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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI World Cup Jumping News: Brilliant Baloubet Beats Them
All In Bordeaux........
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Double
World Cup Champion Rodrigo Pessoa scooped the 25,000 Euro winners
prize and rocketed up the league leaderboard with a superb victory
in tonight’s FEI World Cup qualifying competition in Bordeaux
riding Baloubet du Rouet.
With
15 horses clear over Frank Rothenberger’s first-round course
it was always going to be a tough jump-off and pathfinder, Sweden’s
Maria Gretzer, set the early target when clear in 41.29 seconds
with Cinderella.
This
was never going to be quick enough however and French hearts were
lifted when Patrice Deleveau and Envoye Special, fifth to go against
the clock, cranked up the tension as they shaved almost six seconds
off that.
Amsterdam
winners Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum were just over one second slower
than the French partnership but when Rodrigo came into the ring,
with just five more horses to follow him, it was obvious he meant
business.
Turning
inside an oxer to a vertical he was already well up on time and
as he galloped through the finish-line to take the lead, the clock
showing 33.26 seconds.
Holland’s
Jeroen Dubbeldam (De Sjiem), Frenchman Jean-Marc Nicolas (JPC
Modesto) and Italy’s Juan Carlos Garcia (Albin 111) all made
just a single error and when Germany’s Toni Hassmann slotted
in behind Rodrigo, with Meurer’s Le Patron breaking the beam
in 35.33 seconds, only Hubert Bourdy was left to challenge the
Brazilian ace.
The
home supporters rightly had high expectactions after a double
from Bourdy which included pole position in Friday night’s
FEI World Cup Preliminary competition but there was a groan from
the crowd when the French rider tried the same tight turn as Rodrigo
but left two fences on the floor to finish well-down the line
in the final analysis.
For
Rodrigo this was a very satisfying result. "I really want
to go to the Final and I think I have almost enough points now"
said the man who held the FEI World Cup trophy aloft in both Gothenburg
in 1999 and Las Vegas in 2000 – and he was particularly pleased
with Baloubet du Rouet.
"He’s
feeling really fresh and he’s in very good shape" he
said of the 15 year old French stallion.
When
asked about his plan when riding into the ring for the jump-off
he answered "you get some show jumping classes in which everything
comes together just right and this was one of those, but there
are plenty of times when it doesn’t work out that way –
you just have to be happy when it does" And when questioned
about whether Baloubet will be his first choice for the Olympic
Games this summer Rodrigo replied – "Oh yes, he’s
the one!".
For
now however his sights are set on Milan and tonight’s win
saw him climb from 32nd position to joint-12th on the leaderboard
which has seen a bit of a shake-up. Toni Hassmann, runner-up tonight,
improves from 21st to equal-ninth place but while third-placed
Patrice Deleveau is well down the line in 36th spot, Meredith
Michaels-Beerbaum, fourth tonight, has added a further 13 points
to her tally and this leaves her sharing pole position with Belgium’s
Jos Lansink going into next weekend’s leg of the series in
Vigo, Spain.
There
are only four more qualifiers to go – at Vigo next Saturday,
in Paris on 6th March, at s’Hertogenbosch on 28th March and
in Gothenburg on 11th April - and for riders carrying 36 points
or less there is still much to play for in the coming few months
as one good result could secure that all-important place in the
line-up for the 26th FEI World Cup Final at the end of April.
