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Federation
Equestre Internationale News
FEI
World Cup Jumping News: Fuchs Wins The First Final Competition
At Drama-Filled Sony Ericsson FEI World Cup Final In Milan......
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There
was high drama on the opening day of the Sony Ericsson FEI World
Cup Final in Milan today where Switzerland's Markus Fuchs and
Tinka’s Boy took the early lead.
He
threw down a powerful challenge when fourth into the ring in this
speed event and the rest of the runners simply could not match
his target-time of 68.35 but defending champions, Markus Ehning
and Anka, are breathing down his neck going into tomorrow’s
competition having finished second ahead of fellow-German Meredith
Michaels-Beerbaum who was third with Shutterfly.
Course-designer
Uliano Vezzani set them a 13-fence track with plenty of turn-backs
and three different doubles to be jumped, and it was two of these
that proved most influential throughout the class. The very first
rider into the ring, America’s Laura Kraut, fell victim to
the double of water-trays at fence six when Anthem, unsighted
until the last moment, suddenly jammed on the brakes, and Lars
Nieberg suffered the same fate with Lucie while Canada’s
Elliott Stone went flying out of the saddle when Free Style decided
not to be quite so free after all at this one.
The
first of the two verticals here hit the floor on many occasions
while the final fence, also a double, played a huge part in finishing
the chances of many partnerships who jumped perfectly well to
that point of the track.
Creditable
performances from real rookies like Australia’s Timothy Amitrano
and the aptly-named Mr Innocent who travelled all the way from
the Southern Hemisphere and who lowered just two fences, Turkey’s
Sencer Can who had just one down with Corlanda and Gunnar Klettenberg
who produced some lovely jumping but had two mistakes with Novesta
for Estonia showed just how much improvement has been taking place
outside of the mainstream leagues but that made it all the more
surprising when it all went horribly wrong for the big favourite,
Rodrigo Pessoa.
The
Brazilian who scored a hat-trick of wins between 1998 and 2000
had looked like the man to beat over the past few weeks but his
stallion, Baloubet du Rouet, seemed very strong and, running on
after the ditch-double at six, he hit the following oxer and then
caught the vertical at eight for eight faults. This was to leave
him in 24th place and afterwards Rodrigo decided to withdraw saying
"Baloubet did not jump well yesterday and I think he has
a back problem. He felt very stiff today and did not jump well.
When he does not feel 100% he is very difficult to ride. To win
the final against the best combinations in the world you need
to be at your very best and the horse needs to give 100%. There
is no point in my continuing in this competition" he concluded.
To
add even further drama to the evening, America’s McLain Ward
and Goldika took a very nasty fall at another double – a
triple bar to oxer – at fence five. Turning very tight around
fence one to get their line, they stood a long way off the first
element and crashed through the poles. The mare, formerly ridden
by Germany’s Toni Hassman but sold last year, was very shaken
as she got to her feet but horse and rider left the arena together.
As,
one by one, the rest took their chance Markus Fuch’s target
looked better and better.
"My
horse jumped really beautifully. Because I had to go at the beginning
I didn’t take any crazy chances but I did try to be fast
and I’m very pleased. After I jumped my round I thought it
was good but not good enough to win – I wanted to be in the
first five but I didn’t want to go too wild" he said.
Top
of the leaderboard after Day 1 he was feeling very pleased yesterday
evening but the confidence with which Markus Ehning steered Anka
round the track may be something for him to think about today
while Meredith’s performance with Shutterfly was not a lot
short of perfection.
With
four seconds added for every fence down, clear rounds were the
deciding factor in settling the order at this early stage and
Thomas Velin in fourth with Equest Carnute, Malin Baryard and
H&M Butterfly Flip in fifth, Bruno Broucqsault (Dileme de
Cephe) in sixth and Toni Hassmann with Camirez B in seventh position
could all turn the tables when the second final competition takes
place tomorrow.
After
a very difficult season however today’s victory was all the
sweeter for the winner. Markus has been suffering badly with lower-back
and leg pain, particularly since the Top Ten Final in Geneva in
December, and he had to earn a wildcard in order to compete in
Milan.
"I’m
getting older, when you are over 50 years of age it’s not
so easy!" he said today. "I have been told I have a
chronic inflammation of my lower pelvic area and I have had attention
for that for some time but at Geneva on 6th December it suddenly
got very, very bad – I have physiotherapy every day to help
it. There has been a lot of pain but I take a lot of painkillers
and the first time I felt really OK for some time was on the Sunday
of Gothenburg. Today also I had no pain". Perhaps that is
not too surprising considering the result….
FLASH
QUOTES:
Markus
Fuchs:
Talking
about how he has managed to keep his string of horses fit while
he has been out of action himself he said – "I only
started to jump again in Paris and I still had a lot of problems
there but I had to go to s’Hertogenbosch to fulfil the conditions
to get the wildcard to come here, so we hired several people to
train the horses – both unknown and well-known. I am in the
lucky position to have other good Grand Prix horses and some of
them have been competing with Lesley McNaught".
Talking
about what Tinka’s Boy has been doing while he has been out
of the saddle Markus said "He doesn’t need much jumping
at home and he had two to three months rest. Some horses need
to compete in a few shows to prepare them again after a break
but with him that is not the case and he showed in Gothenburg
that he was in really good shape".
Markus
Ehning said "I hope it goes well for me for the next few
days but the course for the first day was a good course although
maybe we could have had more options but at the end it worked
out OK. The first few riders are looking very strong and have
every chance over the next few days".
Asked
about why he chose to ride Anka at the Final he said "It
was my first plan to ride Anka. She had a break for three months
and then I rode in Paris. I did have a problem training her at
home but she started here feeling really good. I’m not sure
if I will ride her all three days but today she jumped really
well so she will go again tomorrow and we will see about Sunday".
Meredith
Michaels-Beerbaum said "In general I was very pleased with
Shutterfly. My goal was to be in the top five, not necessarily
to win. Speed classes are not his strongest point so third today
was perfect for me".
Course
Designer Uliano Vezzani said "I was making my debut at a
World Cup final and was anxious about building at this level.
Not having options was part of the formula of the competition
because it was a Table A over a Table C track and I’m pleased
with the result and looking forward to the next few days".
RESULT:
1, Tinka’s Boy (Markus Fuchs) Sui 0/68.35; 2, Anka (Markus
Ehning) Ger 0/69.09; 3, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum)
Ger 0/69.77; 4, Equest Carnute (Thomas Velin) Den 0/70.48; 5,
H&M Butterfly Flip (Malin Baryard) Swe 0/70.99; 6, Dileme
de Cephe (Bruno Broucqsault) Fra 0/71.44; 7, Camirez B (Toni Hassmann)
Ger 0/71.66; 8, Qerly Chin (Christophe Barbeau) Sui 0/72.61; 9,
Eurocommerce Montreal (Wim Schroder) Ned 4/72.86; 10, Portofino
(Michael Whitaker) GB 0/73.20; 11, Cigale du Tallis (Eugenie Angot)
Fra 0/73.66; 12, Albin 111 (Juan Carlos Garcia) Ita 0/73.95; 13,
Nassau (Jeroen Dubbeldam) Ned 0/74.85; 14, Audi’s Jikke (E
Van der Vleuten) Ned 4/74.87; 15, Lando (O Becker) Ger 4/75.11;
16, Parco (Ludo Philippaerts) Bel 8/76.65; 17, Lauriston (Peter
Wylde) USA 4/77.84; 18, Hilton Flight (Richard Spooner) USA 8/78.38;
19, