Classic Eventing Nation

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin take the CHIO Aachen lead. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

While this evening’s showjumping phase at CHIO Aachen’s CCIO4*-S may not have been enormously difficult by the numbers – 20 of the 44 starters jumped clear rounds, with 17 of those doing so inside the time, and just 40 rails falling throughout the breadth of the class – it certainly was influential on the leaderboard. That’s because this morning’s dressage scoring was more than a touch reminiscent of that at Luhmühlen a couple of weeks ago: just nine pairs were awarded sub-30 marks, and tenth through 35th place sitting within the scope of five penalties. And so if a pair were to pick up a time penalty or two – or, heaven forbid, a rail – it would cost them dearly.

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It was the former, rather than the latter, that saw our first-phase leaders, World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir relinquish the top spot and hand it, instead, to teammates Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. They opted to play it just a touch safe in the spooky Turkish Airlines Stadium, with its 40,000 seats, its busy, bustling arena, and its capacious spookiness, and while that allowed them to pin down a classy round without any jumping penalties, it did see them add two penalties for finishing five seconds over the time allowed. Now, they head into cross-country in third place – Germany’s Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH, last year’s two-phase leaders, step up to second after a penalty-free round – but they’re not far from that top spot, even so: they’re just 1.2 penalties, or three seconds, behind first place.

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom, for his part, was delighted to get the job done with twelve-year-old Holsteiner ‘Dubs’, who he inherited from fellow British rider Nicola Wilson in the latter part of last year.

“He jumped fantastically, to be honest,” says Tom. “He loved the main arena, which is always great, because you’d be hard-pressed to find a better championship-style arena. It’s amazing to get in there — it’s very open and flowing. I found that this year there wasn’t so many turn backs. It wasn’t too technical.”

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom finished third here last year with long-time partner Toledo de Kerser, but found that this evening’s course had a very different feel to the one he’d jumped last year, which was much more centre-weighted in the arena, maximising tight lines and turns.

“I thought maybe it was a bit easier this time, but sometimes with good horses, like Dubs, it can lure you in a little bit,” he says. “And he was jumping so well that it did lure me in a bit, because I decided to take a stride out and go to the planks at seven on five strides. I’d already told Dicky [Waygood, British team performance manager] that I had a fear that I might do something like that. I landed from six and thought, ‘I’ll sit up and get the six’, but then when I saw the five, I thought, ‘well, I might as well keep going!’ Luckily, he’s got plenty of scope and actually, that nearly made him more aware of the course, because he was like, ‘what are you doing?!’ He jumped amazing – he’s a pleasure to ride, and I’m looking forward to being in this position tomorrow.”

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom and Dubs haven’t yet celebrated the first anniversary of their partnership, but already, they’ve finished second at Boekelo’s CCI4*-L last October – their first international outing together – and second at Kentucky CCI5* this spring. At each milestone, Tom has been able to chart the progression in their communication levels as they adjust to one another.

“This morning’s test was the same test as I did at Boekelo, and the difference between tests was near enough polar,” he says. “It’s just learning small quirks. He’s the nicest, calmest, coolest person but there’s a few things I’ve learned. One is that he does actually need a bit more work than I thought – he sort of lures you into allowing him to have an easy time , and actually, he just needs a little bit of work. It’s all been about getting to know him as a person, and he’s been amazing, so we’re starting to get there. This is another step in our learning curve.”

Whatever happens tomorrow, Tom is counting it all as a positive – because win or learn, he knows the ‘five-star short’ course will help him reach the next level of communication and partnership with ‘Dubs’.

“While we came here as a learning experience, we did so knowing that we can be very competitive at the same time – it’s just putting those two together,” he says pragmatically.

Will Coleman and Off The Record. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Seven of the newly-reformed top ten put faultless rounds on the board: beyond our new top two – who have just a tenth of a penalty between them and thus absolutely no margin for error tomorrow – we saw New Zealand’s Tim Price do the same with his World Champs bronze medallist Falco, which allowed them to retain their fourth place standing; 2021 winners Will Coleman and Off The Record did it, which pushed them from seventh to fifth and now has them best of the US contingent; pathfinder and young German rising star Libussa Lübbeke did it without the benefit of any rounds to watch first, which boosts her and Caramia 34 from ninth to sixth, and her fellow Warendorf student Calvin Böckmann from thirteenth to eighth with Altair de la Cense; and finally, France’s Gireg le Coz did it with his five-star ride Aisprit de la Loge, which saw them step up from twelfth to seventh.

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The spooky, busy arena with its technical lines and big, square efforts did exert its influence on some otherwise excellent jumpers, though: Tamie Smith and Mai Baum, arguably one of the very best in the field in this phase, knocked the planks at fence seven, which fell just twice throughout the class – and that was enough to drop them from fifth to ninth.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C (owned by Ocala Horse Properties and Deborah Palmer) also picked up a rail at 10a, the first of two back-to-back doubles (the course had no treble combination, interestingly, but instead featured three doubles; two of these came consecutively at the tail end of the course, causing ten rails – 25% of the phase’s tally – among them.) That, plus her 0.8 time penalties, saw her move from first-phase sixth to two-phase fourteenth.

US individuals Dan Krietl and Carmango, too, had two rails – the fourth, and the first part of the first double at 5a – which saw them slip from 31st to 35th going into cross-country.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Phillip Dutton was able to lay down a fault-free round for the US with Z, who’ll be the team pathfinder across the country tomorrow; they now sit eighteenth, up from 24th, thanks to their efforts.

The top ten going into tomorrow’s cross-country.

Though Aachen’s ‘Nations Cup’ isn’t actually a Nations Cup – that is, it’s not part of the official FEI series, which counts towards coveted rewards such as a team qualification for Paris. But even though it can’t be used to get that job done (and, actually, it couldn’t anyway; every nation with a team entered here is already heading to next year’s Olympics), it’s still seriously important, because it’s a chance to see how some iteration of each country’s A-team stacks up against its closest competitors.

With all that in mind, is it even worth mentioning that the Brits retain their first-phase lead going into tomorrow’s cross-country. Hardly: we all already know that they’re on extraordinary multi-year form, even if Pratoni didn’t quite go to plan for them as a team. (For what it’s worth, though, if Oliver Townend had had even half the rails he’d had, they’d have won gold, which might be a bit of an if-my-grandmother-had-wheels-she’d-be-a-bike sort of argument, but it does prove just how fine the margins are between medals and nothing that one round can make such an enormous difference, and it can, as such, hardly be held against the Brits as a loss of form.) Today, just one of their riders – Gemma Stevens, aboard the young, talented Flash Cooley – tipped a rail, giving them an aggregate score of 80.8 after two phases, which puts them 8.3 penalties, or twenty seconds, ahead of now-second-placed Germany, who stepped up a placing after three clears. The home nation did suffer some disappointment: Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K, eighth after dressage, became the team drop score and slid to 24th after knocking two rails.

New Zealand, too, climbed a spot and now sit third, taking full advantage of an open door left by the US team, who moved from second after the first phase to fourth after the second, though by a small margin: between second and fourth place, there’s just two penalties, or five seconds tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s cross-country, designed by Rudiger Schwarz, begins at 10.00 a.m. local time (9.00 a.m. BST/4.00 a.m. EST). It’ll all be streamed live via ClipMyHorse.TV, and we’ll be bringing you the low-down and analysis, plus chats with plenty of the riders, after the action wraps. Stay tuned tonight, too – we’ll have a preview of what’s yet to come heading your way soon. Until then: Go Eventing!

The team standings after showjumping in CHIO Aachen’s Nations Cup.

EN’s Coverage of CHIO Aachen is brought to you with support from Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

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Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s as much of a treat for eventing fans to get to watch World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir as it is for the talented pair to ride in the most prestigious competitions in the world – and certainly, the young rider is as well known for her gratitude for these opportunities as she is for her extraordinary abilities in the saddle. And where gratitude is given room to flourish, so, too, is grace under pressure, even when things might go a bit pear-shaped – as they did for the pair at Kentucky this spring. They returned to the five-star a year after taking second in the French-bred gelding’s debut there, but after being held indefinitely at the start box, Banzai dropped off the boil just a touch, and they had a shock early run-out before regrouping and going on to finish the competition in fine style.

Now, they’re back at a major competition, and neither looks ruffled by what may be seen as a crucial opportunity to prove themselves ahead of this summer’s European Championships, for which they’ll be hoping for selection. Nor do the British powers-that-be seem concerned: they’ve put the pair in the hugely pressurised anchor slot for the team this week, which means they’ll be the last Brits to head out of the start box and, as such, will need to be prepared to save the day if one of their teammates has a tricky round.