RESULT:
1, Baloubet du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 0/0 33.26; 2, Meurer’s
Le Patron (Toni Hassmann) Ger 0/0 35.33; 3, Envoye Special (Patrice
Deleveau) Fra 0/0 35.46; 4, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum)
Ger 0/0 35.65; 5, MacKinley (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 0/0 36.20;
6, Tlaloc M (Reynald Angot) Fra 0/0 37.41; 7, Cigale du Tallis
(Eugenie Angot) Fra 0/0 37.41; 8, Cinderella (Maria Gretzer) Swe
0/0 41.29; 9, De Sjiem (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Ned 0/4 38.67; 10, Dobel’s
Cento (Otto Becker) Ger 0/4 39.38; 11, Meautry’s Locarno
(Luciana Diniz-Knippling) Bra 0/4 39.94; 12, Albin 111 (Juan Carlos
Garcia (0/4 40.50; 13, JPC Modesto (Jean Marc Nicolas) Fra 0/4
41.25; 14, VDL Group Eve des Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra 0/8 33.89;
15, Norman Wells (Tony Andre Hansen) Nor 0/8 47.23; equal 16,
Cyrenaika (Philippe Leoni) Fra, Espoir de la Haye (Jesus Garmendia)
Esp, VDL Groep Roofs (Jan Tops) Ned, Portofino (Michael Whitaker)
GB, Impact (Dermott Lennon) Irl, Dileme de Cephe (Brono Broucqsault)
Fra, Le Coup C (Maurice Van Roosbroeck) Bel, Chamal Corubert (Rob
Raskin) Aut, Querly Chin (Christope Barbeau) Sui 4 faults.
FEI
WORLD CUP LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 10 IN BORDEAUX:
Jos
Lansink and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum - 57.
3. Helena Weinberg - 53
4. Thomas Velin - 52
5. Eric Van der Vleuten - 51
6. Marco Kutscher - 50
7. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson - 46
8. Michael Whitaker - 45
9. Ludo Philippaerts and Toni Hassmann - 42
11. Hubert Bourdy - 39
12. Peter Wylde and Rodrigo Pessoa - 38
14. Jeroen Dubbeldam, Marcus Ehning and Otto Becker - 37
17. Bruno Broucqsault, Christophe Barbeau and
Malin Baryard - 36.
20. Lars Nieberg and Wim Schroder - 35.
For further details on the fixture at Bordeaux contact Press Officer
Marie-Sol Fournier at Tel: ++33 556 119943 or Email: presse@bordeaux-expo.com.
Show President is Francois de la Girauday, Show Director is Francois-Bernard
Martin and Show Secretary is Isabelle Cazaux Maleville who can
be contacted at Email: jumping@bordeaux-expo.com. All results
are available on website www.jumping-bordeaux.com.
The
next leg of the FEI World Cup series takes place in Vigo, Spain
on Saturday 14th February. For full details contact Press Officer
Alejandra Mier Rodriguez at Tel: ++34 657 593093 or Email: amier@csivigo.com.
2003/2004
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING SERIES – CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
1,
Helsinki - 19 October; 2, Oslo - 26 October; 3, Verona - 9 November;
4, Berlin - 16 November; 5, Geneva - 7 December; 6, Olympia, London
- 21 December; 7, Mechelen - 30 December; 8, Leipzig - 25 January;
9, Amsterdam - 1 February; 10, Bordeaux - 7 February; 11, Vigo
- 14 February; 12, Paris - 6 March; 13, s'Hertogenbosch - 28 March;
14, Gothenburg - 11 April. Final in Milan - 21-25 April.
BIOGRAPHIES on riders competing in the FEI World Cup series are
available
at http://bios.horsesport.org.
YOU
CAN DOWNLOAD THE NEWLY REVISED RULES for the World Cup for Jumping
Riders from FEI website: www.horsesport.org.
FEI
World Cup jumping has entered its 26th year. The series, created
in 1978, today comprises 12 leagues on all continents. The best
riders from over 100 World Cup preliminary competitions will qualify
for the Final in Milan (ITA) from 21 to 25 April 2004. The title-holder
is Markus Ehning (GER). The Federation Equestre Internationale
(FEI), founded in 1921, is
the international body governing equestrian sport recognised by
the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 130 National
Federations.
Equestrian
sport has been on the Olympic programme since 1912 with three
disciplines - Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. It is one of the
very few sports in which men and women compete on equal terms.
It is also the only sport which involves two athletes - horse
and rider - and the FEI has relentlessly concerned itself with
the welfare of the horse.
www.horsesport.org
.
