The cutest German cheering section, courtesy of Lio Jung. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Though Germany hasn’t managed to steal the lead in the first phase of CHIO Aachen’s CCIO4*-S – they sit second, by a small enough margin of 3.3 penalties to Great Britain – they do have the hold on the individual competition. That comes thanks to – no surprise here, really – Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH, who posted a 22.5 to nab the lead in this morning’s first session.
“He feels amazing,” says Michi, who also sits ninth on his team ride, Kilcandra Ocean Power. “Chipmunk’s always getting better, more powerful, but also on the other hand, very relaxed and using the body, and the muscles. Everything is getting into really good shape. He’s in very good form at the moment, I think, with still a few more weeks, and two or three more little gallops [before Paris.]”
But what’s exciting – or intimidating, or both – is that that score came from a test that wasn’t totally on point. Chipmunk certainly looked fit, well, and generally correct, but there were little mistakes: his first halt was uneven behind, as it was at Luhmühlen, for example.
Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tightening the test up by that valuable little margin won’t come down to drilling the movements, though, explains Michi.
“I think you need patience, and you need to leave it a little bit like it is [when you’re training horses],” he says. “In the end, you need also a little kind of luck – and I think in the dressage, it’s very important that the horse is with you, that you can work with the horse. That’s the most important thing. There I had a really good feeling, but in this phase, there is always something that you can do better. Maybe the next time the goal is to halt better, but then I could have a mistake somewhere else, you know, so it makes no sense for me train the halt much more and make it confusing or something. I don’t want to give him more pressure, because he’s in really good shape like this. So for sure, I’ll work him, and I need to work on the transitions for sure. When the transitions get better into the halt, then the halt will also be better. I just need to keep him in normal work, and I need to keep him like this, mentally and physically.”
Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Germany’s longlisted riders have all been sent to Aachen this week on Federation directives, bar Nicolai Aldinger and Timmo, who ran in the CCI5* at Luhmühlen last month. For Michi, the reason is clear.
“It’s a bit like a Championship feeling here,” he says. “There’s a lot of really super spectators, there’s a big atmosphere, and there’s a lot of pressure from outside. I think this is very good preparation and also quite good information — how are the horses, how are they concentrating, how are they focused? — and I think that’s that’s very important.”
Before we move onto the cross-country phase, there’ll be this evening’s showjumping in the enormous main stadium to focus on – but Michi, who has won here before and has plenty of Aachen rounds on his record, including a near win with Chipmunk here in 2022 when he lost out on a late flag appeal, reckons this year’s Rüdiger Schwarz course has been ever so slightly softened to offer horses a confidence-boosting run.
“It’s a nice course, and there are a lot of tough questions, and a lot of big jumps,” he says. “But it’s really nicely built, with a lot of brushes, and so on. In the end, it’s very cleverly built. Maybe Fence C or D is a bit more easy, you know? So you have a tough question, but in the end it’s a little softer. So I think that’s quite clever building. You need to really concentrate. You need very good riding, and to be very focused. But in the end, I think it should work.”
Julia Krajewski and the expressive, exciting Nickel 21. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Reigning Olympic champion Julia Krajewski and her young up-and-comer Nickel 21 gave Michi and Chipmunk the closest run for their money, putting a very good 23.9 on the board to take provisional second place.
Though they won’t be fighting for a spot on the German Olympic team, the pair are named in the third block of Germany’s longlist, all of whom – except Nicolai Aldinger and Timmo – are competing this week to try to secure the reserve space. All being well, the team of three looks set in stone: Block A, or block one, has just three horses and riders in it. Those are our first-phase leaders, as well as Christoph Wahler and Carjatan S and Sandra Auffarth and Viamant du Matz.
Christoph Wahler and Carjatan S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Speaking of Christoph Wahler and Carjatan S, who were part of the gold medal-winning German team at the Pratoni World Championships: they currently sit in provisional third place on a score of 28.