There’s cool under pressure, though, and then there’s this girl. Riding in the final session of today’s dressage, Yas and Banzai danced their way to the lead on a sparkling score of 23.5 – though the margins are so tight today, even with tough marking across the board and an extraordinary number of people sitting in the 30-32 zone, that they’ve got less than a penalty in hand going into today’s showjumping.

“It’s amazing to be here – I feel very, very lucky, and it’s just so special to be at this sort of calibre of event, especially with my number one boy Banzai,” says Yas. “It’s amazing to be able to show him off on a stage again – and obviously, it’s been a couple of months since Pratoni, so it’s so nice to bring him to these big shows. When he performs like that it’s… well, I’m pretty speechless, to be honest!”

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though their test was without errors, Yas still quickly picked out areas that she’d like to improve on for their next outing: “He was really great out in the warm-up, and then just went slightly flat in there. I probably could have had a little bit more tempo and cadence in the trot, and a couple of his changes needed to be a little bit more expressive, but I can’t be too disappointed with that! But obviously, I’m a perfectionist and I like things to be as good as they can be.”

Though she’d been able to see the harsh marking all throughout the competition, which had several riders wondering what the judges were looking for, exactly, Yas stuck to the plan she’s developed with her coaches in order to lay down the marks.

“I try and stick to the way that I know, that myself and Chris Bartle and Richard Davidson have created to get the best out of him,” she says. “I think we just try and stick with that trend, really. It’s worked before in the past, so we try and keep everything fairly similar with his prep and the work in and then obviously going into the ring, we try and ride the test for maximum marks.”

Now, there’s the small matter of tonight’s showjumping – and tomorrow’s cross-country – to deal with.

“There’s absolutely no catching up to be done at the end of the cross-country,” she says. “I think you really need to be up on those minutes early on. Time will be of the essence tomorrow, and here’s some tricky technicla questions scattered around the course. But I like how in the main field, there’s two quite big opportunities to have a good gallop and  ride away from your fences quickly and make up a bit of time there and I’m very lucky to be sat on a big rangy, galloping horse so I’m going to try and make the most of those big stretches and then hopefully we’ll be there or there abouts with  the time

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Further bolstering British team efforts is Tom McEwen, also returning to the world stage after a trip to Kentucky this spring with the former Nicola Wilson ride, reigning European Champion JL Dublin. The pair very nearly managed to take the lead, but as they had been at Kentucky, they were just pipped at the post by Yas and Banzai, and had to settle for a close second place on their score of 24.3.

“I thought, apart from the first halt, that he was so relaxed and in harmony and absolutely loving what he was doing in there – so he was a pleasure to ride, to be honest,” says Tom. “We both had great fun; he’s loving the show, and he definitely enjoyed the appreciation from the crowd afterwards. He’s a truly special horse.”

Tom has had the ride on ‘Dubs’ for less than a full year, but today, they got the chance to revisit the early part of the partnership and evaluate how much they’ve progressed.

“Funnily enough, we did this test at Boekelo when I’d first got him,” he says, recalling the Dutch event in October, where they finished second on the same score as the winners. “Now, I’ve started to understand him, and we’ve really gelled – which is thanks, obviously, to Nicola and all her hard work. All that hard work she’s put in is really paying off.”

Tom, who finished third here last year with Toledo de Kerser, is prepared for a totally different challenge in tomorrow’s cross-country finale.

“It’s very different to last year,” says Tom. “There’s some real galloping sections with no fences, and then some places like the first water, where we’re doing circles within the water. It’ll be really interesting to see how it rides – we might find that it’s a little easier to get the time, but we might also find that it’s a lot harder.”

Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s not often we don’t see Michael Jung in the lead here, particularly when he brings out the big guns – which Olympic mount and five-star winner fischerChipmunk FRH most definitely qualifies as. But although the pair trended in the top spot for part of their test, and then flitted, occasionally, into second, a late miscommunication and several subsequent erroneous transitions just moments before the final centreline proved expensive, and the 5s and 4s they earned their pushed their score to a still very respectable 24.4. That sees them head into showjumping in third place, just a tenth of a penalty behind Tom and JL Dublin.

Tim Price and Falco. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The last rider in the ring this afternoon put a pin in a seriously smart final session: Kiwi anchors Tim Price and Falco, who were victorious at Pau’s CCI5* in 2021, and took individual bronze at the World Championships last year, took hold of fourth place provisionally with a score of 26. But though the quirky 14-year-old delivered all the right kinds of dance move in his test, the moment his final halt and salute was behind him, his inner wild-child came out, and Tim cantered back out of the arena laughing at the gelding’s much-improved sense of timing.

“In contrast to that, though, his work in his test was some of his softest, most on-side work I’ve had with him,” says Tim. “I think that’s the mark of a proper good horse – he tries so hard, and he does everything through partnership and training, and if I stick closely to that in the ring, then as soon as he has a moment to take in his surroundings, he’s like, ‘woah!’ He becomes very sharp.”

Though the horse is in his mid-teens, he’s a type that looks as though he’s improving year on year – and Tim agrees that he’s a classic late bloomer, as so many sharp-brained horses are.

“I said to [groom] Kerryn [Edmans] on the way over, he’s got quite a lot of old man qualities, and I think he’s going to be a very cool old man, actually, in a couple of years,” laughs Tim. “He’s starting to just go through the motions of the job; he knows where we are in the week, and when the right occasion comes – he knows where to put his flamboyance now a bit more.”

This is Falco’s third trip to Aachen, and Tim’s hoping that it’ll be a case of third time lucky – because previously, it hasn’t gone quite to plan for the gelding.

“The first time it blew his mind; the second time, it was a little better – but we got stuck on the keyhole on cross-country,” remembers Tim. “So we’ll see! The course has been stiffened up this year; it’s bigger, and there’s a couple of places with proper questions that have to be ridden in a certain way. It’s always nice to have a contingency plan B and C, but there’s a couple here where there’s really only one way to make it work well – though I’m sure we’ll see a few versions! The Kiwis are good at being underdogs, so I’m sure we’ll go out and give it a good go.”

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Kentucky winners Tamie Smith and Mai Baum return for their first outing since that momentous win, and will go into showjumping sitting in fifth place – and best of the US team – on a 26.9. While fans of the 17-year-old German-bred gelding will recognise that the score awarded isn’t on even keel with his usual low-20s efforts, Tamie explains that that’s because she’s trying some new tactics in the ring – and those led to some visible early tension, which she deftly rode through.

“I felt wild,” she says with a laugh. “I’m trying to leave a little bit to chance and I had bobbles because of it, but I’m on the right track – I think he’s more in front of me and not just hovering around, which is where I think he loses points. So I experimented a little bit to see, and the beginning was a little frazzled: when he’s tense, he starts throwing one front leg a bit unevenly, but he has to just learn to push and engage, so I went for it and had mistakes, but I’m happy with him.”

Even the most consistent of performers can have days when the buzz of the situation bubbles over, and ‘Lexus’ felt that today – and when he does, Tamie says, it’s not always a straightforward job to get him back on terra firm. Instead, it’s all about the fine art of compromise — and the slimmest of margins – especially in the fishbowl of the Deutsches Bank Stadium.

“He’s a funny horse – he’s awkwardly hot and sensitive but then he’s also behind me,” she says. “It’s a weird mix of knowing how much is enough or not enough, and  it’s millimetre by millimetre; I just kind of corrected him a little bit, more maybe too much. But that’s the sport – they’re pretty electric in there. He halted before I went to go in, and he reared, and he doesn’t ever do that. So he was just feeling it in there. It feels very closed in and claustrophobic, and I think it’s hard on a horse with movement, who needs room to move. They feel like they’re getting swallowed up a bit.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C, who she rides for Ocala Horse Properties and Debbie Palmer, find themselves in sixth place after earning a 27.3 – a score that the rider felt didn’t quite reflect the horse’s work in the ring. Nevertheless, she was delighted that the talented gelding’s rideability – an ongoing work in progress – continued to head in the right direction, despite the challenging, compact stadium setting of this first phase.

“I was really pleased with him; he’s still a relatively young, inexperienced horse,” she says. “He’s only eleven, and we’ve only been together a year so I’m happy. This would probably be the most challenging ring he’s been in, so I had to ride what I had a little bit, but I was very, very pleased with him. The scoring has been really tough, so I obviously came here hoping for a better mark because he’s a really talented horse, but there’s plenty to do still and he did a lot of great things in there.”

Though Mikki has certainly seen atmosphere before – he finished third at Kentucky on his five-star debut this spring, and so logged plenty of time in that venue’s sprawling stadium – Aachen, Liz explains, has a very different feel.

“I think it’s very tight. It’s very closed in – they feel really like the whole stand is on top of them. But he was actually fabulous, and he didn’t really react to it that much,” she says.

Mikki’s a horse that’s firmly on the Paris pathway, and every outing gives Liz a chance to revisit his educational checklist and work on the marginal gains that’ll help him peak at the perfect moment.

“I think he still just needs more strength,” she says. “He offers a lot and when he gets a little tired in the ring he gets a little strong on me, so I have to just keep working away and training him. I need about another six months and then we’ll really have it where we need it, but but he’s got a lot to come still. We have a lot more of a partnership now and I definitely know him better, and I’ve changed what I’m doing as a result: I’ve got him back in a snaffle because I just wanted to try and go there. So we’re kind of working through that a little bit, but everything is so much more solidified than it was – and there’s still another level to come, which is actually exciting. I believe he’s capable of doing a sub-20s test – he’s a gorgeous horse, and I’ve just got to keep plugging away.”

Will Coleman and Off The Record. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

In 2021, they rose to the top spot here and became the first-ever American winners of CHIO Aachen – and this year, Will Coleman and Off The Record are back, another year older and wiser, for their third consecutive visit to this German crown jewel. And the great news? They’re only getting better. They sit seventh going into showjumping on a smart score of 28.1, which continues a trajectory of improvement from the 29.7 they posted in the year that they won, and the 28.5 they put on the board last year, which helped them to an eventual sixth place.

The German team, currently sitting in bronze position on the podium, is helped along enormously by the efforts of 2022 Blenheim CCI4*-L champions Malin Hansen-Hotopp and the expressive Carlitos Quidditch K, who sit eighth on 28.9, while the day’s pathfinders, young Warendorf trainees and German individuals Libussa Lübbeke and Caramia 34, hold onto ninth on 29.5. Tenth place is held by Australia’s Kevin McNab on his relatively new ride, the former Caroline Harris mount Miss Pepperpot, who earned a 30.2 with a sweet, workmanlike effort in the ring.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Phillip Dutton sits 24th at the end of the first phase, having posted a 32.8 with his experienced Olympic mount, Z.

“I was hoping for better score,” he admits, “but I was really pleased with the way the way Z went — he went in the ring and was very workmanlike, which is rewarding.”

Despite their long partnership and extraordinary wealth of shared experience, Phillip explains that scenarios such as Aachen, with its combination of atmosphere and team pressure, can still throw challenges, curveballs, and chances to learn and improve in the pair’s direction.

“You’re constantly trying to improve and understand what he’s going through, and how to get him there and to be at his best, and so it’s always a balance of making sure he’s not going to be too fresh and too on edge, but then still having plenty of pizzazz and plenty of activity and sparkle in the test,” he says. “I thought I got it about right, but when you go a bit early [in the day], you’re trying to figure out what the judges are actually looking for as well. So maybe I should have gone for a little bit more and made it a little bit more expressive.”

Though his first-phase score might feel a touch disappointing, as a hugely decorated stalwart of the sport, Phillip is all too aware that the competition doesn’t end in this stadium – and both phases yet to come pose significant challenges, beginning with tonight’s showjumping in the 40,000 capacity stadium.

“Jumping in that main arena is a little bit different for us, because it’s such a big, expansive arena,” he says. “So we have to be on our game there, and then cross country is an interesting track. There are galloping patches, but then there’s quite intense patches where the time is going to be very influential. At a lot of the events you just try to stay on your minute markers, whereas here, some parts you’re going to be way up on your minute markers, but some minutes you’re going to be way down. It’s going to be interesting, and you’ll need a horse that’s really adjustable, but fast and obviously brave. The challenges keep going right through to the end.”

Dan Krietl and Carmango. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

US individual competitor Dan Krietl is having one heck of a summer: the CCI4*-L National Champion hadn’t competed in Europe – nor, in fact, even visited – before this year, but now, he’s practically an honorary resident after having flown over a couple of weeks ahead of Luhmühlen with Carmango. First, they logged some valuable training with their hosts, Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and her husband, Germany’s Kai-Steffen Meier, at their home base, Arville; then, they moseyed on over to Germany to tackle the CCI4*-S at Luhmühlen, which is one of the toughest and most hotly-contested events of the level on the continent. That didn’t quite go to plan – a battle of wills against a seriously influential double of angled hedges in the arena led to the hard decision to retire – but if education is the name of the game this year, then he’s collecting a wealth of the stuff, all of which he hopes will pay off in the long run as he continues to develop his talented young horse.

“I was so disappointed out in Luhmühlen, because I’ve never had a stop with him in his whole career,” says Dan. “He’s just gotten a little spookier and sharper over here – partly, I think, because I switched his feed and didn’t realise it’s, like, jet fuel for horses!”

That, he explains, created a bit of a perfect storm when the horse met the busy arena, its two angled hedges, and, crucially, the water trays beneath them: “He’s a little spooky with liverpools, and that jump scenario will be hard to recreate. But I also I think I’ll plan to ride a little ‘be ready’ here, and if he wants to look or spook, I’ll say, ‘Boy, you can get in there and do it.’ Normally,  he actually loves the job. If you point him he’s going to jump, no matter what, and so maybe I took it for granted a little too much. I’ve just got to be ready to give him a good ride.”

That lesson isn’t the only valuable intel Dan’s picked up since coming over – he’s also been refining this first phase, and though today’s score of 34.8, which puts him 31st after dressage, doesn’t necessarily reflect a huge change on paper since Luhmühlen, Dan can feel the gains being made.

“We’ve worked a lot on his dressage and just improving the basics — that throughness, and kind of putting a few pieces back together. I feel like the horse is going better here this weekend,” he says. “I was really proud of him; he tried so hard. I messed up the first flying change, so I’m disappointed about that, but the rest of it, we didn’t really have mistakes, and so I was really happy with that. I think we’re improving from  Luhmuhlen — our score wasn’t much better, but the coach and everybody thought we’re moving in the right direction, and for a ten-year-old and in the atmosphere, I was really happy.”

Dan’s been trying a unique tactic to get ready for this evening’s second phase, which takes place in the unique and enormous main stadium: “I’ve been walking the 1.60m jumping courses,” he laughs, “because then, I’m hoping ours might look small!”

The individual top ten after the first phase of competition.

Their extraordinary first-phase efforts put the British team in the lead going into jumping, though they’ve not quite got a rail in hand: with their aggregate score of 78.8, they’re 3.5 points ahead of second placed team USA on 82.3, who themselves are just 2.1 penalties ahead of third-placed Germany on 84.4. From there, the margins get a bit wider – fourth placed New Zealand is 5.9 penalties behind Germany, which puts them 11.5 penalties – or two rails and just over eight seconds – off the lead.

Now, with the first phase behind us, we meet one of CHIO Aachen’s great anomalies: we’re not done for the day, because there’s showjumping yet to come tonight in the extraordinary main stadium here. That’ll begin at 17.45 local time (that’s 16.45 BST/11.45 a.m. EST), and will run in the same order as this morning – that is, individuals first, and then in rotations through the team draw. You can find the order of go here, and to tune in to watch the action live, click here. We’ll be bringing you further news on all the movers and shakers later on this evening, plus plenty of photos of our stars of the sport in action. Until then: Go Eventing!

The team standings after the first phase.

EN’s Coverage of CHIO Aachen is brought to you with support from Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

CHIO Aachen: [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [EN’s Form Guide] [EN’s Coverage]

2021 Aachen champions Will Coleman and Off The Record. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There are certain competitions that we find ourselves counting down to each year, and CHIO Aachen — northern Germany’s ‘World Equestrian Festival’ — is absolutely one of them. This brilliant, buzzy celebration of horse sport – and the people who love to watch it – feels a bit like Disneyland for the horse-obsessed, and we really can’t get enough of it, nor of the serious battle of the titans it puts on for us eventing folk.

