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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
Velin
Victorious in Berlin…..
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Denmark’s
Thomas Velin proved too good for the rest of them when cruising
to victory in the fourth leg of the 2003/2004 FEI World Cup Jumping
series in Berlin today which brought a dramatic shake-up to the
league leaderboard as the young guns of international show jumping
made a significant impact.
The
28 year old Dane set an impossible target when third to go in
the 13-horse jump-off with Equest Carnute while Germany’s
Marco Kutscher, also 28 years of age, now heads the league table
after slotting into runner-up spot today with Controe.
It
was a competition full of contradictions as five likely contenders,
including Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum (Goldfever) and Soren
Von Ronne (Cantaro), retired in the opening round and yet more
than one-third of the field survived to go through to the jump-off.
The tight confines of the arena added to the degree of difficulty
with Olaf Petersen’s track – "the fences were more
technical than expected because the ring is not big" Thomas
said afterwards.
Marco
Kutscher set the pace when double-clear in 37.20 seconds and Thomas
saw him go before taking his turn. "I knew I was faster than
Marco but I felt that I had left at least two doors open with
my round. I thought the risk might be too big if I was to go any
quicker and, at the fourth-last fence, I could have gone on six
strides but decided to be more cautious and go for seven instead
so I wondered if someone would catch me" Thomas said.
None
of the rest looked like doing that until, last to go, Frenchman
Hubert Bourdy set off with Eve des Etisses but a pole down this
time out saw them having to settle for third behind Marco and
Controe as Thomas claimed the 22,000 Euro first prize.
Equest
Carnute was seriously impressive when winning the opening individual
competition at this summer’s European Championships in Donaueschingen.
Bought as an eight-year old from French Young Rider Vera Benchamol
the stallion has now been with Thomas for five years and they
have formed a truly genuine partnership. "I jumped him in
only one class in Berlin this week because he doesn’t need
too much work – he’s 13 years old now and he knows his
job very well. I have a plan for him for the next few weeks –
we go to Stuttgart, Stockholm, Geneva and then Frankfurt and he
only needs to do one big class each time. I like to look after
him, he’s a lovely horse and he has a great temperament so
he’s easy to ride" he said.
The
young Danish rider who lives just north of Copenhagen is trained
by Belgian instructor Jos Komps who also trains Rodrigo Pessoa.
Thomas also works in his father, Flemming Velin’s, veterinary
and human medicine business VetScan. The family have 50 horses
at stud in Denmark and France and stand the legendary stallion
Quidam de Revel.
Today’s
success slots Thomas into sixth position on the World Cup leaderboard
after four of the 14 qualifying rounds. Frenchman Bruno Broucqsault
and Germany’s Helena Weinberg lie fifth and fourth respectively
while Jos Lansink is third but former league leader Eric Van der
Vleuten is now demoted to second spot as Marco Kutscher, carrying
42 points to date and heading the leaderboard by a considerable
margin, looks set to comfortably book his ticket to the Final
in Milan next April.
The
next leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series takes place in Geneva
on Sunday, December 7.
RESULT:
1, Equest Carnute (Thomas Velin) Den 0/0 35.98; 2, Controe (Marco
Kutscher) Ger 0/0 37.20; 3, Eve Des Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra
0/4 36.98; 4, Eurocommerce Berlin (Wim Schroder) Ned 0/4 38.09;
5, Lowina (Albert Zoer) Ned 0/4 38.26; 6, Hofgut Liederbach’s
Ingmar (Pia-Luise Aufrecht) Ger 0/4 39.79; 7, Kasting Horses Gavi
(Helena Weinberg) Ger 0/4 40.11; 8, Dileme de Cephe (Bruno Broucqsault)
Fra 0/4 40.97; 9, Jamiro (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 0/4 42.10;
10, Dobel’s Cento (Otto Becker) Ger 0/8 37.34; 11, Parco
(Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 0/8 38.17; 12, Gandini Lianos (Rodrigo
Pessoa) Bra 0/8 40.58; 13, Sylver (Rob Raskin) Aut 0/12 44.90.
For
further information on Berlin you can Email: bcm@bcm.nl or visit
website: www.reitturnier-chi-berlin.de. Show Secretary is Caroline
Wauters and she can be contacted on Email: c.wauters@bcm.nl and
Press Officer is Denise van der Net – Email: d.van.der.net@bcm.nl.
The
next round of the FEI 2003/2004 World Cup Jumping series takes
place in Geneva, 5 – 7 December. President is Pierre E Genecand,
Alban Poudret is 1st Vice-President while Sophie Mottu is 2nd
Vice-President and you can get full details about the event at
Tel: ++ 41 22 738 1800, Fax: ++ 41 22 738 1858, Email: contact@concours-hippique.ch
and website: www.concours-hippique.ch. Show Secretary is Nuria
Tarre – Email: ntarre@concours-hippique.ch and Press Officer
is Corinne Druey – Mobile: ++ 41 79 228 7859, Email: druey@swissonline.ch.
THE
TOP-TEN ON THE LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 4 AT BERLIN:
Marco
Kutscher – 42
Eric Van der Vleuten – 33
Jos Lansink – 32
Helena Weinberg – 27
Bruno Broucqsault – 24
Thomas Velin - 23
Pia-Luise Aufrecht - 22
Robert Smith – 21
Lars Nieberg - 20
Jeroen Dubbeldam – 19.
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
.