“28 seems to be our mark this season,” he says with a wry smile. “I think all of the dressage tests he did this year, we got a 28. I’m a little bit disappointed with that, to be honest, because today I thought he was a bit more flashy, a little bit more relaxed at the same time than in the other two tests he did. On the other hand, it’s Aachen, and it’s early in the morning. I think one judge really loved him and had him at, like, 25 or something. That’s what it felt like to be honest. But I’m super happy with the horse.”
Christoph certainly knows what a 25 feels like with Carjatan: the rider, who runs his family’s dressage stud just half an hour from Luhmühlen, has scored plenty of them in seasons past with the rangy grey. But during the pandemic, he focused on revolutionising the gelding’s fitness programme, and as Carjatan got fitter and fitter, he also got hotter on the flat, and his penchant for mid-20s marks plunged to a tendency to low-to-mid 30s. Now, he’s finding the middle ground.
“He even had a period where he was a 22 horse,” laughs Christoph. “But over the years I’ve gotten to know him better and honestly, I don’t stick to my system so strictly anymore. I feel what he feels like when I get to the show, or what he feels like the next day. I know we have to arrive a little bit earlier than I would with another horse, and just give him some time to settle in. Then I decide from ride to ride to ride when I will ride him next, or how I will warm up. I mean, it’s almost always the same, but we change little things in his routines because I feel like changing them. I just sort of try and trust my feeling a little bit more about it.”
Christoph wasn’t initially planning to run Carjatan, or his second ride, D’Accord FRH, here this week, and actually had his sights set on a Luhmühlen run instead.
But, he says, “this was the way the Federation decided they want the selection process to be, so we have to do it. I know Carjatan doesn’t love this venue ≠ I mean, he was fourth year last year, winning the Nation’s Cup and all but it’s really hard for him with the atmosphere. I think that might be a bit of a training aspect towards Paris – and oncross-country I’m just going to try to keep him safe, keep him clear, keep him happy. My plan is simple: just don’t do anything stupid!”
EMILY
Two-time Grantham Cup winners Emily King and Valmy Biats, who were longlisted for the British Olympic team after a fourth place finish at Badminton this spring, will go into the next phase in equal third place on 28.
“He was awesome,” beams Emily of the 15-year-old Selle Français. “He’s never been in a ring like that. He’s been in a few stadiums, but that is so different in there. He’s so hot and sensitive and actually, just as I was going around the outside, someone was cheering in the crowd – I think a rider maybe went in and saw their entourage in the chute – and so suddenly he was looking and snorting.”
But, she continues, “luckily he just managed to hone back in again. There were parts, again, that were better than they’ve ever been, but then he had a a couple of little wobbles within some movements – but no mistakes as such, and he was really good.”
Though Valmy’s been in the buzzy atmospheres of the main arenas at Badminton and Burghley, Emily explains that Aachen’s Deutsche Bank Stadium actually feels very different, and much trickier to ride in.
“I think it’s because it’s actually not that big in there,” she muses. “Normally in stadiums, they’re so vast that it’s never really echoey, but in there it’s really echoey. Even our indoor shows are a bit different. We have a roof on at those and it’s all encapsulated, but when it’s like that, it’s a different feeling. And there are amazing flowers around the outside, but actually, when you’re warming up to go in, you can’t use the whole arena. So the moment you go in, it actually feels quite claustrophobic. These event horses are used to big potato fields in Norfolk and Lincolnshire!”
Valmy is generally a reliable showjumper, and Emily is hoping he’ll make the best of the next phase, which is held over one of eventing’s most spacious courses.
“It will be awesome to jump in the main ring,” she smiles. “He’s jumped in some big grass rings before but again, never like that – and I don’t think you’ll probably ever jump on as good a footing as in there. So hopefully, that will put us in good stead!”
“But,” she continues, “normally in a 4*-S they jump the next day, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve still got quite as much in them after doing a test earlier.”
And then, onto tomorrow morning’s cross-country: “He’s done a good few 4*-S tracks, and while he was always a very brave, strong horse, I wondered whether he’d ever really be quite adjustable enough for the shorter, twisty tracks. But this last year or so he’s become quite a pro at doing that ,as well. This, again, would be his biggest test of intensity and twisty turny courses. So hopefully he’s up for it!”
Felix Vogg and Colero. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Austrian Olympian Lea Siegl rounds out the top five on an excellent score of 28.6 with Van Helsing P, while Tim Price and the exciting ten-year-old Jarillo are sixth on 28.9. Seventh is the domain of Laura Collett and former Aachen runner-up Dacapo, who also put a 28.9 on the board, and 2022 winners Sandra Auffarth and Viamant du Matz are eighth on 29.9. Finally, Swiss five-star winners Felix Vogg and Colero are tenth at the end of the first phase on a score of 30.2, the same as Felix’s mentor, Michael Jung, and his second ride, Kilcandra Ocean Power, who sits ninth. Though there’s a rail between second and third place, from then on out, it all gets very tight indeed: just one rail covers third through nineteenth place, and showjumping here at Aachen is always influential, so we’re likely to see a sea change in this evening’s next phase.
Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Though US Aachen debutantes Hallie Coon and Cute Girl would have liked to have nipped down into the 20s, as they have at Oudskarpel and Kronenberg’s CCI4*-S classes, both of which they won, their 33.2 today does still make them the best of the US contingent. They sit in 24th place going into this afternoon’s showjumping.
The test, says Hallie, had plenty to like, but also flagged up some areas to focus on as she continues to develop the ten-year-old’s education. Among those were the halts, which have been just a little bit too buzzy – and therefore not totally immobile – all day.
“The preparation hasn’t been ideal, as I was a late call-up [for the US team, for which she was initially a reserve],” says Hallie. “Out here [in the warm-up], she wasn’t halting, she was doing her little dance-y feet. She was just quite eager. So I think that’s a little bit what we saw – she came in very straight and halted, but never really halted. I think right off the bat, if they see the tension or the eagerness in that first movement it’s really hard to climb your way back, and then a little bit in that second halt, she just got a bit gobby and against me coming out into the walk. Then that last flying change was just a bit crooked. It was clean but crooked, and that’s our hard change – last time, at Kronenberg, she bucked through it, so I was trying to prevent the buck!”
Hallie, who is based with fellow US rider Katherine Coleman in England, has been training with British team manager Dicky Waygood since the latter half of last season, and together, they’ve developed former Seven Year Old World Champion ‘Gypsy’ into a focused, honest, bold cross-country horse – a reasonably steady process that, Hallie muses, has made the first phase less of an immediate priority.
“Progress isn’t linear, and we’ve seen such progress in the cross-country this year. It’s been such a focus for us that I think maybe the dressage has a little bit gone the other direction, and it’s just something we need to put our nose to the grindstone with,” she says.
Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
But, she continues, so much of it just comes down to time, exposure, and tactical entries at venues that will further develop the catty, diminutive Holsteiner – and this week’s Aachen experience is certainly one that’s giving her plenty of new experiences, even down to the stadium atmosphere of this first phase.
“I think every horse on this team except for her has seen a stadium,” laughs Hallie. “They’ve all been to Kentucky, and I think that would have been a great experience for her before this. She’s never seen anyone above her, so I think that was interesting, because she was sort of looking up at them. She didn’t do that yesterday because there weren’t any people in here during familiarization. It didn’t feel like it really threw her off her game; she was more just like, ‘What are you doing there?!’ It was just a tiny loss of focus, and I think she’ll be a much better horse for having experienced it now.”
Cute Girl is rated as the second-best showjumper in the field, and arguably the most fun to watch with her tight knees and expressive bascule. And so Hallie is quietly optimistic about how she’ll take to showjumping in the enormous main stadium later on today – but that optimism is also tempered with a pragmatic understanding that this is still a young horse and very much a week of learning experiences.
