Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
There’s busy, and then there’s Friday at Aachen busy: a spectacular sort of day in which the alarm goes off at 5:45 in the morning and we have to pick our way through the smashed glasses and cigarette butts of last night’s party in the riders’ lounge to make the first test of the day bright and early. So bright and early, in fact, that we get through every single test by early afternoon, chase our tails for a couple of hours to make sense of it all, and then go straight into the showjumping. Nice and normal! Very sensible! We are not okay!
So it’s been a bit of a hefty morning of sport, you could say. Energy levels were dipping as we headed into the final session of the day. We were all dreaming about the Dubai chocolate more than we were deliberating on double-marked changes.
The last two tests of the 44 we’ve seen throughout the course of the day, though, proved the most pivotal (which is a thrilling culmination of tension and anticipation, no doubt, but also really bad news if you’re a hungry journalist or spectator hoping to sneak off to lunch ahead of the rush).
One of those two key tests won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone, while the other might still be something of a new name to the more casual fan of the sport. The former? New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali, who are well-known for their first-phase prowess – they, of course, hold the Burghley dressage record of 18.7, which is a score so low that it’s almost a bit obscene, really. The latter? The exceptional young German talent Jérôme Robiné and Dorothea von Zedtwitz’s Black Ice, who have also flirted with very low scores before, including a 22.8 at Blenheim last year en route to third place. The pair of competitors share the top spot on the leaderboard at the culmination of the first phase, each having produced a 27.3.
Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Jérôme is just 27, but already represents one of his country’s great next-gen hopes – an accolade he and the Federation alike have been working towards for a number of years as Jérôme has furthered his education within the Warendorf training system.
As the last rider in the ring, Jérôme was following 43 horses and riders who had mostly left the arena feeling dejected about the numbers on the board – and just three thus far had managed to slip below 30.
But, he admits, he was blissfully unaware of a whole morning’s worth of marks-based misery.
“I don’t really look at any marks or other riders, to be honest,” he laughs. “I didn’t even know the standings! I just knew that they judged quite hard, as everyone said it. Of course, everyone I talked to in the stable said that to me, but I don’t really look at marks or at standings. [My philosophy is that] I will do it my way.”
That way, he continues, was simple: just keep ticking boxes.
“I knew that if I just go around and it’s nothing spectacular, it will be [a] very low mark,” he says. “So I tried to remember my test in Blenheim last year, where I scored just under a 23: there, I had just a short warm up, and he’s quite fresh so he’s quite forward and in front of me. I wanted to try to get this at Aachen again, and it worked out pretty well.”
Five years of solid partnership building, he says, plays a big part in being able to make those plans, seek out success, and embrace productive pre-dressage minimalism with the now 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding.
“I think we’ve known each other for quite a long time now, so there’s not that much preparation needed. Of course, as a rider, you always want to have everything perfect and do this again and do this again, but sometimes you think you have to take a little risk and say, ‘okay, we can both do it. We don’t have to train it three times before we go in.’ So I think it was the key today.”
That’s a lesson he learned at Badminton this year, where the pair finished a very respectable 20th after beginning the week on a 35.2.
“He really gets better and better. His bending, his energy — everything gets that bit better. At the end of last year, Blenheim was his peak. And then at Badminton, there was the five-star test, which I was not 100% sure about, and I think I tried to do too much [in the warm-up]. So I came back to my own plan today, trusted him more, and it really worked.”
Jérôme, who received a fairly deafening roar of support from his countrymen after his final halt and salute, is counting down the minutes until he and Black Ice can showjump in the main arena this evening – “he grows a bit in there, and it’s always special under the lights!” – but before he gets there, he’s taking a moment to enjoy exactly where he is: in the lead at the world’s greatest four-star, with his horse of a lifetime.
Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
While it might have seemed like a sure thing for Tim Price and Alexander and Joseph Giannamore’s and his own Vitali to take the lead today, horses often aren’t that easy to place a bet on – and the 15-year-old Holsteiner’s last FEI run, at Badminton in May, saw him post a surprising 30.6 on his way to tenth place.
Today, though, he felt well on his way back to his very best.
“I thought Vitali was really good,” says Tim, “But they’ve been marking really tough, haven’t they? At least they’ve stayed consistent with it. We all know he can do a really nice test, but he’s recently been a little bit edgy – Badminton’s its own kind of beast, being earlier on in the season, and they’re so fit, and he was a bit fresh there.”
But, he continues, “he’s felt really good here this week, and it’s fun to have him here. He’s not had an opportunity to come here before – there’s always been other [events] that are maybe a bit more suited to the longer plan. So it’s fun that I’ve had an opportunity to bring him because he’s usually quite good at his shorts.”
Vitali, who’s a real two-phase specialist, has historically struggled in the showjumping – and has lost out on a couple of five-star titles as a result. But jumping tonight in the main stadium could suit him better, says Tim – or at the very least, it might offer some insight into the greatest mystery in his string.
“He’s won the British Open twice, and he can go a whole season not having a rail down – except five down at Burghley,” laughs Tim with a grimace. “Only the ones that are worth a hundred grand. The ones that are worth £170, we go clear every time! I’m still figuring it out. I don’t think it’s all about the order of the showjumping – I think it’s that atmosphere, and we’re certainly going to get some atmosphere here. So I’ve got a job to do, and hopefully I can ride him in the way that gives him a chance of jumping a half decent round.”
Monica Spencer and Artist. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tim’s teammates, Monica Spencer and Spencer Eventing’s ex-racehorse Artist, produced one of just four sub-30 tests today and go into showjumping in provisional third place on a score of 28.8.
“He’s such a good boy,” grins Monica, who has been based in the US since early 2024. “He loves being at these amazing places with people watching him. He’s doing it for all those bay Thoroughbreds out there!”
We last saw Monica and Max run in an FEI class at Kentucky this spring, where they finished eighth in the CCI5* after starting on a score of 29.3 – but like Tim and Jérôme ahead of them, this is a pair that’s not averse to flirting with the very low 20s when the feeling’s right (and, presumably, when the judges are having a jollier day).
On that point, Monica is pragmatic: “I never talk about the judging, really, because we’re all sitting in front of the same judges. So I’m just happy to have a score on the board, and I’m happy that it’s in the 20s.”
The pair flew over ten days ago to allow Max plenty of time to settle in and freshen up after his flight, and since then, says Monica, her focus has been on “making him feel happy and good in his body – and treating him like the king that he is!”
Though she leaves the arena with no regrets, Monica has filed away some notes for improvement in her next test.
“In my extended circle, I came back too early,” she says. “He was so rideable in there that I almost overdid it, so then I came back a bit early. I probably could have showed off the big stride a little longer. Then I just had a couple of little wobbles in the half-passes and shoulder-ins. But his overall way of going and the frame, I think I had good – it’s just making sure I stay accurate. It can always be better. I’ll be looking at every single little thing as a training thing for the future. Not so much beating myself up about today, because it’s done now, and we’re just happy that it went well. Could have gone better, could have gone worse! So we’re just onto the jumping now. Eyes always forward!”
Bubby Upton and Cola. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Fourth place is held at this early stage by Great Britain’s Bubby Upton, who, like Monica, is making her Aachen debut this week. She was the first rider in the ring achingly early this morning, and our first sub-30 score of the day, which might have given us all the false sense that this would be a very merry day of sport – a sense that was swiftly discarded, of course.
If anyone’s a match for a tough day of judging, though, it’s 26-year-old Bramham champion Bubby, who left no marks on the table for accuracy. The pair posted a smart 29.1 that might not rank among their best scores of all time – they’ve hit the mid-20s at five-star previously – but serves them well today.
More importantly for Bubby, it’s a poignant return to a major stage with her longtime partner and Bicton Under-25 Champion, who was sidelined for two years and returned to FEI competition at Kelsall Hill CCI3*-S in April.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” says Bubby. “Mark aside, he was just fantastic. He’s a horse that I’ve had a long time – he’s like a dear old friend of mine, just like putting on an old pair of slippers. He tries his heart out every time and this was no different. Having him back is so special; he’s 18 now, and so he’s an older boy, but definitely doesn’t feel it or look it — he feels incredible, and it’s a huge credit to my team at home for getting him back. It’s my first time ever here, and to be here on him is extra special.”
Bubby has spent the spring quietly training Rachel Upton’s Cannavaro back to his former peak – something that she says was a case of slow and steady winning the race after so much time off.
“He obviously came back a bit slower after his break, and didn’t feel like he did when we left off, but we just gave it time and patience, and I feel like he’s really peaked here today,” she says. “We were absolutely thrilled with him. The judge at H gave him a 25.8 and we feel like that was [indicative of] the work that he produced in there.”
Even before his time off, this phase was a long-term project and labour of love for Bubby and her horse, to whom it didn’t always come naturally.
“With him, he obviously knows all the tricks and everything, but he was a show jumper before I got him, so he found the dressage really difficult and very, very stressful early on in his career. So although he’s 18, it’s always about giving him confidence. When he trusts you and has that confidence, he’ll do anything for you – and he went in there today and he was just amazing. So rideable. I could really show him off and genuinely, apart from [a wobble in the] reinback, I wouldn’t have changed anything. He was absolutely beautiful.”
So how do you build confidence in a phase that’s less about balls-to-the-wall bravery, and more about subtleties of communication?
“It’s just repetition for me, and just a lot of reward and reassurance with him,” explains Bubby. “He’s not a horse that you’d ever want to kind of over correct, because he does panic. For me, with my horses and my system, it’s about knowing each horse and making sure that I adapt to their needs and to get the best out of them. And for him, it’s definitely always a pat and a reassurance to let him know that it’s okay even if he did it wrong, we’ll just repeat it and go again. And he’s thrived off that over the years.”
Bubby relished the chance to get the competition underway – a role that takes a certain sort of nerve.
“I feel that pressure is a privilege, and I just feel like it’s a real honour to be given the responsibility to be first for the team, and obviously first in the whole competition as well then adds to that even more,” she smiles. “So, yeah, I’m really excited for the challenge. He’s an amazing horse to be sat on for it.”
Tom McEwn and Brookfield Quality. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The fifth place at this early stage is the domain of her teammates Tom McEwen andohn and Chloe Perry’s and Alison Swinburn’s Brookfield Quality, who start their weekend on a 30.2.
“It’s tough out there, really having to earn your marks,” says Tom moments after his test with the sixteen-year-old gelding. “I thought Bubby this morning did a lovely, flawless, lovely test – and I mean, she’s in a great position still, but you’d love to see her earn a few more points ahead of other people.”
In his case, though, he says, “obviously, you can never judge your own test. You can only go on what you feel. For ‘Norris’, he felt absolutely fantastic – I’m really pleased with him. He gave me some lovely changes for the double marks, and for me, he was really cool, because he’s a horse who spooks at flowers, and you have to slightly feel your way around [the ring]. It’s a little bit like everything Norris does – like, he’ll pick up on things other horses don’t. We thought at the grand old age of sixteen, that might have been out the system by now, but definitely not! And that makes him who he is. But I couldn’t be happier with his test today. It’s a very good start for him.”
Tom, who finished fifth with the Irish Sport Horse at Kentucky, reckons this is an event that will suit him for similar reasons.
