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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI
World Cup Jumping - Iron Maiden Takes Control In Olympia
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In
a thrilling 13-horse jump-off, British-born German rider Helena
Weinberg claimed maximum points at the sixth leg of the FEI World
Cup Jumping series in Olympia today.
The
show in the heart of London was completely booked out even before
it began last Wednesday night and the capacity crowd were on the
edges of their seats this afternoon as they enjoyed a real cliff-hanger
of a competition which just kept more exciting by the moment.
Belgium’s
Jos Lansink was first to go against the clock but lowered the
fourth fence, so it was Peter Wylde who set the early pace when
clear with Fein Cera in 37.94 seconds. Michael Whitaker was next
into the ring however and a scorching run from Portofino shaved
over a second off that target-time.
Sweden’s
Maria Gretzer and Cinderella returned with eight faults on the
board but Belgium’s Ludo Philippaerts really increased the
pressure when Parco broke the beam to take the lead in 35.59 seconds.
Afterwards Ludo said he knew that might not be fast enough but
added "I could not have gone faster than I did – my
horse is not naturally so quick".
The
following three riders failed to threaten Ludo’s advantage
as Austria’s Gerfried Puck opted for a careful clear with
S&L Manpower, Sweden’s Malin Baryard and H&M Butterfly
Flip collected four faults, Italy’s Roberto Cristofoletti
and Lohengrin di Villa Emilia picked up 12 faults and Edouard
Couperie decided to take a leaf out of Puck’s book and err
on the side of caution with Pro Pilot who left all the fences
standing in 39.76 seconds. Caution however was not in Helena’s
mind as she set off with Kasting Horses Gavi.
The
9 year old stallion by Graf Grannus is a difficult character in
the warm-up ring as he is inclined to threaten other horses when
working in a confined space but the 39 year old German rider has
built up a tremendous relationship with him and today she reaped
the benefits of years of trust and training.
Frank
Rotherberger’s jump-off track asked riders to risk all with
a long gallop from an upright at fence two to an oxer down the
far end of the ring and Helena kicked off at a tremendous pace,
curling sharply right to the following oxer and then cutting left-handed
inside the Snowman which marked the starting line. Taking the
oxer there at a tremendous gallop she kicked on for the penultimate
upright before racing to the final big oxer and, standing a long
way off this one, Kasting Horses Gavi stopped the clock in 34.52
seconds.
It
was a stunning performance but with three horses left to go the
result was still uncertain and, next into the ring, Marcus Ehning
and For Pleasure came dangerously close to demoting their team-mates.
At 17 years of age For Pleasure still jumps like a young one and
this superb stallion seems to relish his work as much as ever.
He made the first-round track look ridiculously easy and, once
again, he popped his fences in effortless style but the clock
showed 34.80 seconds as he crossed the line and Marcus blamed
himself for not going quicker.
"As
you can see the horse is great but the problem today was me –
I was not quick enough over the first few fences" he said
afterwards but he was well-pleased when settling into runner-up
spot after Spain’s Rutherford Latham and Bretzel collected
four and Jan Tops retired with Roofs after having three fences
down.
Marcus
believes the secret of his success with For Pleasure is the care
and attention given to the horse by his sister, Karina, - "it
is because of her that he feels and looks so good" the German
rider said. He intends to compete again in the World Cup series
in Leipzig next month but Marcus does not intend taking the horse
to the World Cup Final. He is unsure whether For Pleasure will
be his first choice as an Olympic contender but sees the horse,
who clearly still very much enjoys his job, continuing to compete
for some time – "hopefully the end of his career is
not too near" he added.
Kasting
Horses Gavi however is really only beginning to show what he can
do and Helena was delighted with the way he responded today. "He
is naturally quite fast and he stays cool in very difficult situations
but this is the first time I have ever put him under this kind
of pressure" she said. Originally from Sheffield in the north
of England, she first started riding under the German flag in
1987 after her marriage to Peter Weinberg and she describes Kasting
Horses Gavi as "the best horse I have ever ridden".
Helena’s brother, Bruce Dickinson, plays with the heavy metal
rock band Iron Maiden and today she showed an iron will herself,
rocketing up to second position on the FEI World Cup leaderboard,
just three points behind Marco Kutscher, and picking up £18,500
stg in prizemoney for her victory.
Michael
Whitaker has been producing consistently good recent results and,
finishing fourth behind Ludo and Parco today, is now third in
the rankings ahead of Eric Van der Vleuten in fourth and double-winner
Thomas Velin in fifth.
The
next leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series takes place in Mechelen,
Belgium on December 30.
RESULT:
1, Kasting Horses Gavi (Helena Weinberg) Ger 0/0 34.52; 2, For
Pleasure (Marcus Ehning) Ger 0/0 34.80; 3, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts)
Bel 0/0 35.59; 4, Portofino (Michael Whitaker) GB 0/0 36.84; 5,
Fein Cera (Peter Wylde) Usa 0/0 37.94; 6, S&L Manpower (Gerfried
Puck) Aut 0/0 38.11; 7, Pro Pilot 11 (Edouard Couperie) Fra 0/0
39.76; 8, H&M Butterfly Flip (Malin Baryard) Swe 0/4 37.94;
9, Bretzel (Rutherford Latham) Esp 0/4 38.45; 10, AK Cumano Z
(Jos Lansink) Bel 0/4 42.76; 11, Cinderella (Maria Gretzer) Swe
0/8 41.10; 12, Lohengrin di Villa Emilia (Roberto Cristofoletti)
Ita 0/12 44.17; 13, Roofs (Jan Tops) Ned 0/Ret; Equal 14, Lowina
(Albert Zoer) Ned, Eve de Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra, Arko (Nick
Skelton) GB, Giorgio (Lars Nieberg) Ger, Lindor (Jerry Smit) Ita,
Loro Piana Hamlet (Guy Williams) GB, JPC Modesto (Jean-Marc Nicolas)
Fra, Temple Croesus (Paul Barker) GB, Marius Claudius (Robert
Smith) GB, Qualite (Robert Whitaker) GB, Cortaflex Mondriaan)
William Funnell GB, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger.
THE
FEI WORLD CUP LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 6 AT OLYMPIA:
Marco
Kutscher – 50
Helena Weinberg – 47
Michael Whitaker - 45
Eric Van der Vleuten - 44
Thomas Velin – 43
Ludo Philippaerts - 42
Jos Lansink – 40
Peter Wylde – 38
Malin Baryard – 36
Otto Becker – 30.
All results from OLYMPIA available at website: www.olympiashowjumping.com.
Show Director is Simon Brooks-Ward LVO. Show Secretary is Penny
Henderson – Email: pennyh@hpower.co.uk. Candy Burnyeat is
Press Officer - Telephone ++44 1753 847916 or Email: candyb.hpim@easynet.co.uk.
The
next leg of the FEI World Cup series takes place at MECHELEN in
Belgium from 26-30 December and marks the half-way stage of the
series. Show Directors at Mechelen are Peter Bollen and Lucien
Somers – Tel: ++32 475 289100 or ++32 475 701314. Email:
peter.bollen@vitamex.com, acos@skynet.be. Show Secretary is Yolande
Wauters Tel: ++32 475 263198 and Press Officer is Edith de Reys
Tel: ++32 475 659281, Email: edith.dereys@tiscall.be.
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.
TODAY'S
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING COMPETITION AT OLYMPIA IN LONDON WAS SPONSORED
BY SONY ERICSSON.
The company officially announced changes to its show jumping team
during Olympia and 23 year old British rider Richard Davenport
is to join its ranks while Franke Sloothaak and Olivier Guillon
will be replaced. Davenport's recent results include membership
of winning Nations Cup team at Hickstead 2003, third at FEI World
Cup leg in Oslo, second in Grand Prix in Paris and fourth in last
weekend's Grand Prix at Lar Coruna.
"Richard Davenport was an easy choice for us" the company
said in a press release issued during the show. "The team
that we have picked for 2004 and onwards is a mixture of world-class
riders, both established and new challengers".
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
.