So what’s the big deal with Aachen, anyway? Simply put, it’s the closest approximation to a major championship that we get in this sport, without actually being a major championship. There’s tonnes of atmosphere, a huge amount of buzz, and a Nations Cup-style team competition (though it’s not, crucially, a part of the FEI Nations Cup series, so any successes earned here won’t count towards the efforts being made by unqualified countries to earn a spot at Paris next year). Plus, now that the World Equestrian Games of old no longer exists, it’s also the only show in which the very best of all the FEI disciplines is showcased in one venue, which lends it a uniquely special feeling, if you’re into the idea of, say, grabbing a coffee next to Steve Guerdat or following Jessica von Bredow-Werndl into a spinny door, which we very much are. More pertinently, though, all these factors combine to create a great, pressurised litmus test for horses and riders who may go on to fight for medals at the real deal championships, and so each invited country’s selectors tend to put forward their creme-de-la-creme, and we get the chance to see, for example, the likes of fischerChipmunk go head to head with Banzai du Loir. It’s a seriously cool teaser – and performance indicator – ahead of this summer’s European Championships, and it’s also a great way to see which horses are being developed on the Paris pipeline with a year to go.

World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This week’s ground jury is made up of Judy Hancock of Great Britain, President Christian Steiner of Austria, and Edith Schless-Störtenbecker of Germany, who’ll pick up a gamut of vital roles: most immediately, they’ll be our judges for tomorrow’s dressage, which begins at the bright and early hour of 8.30 a.m. local time (that’s 7.30 a.m. BST or – prepare yourself, folks – 2.30 a.m. EST time). Then, it’s on to showjumping in the capacious, floodlight main arena with its 40,000 seats for the showjumping tomorrow evening, starting at 17.45 local time (16.45 BST/11.45 a.m. EST) – and that’ll set us up nicely for Saturday morning’s cross-country from 10.00 (9.00 a.m. BST/4.00 a.m. EST), which that busy ground jury will have signed off and approved earlier in the week, and in which we’ll crown our Aachen SAP Cup Champions of 2023.

But all of that is still yet to come: today, our ground jury had another, very important matter at hand — that of the first horse inspection, in which 44 horses were presented for ten assembled nations, plus a further six for Saturday night’s Jump & Drive relay competition, which pits teams of eventers, show jumpers, and carriage drivers against one another under the lights of the main arena.

Arthur Marx and Church’Ile. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though all the presented horses were accepted into the competition — eventually — there were two tense moments: firstly when Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier was asked to immediately re-present Ducati d’Arville, and secondly, when France’s Arthur Marx was asked the same while trotting up his Church’Ile. Though the former was then accepted into the competition, the latter was sent to the holding box; after a closer inspection by the resident vet, and a further re-presentation, he was then given the go-ahead.

The day will begin with a batch of twelve individual riders, before moving onto the eight teams. The first rider in the ring will be young German rising star Libussa Lübbeke, who rides Caramia 34, while US individuals Dan Krietl and Carmango will be seventh to go at 9.12 (8.12 a.m. BST/3.12 a.m. EST).

Ireland is first in that team draw, and their pathfinder will be a seriously reliable combo in Cathal Daniels and Rioghan Rua, who come down the centreline at 10.09 a.m. (9.09 a.m. BST/4.09 a.m. EST). They’ll be followed by a seriously competitive German team, and then by the on-form young Swiss team, before it’s the turn of the USA and their own pathfinders, Phillip Dutton and Z, who start at 10.30 (9.30 a.m. BST/4.30 a.m. EST). Our last pair in the ring will be Kiwi anchors Tim Price and Falco, who start at 14.19 (13.19 p.m. BST/8.19 a.m. EST). The US is seriously well-represented this week: as well as individual Dan and pathfinder Phillip, we’ve also got Liz Halliday-Sharp and Ocala Horse Properties and Debbie Palmer’s Miks Master C, who were third at Kentucky this spring; Tamie Smith and the Ahearn family’s Mai Baum, who were victorious there, and 2021 Aachen champions Will Coleman and Off The Record. Plus, there’s a more-than-honorary American on the Aussie squad: Cali girl Rebecca Braitling steps up for the team with Caravaggio. You can meet all the teams and their riders in our comprehensive form guide, and check out the full times for tomorrow here.

We’ll be bringing you full reports and galleries at the culmination of both phases tomorrow – plus lots of behind-the-scenes action and glimpses at the other world-class sport on show at this extraordinary show throughout the days to come, so keep it locked on EN to scratch all your Aachen itches. Plus, you can tune in to ClipMyHorse.TV to follow all the action – in eventing and elsewhere! – live. Go Eventing!

EN’s Coverage of CHIO Aachen is brought to you with support from Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

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