Michael Jung and fischerTakinou after winning last year’s Strzegom CCI3*, the horse’s first three-star event. Photo via Michael Jung’s Facebook page.
Everybody knows that Michael Jung’s favorite horse is the one-and-only La Biosthetique Sam FBW, but his other horses sure have made a sport out of duking it out for the #2 spot. The latest showdown is between fischerTakinou and fischerRocana FST is taking place as we speak at the FEI Nations Cup Strzegom CICO3* in Poland.
Earlier today fischerTakinou pocketed a dressage score of 34.2 to handily steal the lead from Rocana, who posted a 38.3. While Sam isn’t competing this weekend, Michael is on the German Olympic team list with all three horses and we’re all curious to see who will end up getting on the plane — unless the IOC decides to let him field his own team which, seeing as there are exactly three steps on the podium, would be bad news for the rest of us!
Takinou got shorted on the video front, but here is Michaels’s Strzegom test on Rocana as well as a post-ride interview:
Even in Sam and Rocana’s shadow, fischerTakinou has wasted no time in establishing himself as quite a precocious talent. At the Longines FEI European Eventing Championships at Blair Castle last September, the 8-year-old French-bred Anglo Arab cross gelding was the youngest horse in the field and had only one CCI3* on his resume — Strzegom 2015, which he won. Yet he and Michael (who, lest we forget, was riding with a broken leg) still won by nearly 10 points.
Michael Jung and fischerTakinou on cross country at Blair. Photo by Jon Stroud/FEI.
Michael tends to have good “luck” at Strzegom: he placed first and second in the CCI3* last year on Takinou and Halunke FBW respectively, and won the CICO3*-NC on Sam and the CIC2* on Takinou in 2014. So we sure wouldn’t bet against him this weekend.
And if you’re wondering how many other fischer namesakes are floating around Michael’s yard, the answer is three more: fischerChelsea, fischerDaily Impressed and fischerIncantas, who finished fourth in the Strzegom CIC2*, which wrapped up today.
Can’t wait to see that one in another year or two!
Click here for ride times, orders of go and live scoring from Strzegom, and be sure to check out the free cross country live stream on FEI TV here — if you get up really early or stay up really late, the CCI2* begins at 3 a.m. EST (click here) while the CCI3* begins at a much more reasonable 9 a.m. EST (click here) after the conclusion of the CICO3*.
Strzegom CICO3* dressage top 10:
FEI Nations Cup team rankings:
