That random man doesn’t seem very interested in Otis’s show jumping round, photo via Leigh
20 of the 72 show jumpers at Boekelo jumped clean, but sadly overnight leaders Mark Todd and NZB Campino were not among them and they picked up 9 faults to drop to third. Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon of Germany were one of just 3 pairs from the 110 Boekelo starters to finish on their dressage score and they took home the CCI3* victory in Holland. Andreas moved up from 11th after the dressage to win. This impressive move-up over the weekend was rivaled only by Camilla Speirs and Portersize Just A Jif jumped up from 20th after the dressage to finish the weekend in 2nd.
Final Boekelo Scores:
1. Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon (GER) +0 46.6
2. Camilla Spears and Portersize Just a Jif (IRL) +0 48.8
3. Mark Todd and NZB Campino (NZL) +9 50.4
4. Beeke Kaack and Judy (GER) +0 51.0
5. Jean-Lou Bigot and Lotus de Gobaude (FRA) +3 54.2
[Full Boekelo Results, Team Results]
Germany won the team competition by 35 points. Australia finished second and Ireland third. Germany’s program under Christopher Bartle is running at such a high level right now from top to bottom after their European Championship win and now this weekend that Great Britain should start feeling a healthy amount of pressure this winter to prepare for London–as if they weren’t feeling pressure already.
As we all know, Boyd Martin was the only US rider to compete at Boekelo today. Remington picked up two rails to finish in 35th. Otis Barbotiere had a fantastic clear show jumping round and moved all the way up to finish in 14th. Otis was in 55th after the dressage and moved up 39 places from Friday to Sunday by adding only 4.4 XC time penalties to his dressage score.
Remington traveled to Boekelo on a Land Rover competition grant and he now has two international trips under his belt after finishing 7th at Pau last year. The weather and footing at Boekelo just didn’t work out well for him this weekend. Neville is obviously Boyd’s top choice for the Olympics, but I’d send Boyd on a chinchilla and be reasonably certain they would come home clear and I think that a trip to Europe was an important step for Remington this year.
Otis, DV8, and Mar De Amor went to Boekelo on USOC development grants and, as I mentioned yesterday, it’s absurd to regard a development grant as a failure because everyone didn’t have a great weekend. DV8, Otis, and Mar De Amor now have international competitions under their belts with their respective riders. The key is to look at what was learned this weekend and whether or not the pairs get better in the future as a result. Last year’s Boekelo trip has proved to be a successful developmental effort and I’m hoping we will feel the same way about Boekelo 2011 a year from now. But, until we see whether or not the horses and riders are better for the trip we can’t know whether or not it was a good idea.
Go eventing.
