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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI
World Cup Jumping
Swedish Magic In Mechelen....
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Sweden’s
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson headed the line-up at the seventh leg of
the FEI World Cup Jumping series in Mechelen, Belgium tonight
when scorching to victory with Mac Kinley in the Land Rover Grand
Prix.
Course
designer Lucien Somers set them a tough test over his 13-fence
track and Rolf-Goran said "the oxers were big and wide with
some tricky distances so it was quite difficult in the first round".
The
tall planks at the third element of the treble combination at
fence 10 hit the floor many times as the later part of the course
took its toll, and many of the most likely contenders paid the
price for a single error including Holland’s Eric Van der
Vleuten and Audi’s Jikke, winners at the opening leg of the
current series in Helsinki in October.
Unluckiest
of all perhaps was Bruno Broucqault who left all the poles in
place but picked up just a single time fault with Hooligan de
Rosyl but, as it turned out, that was good enough to secure sixth
place at the end of the day as only five riders went into the
jump-off and the Frenchman now shares equal-ninth position on
the leaderboard with Malin Baryard.
Second
to go in the opening round, Maurice Van Roosbroeck and Le Coup
C set the arena alight when recording a clear for the home audience
but another 11 horses jumped before Hubert Bourdy followed suit
for France. In fact it looked like it might just be a two-horse
race until, with just four left to jump, Dirk Demeersman and Jos
Lansink strengthened the home advantage with two more clear performances
and Bengtsson then rounded the number into the jump-off to five
with a foot-perfect run.
The
9 year old Dutch horse Mac Kinley, formerly competed by Italy’s
Gerry Smit, joined the Swedish rider’s string about 10 months
ago and Bengtsson earned himself a good spot on today’s starting
grid when runner-up behind Brazil’s Bernardo Alves and Corino
7 in Sunday’s Preliminary Competition.
"I
rested him on Monday so he was plenty fresh today" Bengtsson
said, and that freshness certainly paid dividends.
Van
Roosbroeck decided to go for a slow clear when first to take on
the clock but completed with a total of 7 faults after lowering
a fence and also collecting three time penalties, while Hubert
Bourdy also left the door open with his carefully executed performance
from Eve des Etisses who broke the beam in 45.29 seconds.
The
crowd grew ever more excited as Demeersman steered Clinton home
for Belgium in 42.74 seconds to take the lead and when Jos Lansink
and AK Zandor Z shaved almost a full second off that target a
home win looked very likely indeed, but Bengtsson had other ideas.
"I
knew Jos and Dirk were really fast and I didn’t know if I
could be quicker but I decided to give it a try and I think I
took a stride out to the second fence - I was a bit lucky when
the horse stumbled but he always tries to give his best every
time and we recovered and kept going on to win" the 41 year
old rider said.
Rolf-Goran
comes from a farming family in Lund, Sweden but has been based
near Hamburg for the last year, sharing a yard with Bo Kristofferson
and running a team of 21 horses. Individual bronze medallist at
the European Championships in Arnhem two years ago, his sights
are now set on Athens – "I have three good horses to
ride right now so I am hopeful" he said tonight.
His
immediate plan is to travel to the next leg of the FEI World Cup
Jumping series in Leipzig in January and also to compete in Bordeaux,
and tonight’s result has slotted him into 11th position on
the World Cup Leaderboard which is now headed by Jos Lansink whose
runner-up placing today has boosted his position. Eric Van der
Vleuten lies second with Germany’s Marco Kutscher in third
and all three of these riders now look well-qualified for the
final in Milan next April while Olympia winner Helena Weinberg
(4th), Michael Whitaker (5th) and double-World Cup winner this
season, Thomas Velin (6th), also look comfortably in touch with
a qualifying place.
The
FEI World Cup series resumes at Leipzig on January 25 and, with
just seven more qualifying competitions remaining, the tension
is rising.
RESULTS:
1, Mac Kinley (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 0/0 39.33; 2, AK Zandor
Z (Jos Lansink) Bel 0/0 41.89; 3, Clinton (Dirk Demeersman) Bel
0/0 42.74; 4, Eve des Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra 0/0 45.29; 5,
Le Coup C (Maurice Van Roosbroeck) Bel 0/7 54.28; 6, Hooligan
de Rosyl (Bruno Broucqsault) Fra 1 78.56; equal 7, Eurocommerce
Montreal (Wim Schroder) Ned 4, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder)
Ned 4, Corino 7 (Bernardo Alves) Bra 4, Audi’s Jikke (Eric
Van der Vleuten) Ned 4, Querly Chin (Christophe Barbeau) Sui 4,
Hofgut Liederbach’s Ingmar (Pia Luise Aufrecht) Ger 4, Luc
(Richard Davenport) GB 4, Camirez B (Toni Hassmann) Ger 4; equal
15, JPC Modesto (Jean Marc Nicolas) Fra 5, Verelst Roxanne (Marc
Van Djick) Bel 5.
THE
FEI WORLD CUP LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 7 AT MECHELEN:
Jos
Lansink – 57
Eric Van der Vleuten – 51
Marco Kutscher – 50
Helena Weinberg – 47
Michael Whitaker – 45
Thomas Velin – 43
Ludo Philippaerts – 42
Peter Wylde – 38
Equal 9. Bruno Broucqsault, Malin Baryard – 36.
11.
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson – 34.
For
further information on Mechelen visit website www.jumping-mechelen.com
or contact Press Officer Edith de Reys at tel: ++32 475 659281,
email edith.dereys@skynet.be. 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.
The
next leg of the FEI World Cup Jumping series takes place in Leipzig,
Germany on January 25. For all press-related enquiries about Leipzig
you should contact Kerstan Media Networking at Mobile: ++49 430
782 7970, Email: info@kerstan.de. Show Secretary is Andrea Kairat,
Email Kairat@engarde.de and President/Show Director is Volker
Wulff, Email wulff@engarde.de. Website for Leipzig is: www.engarde.de.
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
.
