops and Zoer were so good that Peter Geerink found
himself out of a job for the day and Zoer said afterwards that
this was no fluke result.
"Three
weeks before this show we were at Valkenswaard and these horses
were also in good form there what happened today was that
we found form at the right moment and in the right place"
he said, and the home crowd certainly appreciated the effort made
by their boys which has resulted in a significant movement on
the league leaderboard ahead of the final in Barcelona in three
weeks time.
France
still lead the table, now 11 points ahead of the Irish, with Britain
five points further adrift in third but the Dutch have shot up
two places and now lie fourth ahead of the Germans who have dropped
to fifth while Belgium, Sweden and Italy bring up the rear.
French
Chef dEquipe, Jean-Maurice Bonneau, was happy enough with
how it all turned out.
"This
was a good day for France because now the difference between us
and the Irish is greater before Barcelona" he said.
Describing
the competition and the ground conditions he added "The course
was very much lower than usual but maybe this was a good opportunity
for the teams lower down the leaderboard to come back in with
a chance. Any faults at all today were dangerous and because the
fences were lower there were many clears. The show organisers
did well because we were very worried about the footing for the
horses the ground was very bad yesterday and I really thought
about whether we should compete with our horses. The new surface
was put down I think in June and the grass was not old enough,
not heavy enough to carry horses, but the organisers did a lot
of hard work and we could ride on it today".
So
now it really is down to the wire. One last round, one last effort,
one last chance but can any other team really hope to finish ahead
of the French? Today the Dutch were truly impressive and look
to have secured a much stronger position for the end of the league
series.
Double-points
in Barcelona could make a big difference but now surely only a
disaster can stop the French from proving once more that they
are simply the best. Jean-Maurice put it into perspective yesterday
when he said "Yes - I am confident now".
Results:
The
Netherlands - 0 faults: Eric van der Vleuten/Audis Jikke
0+0, Jan Tops/Grande Dame 0+0, Albert Zoer/Lowina 0+0, Peter Geerink/Norit
Joint Venture DNS+DNS.
Equal 2.
France
- 4 faults: Bruno Broucqsault/Dileme de Cephe 0+0, Laurent Goffinet/Flipper
dElle 4+0, Christian Hermon/Ephebe For Ever 0+4, Hubert
Bourdy/Eve des Etisses 4+0.
Italy
4 faults: Roberto Arioldi/Loro Piana le Mato 0+0, Emanuele
Fiorelli/Western Union Equinoxe Morin 5+0, Vincenzo Chimirri/Askoll
Rosa 4+0, Bruno Chimirri/Australe 0+DNS .
Sweden
- 4 faults: Malin Baryard/Irco Sun 4+4, Helena Persson/Classic
H 0+0, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson/MacKinley 0+0, Maria Gretzer/Cinderella
0+4.
5.
Great Britain 9 faults: Scott Smith/Cabri dElle 1+4,
Mark Armstrong/Graf Gold 4+5, Robert Whitaker/Qualite 4+0, William
Funnell/Cortaflex Mondriaan 0+0.
6.
Belgium - 12 faults: Ludo Philippaerts/Kira 0+34, Jean-Claude
Vangeenberghe/Quintus 0+8, Dirk Demeersman/Clinton 4+4, Jos Lansink/High
Valley Z 0+0.
Equal
7.
Germany
- 13 faults: Helena Weinberg/Albfuehrens Ramonus 9+4, Alois Pollman
Schweckhorst/Candy 0+0, Carsten-Otto Nagel/Elwood 4+0, Lars Nieberg/Adlantus
As FRH 11+0.
Ireland
- 13 faults: Billy Twomey/Anastasia 0+0, Dermott Lennon/OBOS Quality
12+16, Cian OConnor/Waterford Crystal 8+4, Peter Charles/Pershing
1+0.
Keep
up to date with all the news from Rotterdam at website www.chio.nl.
For further information you can contact Press Officer Anita Lussenberg
at Email: info@chio.nl or Telephone: 00 3110 452 8900.
PLEASE
NOTE the website for the SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE FINAL IN BARCELONA
is www.csiobarcelona.com. Isabel Suter is Press Officer and if
you have any questions about the Final you can contact her at
Email: hanspeter@infonegocio.com. Hans Peter Vogelsanger is Show
Director at Barcelona.
SAMSUNG
SUPER LEAGUE LEADERBOARD
1.
France 52.30 points
2.
Ireland 41.75 points
3.
Great Britain 36.00 points
4.
Holland 25.00 points
5.
Germany 23.75 points
6.
Belgium 18.50 points
7.
Sweden 16.30 points
8.
Italy 13.80 points.
SAMSUNG
SUPER LEAGUE
NATIONAL
PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
You
can access all the latest Samsung Super League news and information
on website www.samsungsuperleague.com and dont 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, section reference rules
http://www.horsesport.org/fei/reference_03/ref_03_02.html.
The
Samsung Super League consists of the eight most prestigious horse
shows at which the worlds 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 worlds largest electronics companies,
is committed to supporting international sporting events thereby
returning corporate profits to the public and working towards
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