“You never know, but fingers crossed, because she’s been so consistent in this phase,” says Hallie. “I think I’m just going to have to be careful to use the arena wisely and not get lost out there, because it’s so huge and little bit intimidating. But I’m really looking forward to it.”
She’s also looking forward to a good crack at tomorrow morning’s cross-country course, which will be a great test of all Cute Girl has learned in the last year or so.
“I think the track does suit her a lot,” says Hallie. “It’s putting to use everything that we’ve been working with or working towards, and I think that our preparation, competition-wise, has actually been very good, because you see a lot of the similar style combinations and the use of terrain and all that. So I do think the cross-country, we’ve been very well prepared for. I’m feeling confident, but even though people are saying ‘it’s easy for Aachen,’ there’s quite a lot to do!”
Alyssa Phillips and Oskar. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Alyssa Phillips and Oskar, like Hallie and Cute Girl, put a 33.2 on the board for 25th place and were frustrated to do so after a run of much better marks had them sitting on a 28-or-thereabouts average coming into this week.
“Oskar hasn’t scored in the 30s in forever – I’m not used to being in the 30s, so it’s a little disappointing.”
Numbers aside, though, there was much to like in the test – and a couple of surprises, too: “His trot work was actually way better than his canter work – normally it’s the other way around,” she says. “There was a few bobbles: in the canter, he just got off balance in the extended canter on the circle. Then, I think in the first change he was a little close behind but he was kind of anticipating it, so I wanted to save him from bucking, which he can sometimes do!”
Aachen offers a unique challenge in each phase, and this afternoon’s showjumping will, Alyssa expects, give them both plenty to do.
“I would say that show jumping before cross country is always harder for both of us, because he gets a little bit strong, and in order for him to jump the best that he can I need to kind of stay out of the way,” she says. “He’s not like a Cute Girl – he doesn’t have these gigantic springs in his feet, but he tries really hard – and if I can give him a good ride, I know he’s going to try his hardest for me. I’m looking forward to it!”
And when it comes to tomorrow’s Rüdiger Schwarz course, which is renowned for its twisty technicality, even if that may have been ever so slightly softened this year, Alyssa is confident that Oskar will really get to play to his strengths.
“I haven’t ever been here before, I’ve just watched online, but I know the time is always notoriously hard to make here,” she says. “But he’s quite a quick horse, because I don’t really have to set him up – so this course, I think, should suit him pretty well. I can use the turns to rebalance him and keep on flowing, so we’re going to try to do that! He’s a really cool, chill dude. I’m like, ‘come on. We’re going to go and do this,’ and he’s like, ‘okay!’”
Liz Halliday and Shanroe Cooley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The relatively inexperienced nine-year-old Shanroe Cooley, piloted by the very, very experienced Liz Halliday, sit 31st on a 35.7, after a test that was consistently well marked but lost some expensive ground with minor wobbles in one of the changes and in the middle halt. They’ll be looking to make a big climb this evening – they’ve jumped clear rounds in 16 of their 19 FEI showjumping rounds.
James Alliston and Karma. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Similarly, West Coaster James Alliston knows that his ten-year-old Karma is an exceptional jumper – she’s just had one rail down ever in FEI competition, though is comparatively even greener than Shanroe Cooley, with just nine international starts. But though she starts this week in 33rd place on a 36, which is a smidge higher than her usual 33-or-so at this level, she’s proven time and time again that she’s very, very quick and hugely capable across both jumping phases, and should suit this track very well indeed – in fact, we’d put her forward as one of the horses who might be able to catch the notoriously difficult time, or come very close, anyway. She’s picked up cross-country time faults in just two of her nine FEI runs.
We’re now heading into the showjumping phase in the sprawling, 40,000-seat main arena – because Aachen slows its roll for no man, and no deadline – and so we’ll return soon with an update on the scoreboard and images of our key contenders and US team in action. Until then: head on over to ClipMyHorse.TV to follow the live stream from 5.45 p.m. local time (4.45 p.m. BST/11.45 a.m. EST), and Go Eventing!
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