“Kentucky’s an incredible event, with a surface a little bit like here and a great atmosphere. So for me, it’s a great setup for here,” he says. “Since then, he’s had a little bit of a break, and Norris is famous for doing his Open Novices before he comes to the big shows, so I’ve been out and smashed out an Open Novice ’round Farley. Even though it’s only 1.10m, it was great for him, and the cross country had everything, a little coffin and skinnies everywhere, and different turning lines.”
Discovering that Norris likes to drop right back down before a big outing has been the work of years – and several riders. He was previously campaigned by Piggy March, who made the call to hand the ride over to Tom and has remained a crucial sounding-board as he’s gotten to know the gelding over the last couple of years.
“We’re great friends, and she gave me a lot of advice,” says Tom. One of those salient pieces of advice: “Before we came here, he had a little jumping round – he jumps quite consistently, but we would jump quite small, because for Norris, it’s all about confidence. The more confidence he gets, the better it is. It’s a little bit like outside [in warm-up], you want a little bit more medium, but you don’t want to make him break, because then that will make him tense, and he’ll take that in there.”
Laura Collett and Dacapo sit sixth at this stage on 31.9, while Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy and his 2024 Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old champion MGH Zabaione are seventh on 32.2. Eighth place is in the hands of Germany’s Libussa Lübbeke and her Kentucky partner Caramia 34 on 32.3, ninth is held by New Zealand’s Clarke Johnstone and his Luhmühlen CCI4*-S fourth-place finisher Rocket Man on 32.4, and the top ten is rounded out by Germany’s Nina Schultes and the eighteen-year-old Grand Prix iWest on 32.6 – which means that this evening’s perennially influential showjumping phase could make some real changes to our tightly-bunched leaderboard.
Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The team standings experienced a bit of a shake-up with the competitive marks earned by Jérôme Robiné, who squeezed the home team into bronze medal position on a collective score of 96.1. In the process, the Americans got booted from the podium with two phases to go, taking a team score of 100.6 forward to show jumping.
New Zealand, hanging their hats on the banner performances by Tim Price and Monica Spencer in particular, will take charge ahead of show jumping on a score of 88.5. This leaves them without a pole in hand over the silver-placed Brits, who sit on a score of 91.2
Unlike the Olympics, the team format here works as it used to in the Games, with a four-person team and a dropped score. After each phase, the highest penalty mark from each team is discarded. For the U.S. Will Coleman and the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off the Record — winners here in 2021 — are the drop after earning a frustrating 35.6 today.
After coming into the weekend off a personal best in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at Kentucky — a 21.8 — and even despite the tough judging, Will was understandably bummed about the result from this morning, noting that he felt “Timmy” had gone a bit flat on him during the test.
“You know, he just kind didn’t have it today,” he said. “We didn’t have it today. He just felt a bit flat, I couldn’t really tell you why. He’s been pretty good all week, but I went in there and just got a bit quiet on me, and we just had mistakes [in the] halt rein-back, early in a change, and just little things.”
“That test doesn’t look like much, but it is a bit tricky to ride,” Will continued. “You’ve got to have a really supple and very available horse, and we kind of today just didn’t quite have that. But we’ve got two more phases and we’ll focus on that now, and you know, we’ve got nothing bad to say about Timmy. He’s been a great horse for a long time, and maybe this is not his best test, but I know he’s going to go and try. He obviously knows he’s here — this is his fourth time here — and he’s been a little excited, but he went in there today and he’s kind of like, been there, done that. So, maybe a little too relaxed. I’m not sure, but that’s alright.”
Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
We’ve got two Paris Olympic riders with us for the U.S. this week, and Caroline Pamukcu and Sherrie Martin and Mollie Hoff’s HSH Blake were the first to see and are the top-placed for the red, white and blue following dressage. They will take 11th place forward to show jumping on a score of 32.6. This is another pair that’s typically scored more in the 20s, and while Caroline said she did ride a bit conservatively in there given her position as the first rider in for the team, the trend of stringent judging nonetheless made its mark on her score as well.
