Classic Eventing Nation

Felix Etzel and Bandit 436 produce a clear to sit seventh and second-best of the Germans. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Welcome back to the Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International Horse Trials, where we’re wrapping up a busy day of showjumping action in the open Nations Cup class.

Sue Peasley‘s CCI4O*-S track made clever use of the slight undulation in the terrain which, when combined with tricky distances set on long and short strides, set the stage for an exceptionally influential afternoon of showjumping. It was going to need to be, too: 112 horse-and-rider combinations came forward to jump this afternoon, with much of the class closely-bunched after the first phase. 111 would complete, after the retirement on course of Samantha Seaton and Rowbury Spree, and just 54% would lodge a clear round. With such tight scores, even a single rail would be enough to start a tailspin down the leaderboard.

Ingrid Klimke’s CCI4*-S first-timer Asha P tips two rails to swap from leader to German drop score. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Two surprise rails – the same number of rails the mare had previously had in her career, cumulatively – sent overnight leaders Ingrid Klimke and her seven-year-old World Champion Asha P plummeting to 19th place, making them the drop score for the formidable German team. Nonetheless her motherland, which has won the Nations Cup here for the past four years running, still maintains first place on a provisional mark of 84. Taking her place at the top of the leaderboard is Christoph Wahler, who rides Carjatan S in pursuit of redemption after Chatsworth’s Event Rider Masters leg a fortnight ago. There, they took an unfortunate and uncharacteristic tumble in the final water, but their form is generally very promising: in 22 international cross-country runs, they’ve gone clear 20 times.

Christoph Wahler and Carjatan S take over the top spot. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Belgium’s Karin Donckers and her enormously experienced Fletcha Van’t Verahof were one of a small number of riders to do their dressage this morning, and their first-phase score of 24.9 put them into a competitive third place. A clear round over the poles and the usurpation of Ingrid popped them up another place into overnight second, and the Belgian team into third.

Karin Donckers and Fletcha Van’t Verahof head up the Belgian effort – and its quest for Olympic qualification. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The top of the leaderboard is truly international, with six nations represented. Switzerland’s Salome Ludi and Super Rossi moved up to third place overnight, while New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell, riding as an individual, holds fourth place with Diachello II. This is the horse’s first four-star and, in fact, only his seventh international start. Fresh off the back of her first Badminton completion, Sweden’s Louise Romeike piloted Waikiki 207 into fifth, cementing Sweden’s second-place position on the team leaderboard. They’re lying 3.4 places behind the German leaders at the moment, considerably narrowing the margin after yesterday’s competition.

Jesse Campbell and Diachello II move into the top five. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The home team has moved from sixth up to fourth place, just behind Belgium, after strong performances from its younger constituents and a 29.2 dressage from anchor Piggy French and Cooley Monsoon. They followed it up with a clear round over the poles and sit ninth overnight, but they’re not the best of the British at this stage – instead, that honour goes to Tom McEwen, who competes as an individual with No Excuse, ordinarily ridden by the incumbent World Champion Ros Canter.

The real hard-hitting news story of the day, though, was of the unqualified interloper who outclassed and outperformed approximately EVERYBODY today. As Felicity Collins and RSH Contend OR, the 2017 winners of the Young Rider national championship at Houghton, took to the ring, they were joined by an extra competitor.

Look, this might not be hilarious to anyone else, but it was SPECTACULARLY funny to me.

IT WAS A GOSLING, and like Cotton-Eye Joe, we didn’t actually know where he came from, nor where he went. But he was on some kind of medal-seeking mission, and as the bell rang, he ran? Waddled? Flapped? at his maximum speed and FOLLOWED her all the way to fence three, whereupon he got a bit tired and went off to terrorise another arena. Honestly, I haven’t thought about anything else since.

This gosling joined in with the showjumping at Houghton earlier, and I don’t think I have ever laughed so aggressively and obnoxiously in my life pic.twitter.com/cKaXWttFWL

— Tilly Berendt (@TillyBerendt) May 25, 2019

Now, we look ahead to cross-country – and this year looks to be Houghton’s toughest yet. Alec Lochore has reversed his course for the first time in several years, which means that the tough quarry now comes up quickly at fence three. There, horses will have to take a leap of faith from sunshine into the shadows, jumping a hanging log down into the depths of the quarry before nipping up and out the other side. 6ABC will catch a few out, too – set in front of the iconic water tower, it features a friendly enough oxer, swiftly followed by two steeply angled offset hedges. Fence 7 is quite unique; it’s a wide ditch, but with a lip on either side that makes it almost look like a log drop on approach. Upon landing, there’s a 90-degree left-handed turn to 8, a relatively unimposing flower tray with … white walkers on it?

No, stop, it’s summer now.

The next influential-looking question comes at 12ABC, which features an open left-handed corner, a raised gun cartridge, and a right-handed corner, and also makes use of a slight mound. The water at 15ABC starts with a suspended log drop in – not dissimilar to the question we saw earlier this spring at Carolina. Then, there’s a curving right-handed turn to a house in the water, before a canter out and over a box. After all the aforementioned, horses should be up for just about anything, but we may still see some glances off the super-skinny sundials at 17AB.

Set at a distance of 3,990m, the course’s time will be reasonably achievable for those who can pull off a clear round – the going is firm and fast, and so we should see a fair few riders come home within the seven minute optimum. It’s the tough combinations early on that will be decisive, as we’ve seen across the two- and three-star divisions today.

Want a closer look at the course? Check out the interactive map, with images of each fence, here. We’ll be back tomorrow with the full rundown of the action-packed final phase, plus interviews with the day’s biggest movers and shakers. Stay tuned!

The top ten after showjumping in Houghton’s CCI4O*-S.

Houghton CCI4O*-S: Website, Live Scores, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram

Ingrid Klimke’s impressive young mare Asha P sets a high standard in her level debut. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The first Nations Cup CCIO4*-S of the 2019 season is well underway at England’s Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International Horse Trials, with nine teams fighting for top honours. Despite finishing a very creditable second in last year’s competition, the US hasn’t put forward a team – instead, it’s a pan-European competition.

So why should we be paying extra attention to team events like this one this year? Simple: we’re still in the qualification period for next year’s Olympics, and there are several key countries fighting for the remaining eight team slots. Only Great Britain, France, and Germany are already qualified in our nine-nation field; the rest of the entrants – Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain are still in the hunt for the golden ticket. The Nations Cup series offers a valuable opportunity to nab it – there will be one team qualification awarded at the finale of the series at Boekelo this October to the highest-placed country not already qualified. Phew.

Best-placed on the Italian team is Paolo Torlonia, who rides Miss Fernhill. He sits in 31st place on a score of 32.4. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

With one rider per team left to ride, the German powerhouses currently lead – well, sort of. Three of their four team members have already ridden, and their highest possible score after the end of the first phase will be 78.2. With two team riders holding first and second place provisionally, it’ll be down to the final pair – Felix Etzel and Bandit 436 – to try to better Jerome Robine and Quaddeldou R‘s 30.2. But technically, Germany will start the day in second place; the Netherlands, who field a three-person team and have only seen two of their riders start, currently sit in first on a 66.2. If they want to stay there, final rider Laura Hoogeveen and Wicro Quibus NOP will need to produce a dressage score of … 12. Or better. No pressure, then.

Ingrid Klimke and Asha P. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Lest we get too bogged down in team technicalities, though, it’s worth taking another look at our overnight leaders. It should come as no surprise that the Queen of Dressage herself, Ingrid Klimke, tops the standings – but the horse she’s on is a bit of a dark one. Eight-year-old Asha P (Askari 173 x Hera, by Heraldik xx) took the Seven-Year-Old World Championship (CCI3*-L; formerly CCI2*) at Le Lion d’Angers last year, but since then, she’s only contested two CCI3*-S competitions. Houghton marks her four-star debut, but despite her relative inexperience, she displayed the results of Klimke’s sky-high production values, putting a 23.2 on the board to head it overnight. Just behind them on 24.8 is teammate Christoph Wahler, riding Carjatan S, with whom he took an unfortunate tumble in the Event Rider Masters at Chatsworth two weeks ago.

Even if Germany can’t improve upon their provisional team score of 78.2, they’re almost certain to lead after the first phase: they currently enjoy a commanding lead of nearly ten points over their nearest competitor, Sweden. The young home team currently sits in sixth place on 99.5, but their big gun, Badminton winner Piggy French, will come forward tomorrow riding Jennifer Saunders’ exciting Cooley Monsoon. After a final morning of dressage, we’ll be heading straight into showjumping – so stay tuned!

The top ten as we head into the final session of dressage.

Houghton CCI4O*-S: Website, Live Scores, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram