Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The second day of the Meßmer CCI4*-S at Luhmühlen arrived with a bang – because today, many of the class’s heaviest hitters, and those vying the hardest for spots on their respective Olympic teams in this final trial, came forward to deliver their tests.
What isn’t, ultimately, a surprise at the end of the day is that German maestro Michael Jung and his Tokyo Olympics ride and five-star winner fischerChipmunk FRH are in the lead going into cross-country, having put a 22.9 on the board. What was a surprise, though, was just how tough the marking continued to be among today’s habitually low-scoring combinations.
“He’s just really good, in general,” says Michi of his ride on sixteen-year-old Chipmunk, who joins stablemate Kilcandra Ocean Power, fourth going into cross-country, in the top ten. “He gave me a very good ride. He was very calm, listening very well – just beautiful to ride, and just to enjoy.”
Michi and Chipmunk are no strangers to exceptional scores; they’ve gone sub-20 more times than most of us have had hot dinners, and the former Julia Krajewski ride is so impeccably behaved in the ring that it’s hard to imagine anything ever fazing him enough to challenge that supremacy. That’s not to say that today’s test was perfect; their initial halt wasn’t quite square behind, and the gelding became almost imperceptibly stuck for a fraction of a moment in the second walk pirouette.
But, says Michi, “he gives me a very good feeling – that’s a very big plus, and that makes it very, very easy for me today. I think the extended trot, I just enjoyed. He had a very good drive, very powerful, super balance. I think the half pass, and also the flying changes [were highlights.]”
Now, he’s looking forward to tackling the CCI4*-S course with which he’s so familiar; he’s previously won this class on Chipmunk, back in 2021. And the pressure of it being a final selection trial? It appears to barely register for the icy-veined rider.
“The time will be a challenge for sure tomorrow – and I want to go fast, for sure, but I’m still thinking to our big dream [of Paris]. This is the most important thing,” he says.
Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Michi’s test steals the lead from British frontrunners Laura Collett and London 52, who stepped into the top spot for part of the morning on their 24.8. But Laura, who won the five-star here last year with the German-bred gelding, can still see plenty of space for improvement in the final weeks before, she hopes, they’ll be heading to Versailles.
“Normally his half passes are kind of his highlight and he got all in a bit of a muddle,” she says, referring to the trot movements that earned them scores between 5.5 and 7. “I was probably too brave on the short side and didn’t set him up enough, and then when I did do a half halt, he thought it needed a halt rather than a half halt! So that was annoying, but here we’re just trying to see where we can push the extra bits.”
In order to do so, she continues, she “had him pretty revved up, more than normal — and it’s just finding out how far you can go, and what needs tweaking. It’s kind of a learning test. I know he can go in and do a safe test, but it’s trying to get a safe test and a ‘wow’ test all at the same time.”
His canter work, though, was “very secure, and very safe in the changes and very on the aids,” says Laura. “There were bits that were really, really good. The centre lines were good, because those can sometimes not be great. So parts to like, parts to very much dislike – but we’ll try and get it right next time.”
There’s plenty to do tomorrow, though, on Mike Etherington-Smith’s technical, tight track.
“It’s very, very intense and everything comes up very quickly,” she says. “So you have to be on your A game and think quickly, and the horses have to react quickly. I think it’s a great track, and at the moment the ground looks amazing.”
Coming to Luhmühlen as a final pre-Paris run has been at the forefront of Laura’s plan for London 52 all year.
“For me, it was a no brainer coming here. Doing dressage and show jumping on a surface, show jumping after cross country and the type of track — flat twisty, intense. It’s the complete opposite to Bramham [last week], but in my opinion, the closest that you’re going to get to what Paris is going to be, and you want to replicate as much as you can and prepare. We don’t get selected until later on, but you have to prepare like you’re going so that you know you’re ready.”
Sandra Auffarth and Viamant du Matz. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tokyo Olympian and former World Champion Sandra Auffarth steps into fifth place overnight, after day one leaders Anna Lena Schaaf and Fairytale 39 and Michael Jung and Kilcandra Ocean Power, after a smart test with her stalwart team ride Viamant du Matz earned the pair a 27.2. Though many riders today rode out of the ring disappointed with the numbers on the board, Sandra was delighted to have unlocked a new level of relaxation and cadence in the gelding, who has, on occasion, previously struggled with tightness through the neck in this phase.
“His steadiness was, for me personally, quite a big highlight,” she says. “He was so focused, and he did some really nice flying changes — he was really listening to me. That was in the past sometimes a little problem.”
At fifteen, she feels that ‘Mat’ is really coming into his own.
“He’s a French guy, so maybe they’re like good wine,” she laughs.
The pair are among the obvious frontrunners for the German Olympic team, which hasn’t yet been selected; they finished third in last year’s European Championships, fourth at Kentucky that spring, and were part of the gold medal winning team at the 2022 World Championships after winning Aachen that summer. But while the final nod will still depend on an excellent performance here, Sandra doesn’t let the pressure of the situation alter the way she approaches her ride in the dressage ring.
“ I always tend to say, there are so many other important things in the world. It’s not life or death when it’s not working,” she says. “So that makes me quite relaxed. I just always try to give our best – sometimes it works, and sometimes not. That’s life.”
Giovanni Ugolotti and Swirly Temptress. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Italy’s Giovanni Ugolotti steps into sixth place with the charismatic Swirly Temptress, who danced her way to a 27.6 and gave her rider plenty to celebrate with his compatriots in the in-gate.
“She was amazing – I’m super pleased with her,” he says. “We know that this is our strong phase, but sometimes, she can get a little bit tense in big arenas like that, and then it’s not easy for me to actually work with her neck, because she has a very rubbery neck. She struggles, sometimes, to stay out onto the bridle. But today I can’t fault her – yes, we had a couple of little mistakes but overall, I’m over the moon.”
Those little mistakes were marginal – the lowest their marks slipped were to two 6s, awarded by Xavier le Sauce at C for the second walk pirouette and the final centre line.
“The pirouettes were not like they should be, but the changes felt very, very good,” says Gio, wo was given 7s and 8s for those movements. “This is a horse that I think can be, if everything goes like it should, close to a 20. Next time!”
Gio, too, is here to make a bid for Olympic selection, and like Laura before him, Luhmühlen was the obvious choice as a final run.
“It’s the last run before the Games, so you want to test them. The course is beautifully built – I think Mike [Etherington-Smith] is one of the best cross-country builders in the world, and I think all the questions, even if they are tough questions, they are very clear and readable for the horses.”
Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Several key combinations ended up with surprising scores on the board – and one of those was World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. They put a 28.1 on the board to put them seventh overnight, ahead of Tim Price and Coup de Coeur Dudevin on the same score.
Yas, though, was delighted with her horse’s performance, and sage about some of the frustrating little mistakes they made along the way.
“He actually felt amazing in himself today. He was really bright, and he felt really soft and like everything was just nice and balanced – he just felt like good Banzai at his best,” she says. “I was really happy that they rewarded him for what he did really, really nicely — he got some 8’s, he got some 9’s. There was obviously a couple of really annoying mistakes; all the technical stuff was bob on, his changes were great, his half passes, shoulder ins, mediums, extendeds, all that was all great. But then there were annoying things, like he wouldn’t stand still in the halt, and then in the half piroutte, I went to put my leg on and he kicked up at my leg. It’s things like that, that are just a bit frustrating.”
But, she says, this week’s test was all about finding clever ways to bring his already consistently exceptional flatwork to the next level.
“I’ve been trying a couple of new things to try and get a little bit extra out of him,” she explains. “I’ve been wearing spurs a bit more recently, which I’ve never done before. It’s worked really well in the training, and I’ve felt like I’ve got so much more from him recently. This is the first time I’ve worn them in the arena, which is obviously a risk. But I know that I can gather a few more marks here and there, which I think I did in other movements, but obviously then it hindered me a little bit in, say, the pirouettes. But we don’t have any of those in the next text we – hopefully! – do!”
Previously, she says, she had avoided wearing spurs because Banzai is “super sharp. But there’s just been a couple of occasions in the past few tests that he’s done, where I felt like I needed like a little bit of a quick reaction here and there. With my leg, with no spurs, I have to give him a bit of a nudge – and sometimes you don’t quite get the reaciton. So I think we’ll play with that a little bit more, because I really do like the idea, but I think we just need to nail the ‘when’ and ‘if’. Like, whether we ride in the warm up with them and take them off for the test, or something like that, but I do believe they’re making really positive changes.”
Now, she finds herself just over five penalties off the lead, which she’s content with going into tomorrow’s cross-country.
“There’s plenty to do over the weekend, so I think it’s a good place to be – I quite like rooting my way up from the back.”
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin slot into tenth place on a 28.4 after a tidy test, behind France’s Tom Carlile in ninth – but like many riders, including eleventh-placed Julia Krajewski, Tom was outspoken in his frustration with today’s harsh marking, echoing the common sentiment of the day: that nobody was quite sure what the judges were hoping to see.
“I was shocked when I came out with a 28, if I’m honest,” he says. “I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve watched some really bang average tests this morning and they were getting 30s. So to then come out with something like that, I’m really disappointed in their marking, to be honest.”
‘Dubs’, he says, felt at his very best in the ring – at least as good as he had in tests such as Kronenberg’s CCI4*-S in March, where he received a 20.9, or at Kentucky this spring, where he earned a 24.6.
“He was balanced, soft, set up in every corner. I think maybe they’re looking for you to go ten to the dozen, maybe going flat out round it,” he muses. “I’ve got absolutely no idea, to be honest. It’s baffling, but it is what it is. He felt amazing, in comparison to other tests he’s done. Kronenberg was incredible, but to be honest, not that far different. That [Kronenberg test] probably showed a little bit more power in a few more bits. But for me, this was a much better test than at Kentucky. Kentucky was a little bit, like quick, whereas this was actually really together, so I was delighted with him.”
The CCI4*-S was presided over by France’s Xavier Le Sauce – himself a member of the Paris Olympics ground jury – who sat in the box at C, while Germany’s Edith Schless-Störtenbecker marked from E.
“As a judge, our priority is just to assess training compared to the training scales,” says Xavier. “So we’re all on the same page following the training scales, which is starting from the rhythm of the paces, finishing with some collection, even if, in eventing, we’re not looking at the same degree of collection as in Grand Prix dressage. But we’re still looking at suppleness, quiet in the contact, and how they are finally offering to embody the movement, and the way they are just going into the flow through the test.”
“That 4* test is quite interesting,” he continues. “Especially because it’s true that there are many marks for the walk, and when the walk is lacking rhythm in the medium, the extended, or in the pirouettes, the scores start to decrease quite a lot in a way. So that is where that test is probably quite difficult for riders when there is some tension, there is excitement and they are just not able to find the clear rhythm of the move we would like to see.”
Though he’s very aware of the class’s importance as an Olympic selection trial, Xavier is firm that the judging isn’t harsher because of that – nor because he’s ramping his own standards up to Olympic level in preparation for Paris.
“We’re not judging the name of the horses or the riders or the nations – we’re here to judge what we see,” he says. “So I perfectly agree that sometimes, you would expect better scores in comparison with your previous tests. We would like to give 9s and 10s to everybody – that would be very lovely, to have that. Unfortunately, during the last few days we have a couple of mistakes and tension. So that’s the reason some marks were lower. But we are always happy to talk with everybody and have a discussion with the riders about why we gave that mark.”
“I know most of the class would like to be in Paris, and I would be happy to see them in Paris. Where everybody can be sure, is that judges have no memory. So what’s happened today, will be something else tomorrow. That will really change nothing in the way of judging them in Paris or somewhere else after or before. It’s just the picture of today. With our comments [on the test sheets], I think we tried to give them a line as to what we would like, and where we would expect a bit more. So that’s how we are creating that partnership between judges and rider.”
Tomorrow sees the CCI4*-S take to cross-country from 12.51 p.m. local time (11.51 a.m. BST/6.51 a.m. EST) following the culmination of the CCI5* cross-country. Our scheduled pathfinders of the 66 horses and riders are Australia’s Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam. Both classes will be streamed in their entirety on Horse & Country TV, and we’ll be bringing you a jam-packed report on each of them once they’ve finished. We’ll be back tonight with a report from today’s CCI5* dressage, plus a look at that class’s cross-country course, and in the meantime, you can sneak a peak at the CCI4*-S times here.
Go Eventing.
The top ten in the Meßmer CCI4*-S after dressage at Luhmühlen.
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