“Oh, he’s perfect, you know — he’s such a workman,” Caroline told us. “And then he went in and did a really good test. I was the first to go, so I’m a little bit conservative in my test, because I want to have clean tests. And yeah, I was proud of him. He had two clean changes, which was good. I can’t fault him for anything.”
Caroline’s very much on the championship track with this horse, electing to target events that will feed him into future Olympic and World Championship berths rather than stepping him to the 5* level. “He’s 10 this year, and I want him to last, you know, at least, possibly two more championships. I mean, he could potentially go to LA and Australia.”
Caroline is also juggling mom duties this week as baby Blake has also made the trip along with her husband, Deniz. This year, Caroline’s been vocal about the change a new (and especially a first!) baby brings, so she’s taken to the season with an eye to getting herself back into the swing of things, learning how to balance all the things and not pushing herself or her horses too much. “With that said, though, you’re still at a championship,” she said. “Which is great, but that’s the good thing about him and I. We know each other so well, so we don’t get wound up too much, you know, like at the end of the day, I want to be a reliable teammate for team USA, so hopefully I can keep showing them [that it] doesn’t matter what happens in my life or what’s going on, I can always show up and perform.”
Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Izzy McSwain.
Boyd Martin is the anchor for the USA this week, riding Yankee Creek Ranch LLC’s Commando 3 in his Aachen debut (yes, I had to do a double take too! This is, indeed, Boyd’s first time competing at CHIO Aachen). They scored a 33.5 to sit 15th ahead of show jumping.
Like his fellow competitors, Boyd echoed some frustration with the scoring. “To be honest, I was very, very pleased with the horse,” he said. “Obviously, the score was very disappointing. I was shocked at the score, but it’s been the theme of the day. This horse is consistently in the 20s. On paper, it looks like something went badly wrong. But I was very, very pleased with him.”
Similarly to a few other horses in the field, Commando 3 is on a bit of a short turnaround after running the Kentucky 5* in April. Boyd admits the timing is a bit less than ideal, but he made the most of it, running an easy Intermediate at New Jersey and having jumping coach Peter Wylde take the horse to HITS Saugerties for some extra practice.
Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Phillip Dutton and The Possante Group’s Possante are currently placed just behind Boyd in 16th on a score of 34.2. Importantly, we’re happy to report Phillip is absolutely fine — albeit perhaps with a hit to the ego — after taking a tumble on the jog strip yesterday. And like his compatriots, Phillip felt his test was stronger than his score suggests. He noted that his ongoing mission is to work on lengthening “Impy’s” neck out as a horse that naturally goes in a higher frame.
“I thought he was good,” Phillip said. “I mean, they didn’t get too carried away with him as far as scoring, but he didn’t do anything wrong and mistake free test. Probably got to find a way to be able to lengthen that frame, and confirmation wise, he’s got quite a high neck head carriage, so I could try to stretch him out a bit.”
“I think they’re really tough, actually,” Phillip continued on the topic of the judging. “I think a lot of times that test would have been well into the 20s. But as long as it stays the same for everybody, it doesn’t really matter.”
Our Canadian individual representative, Olympic rider Jessie Phoenix with Charlotte Shickedanz’s Freedom GS, also have some climbing to do, scoring a 39.0 to sit 38th overall. Freedom GS has etched out a bit of a reputation as a climber, being the gritty and quick jumper that she is, so we won’t be surprised to see this pair jump their way well up in the standings over the next two phases.
We now hustle over to show jumping, which kicks off at 6 pm local time / 12 pm EST, and then to cross country tomorrow starting at 9:55 am local time / 3:55 am EST. We’ll have a quick report ready for you after the jumping tonight, and then Cheg will have her live blog running for cross country tomorrow ahead of our full recap.
Stay tuned for a full look at Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s newly-refreshed track coming your way tonight, and don’t forget to tune in live for all phases on ClipMyHorse.TV.
Sally Spickard contributed to this report.
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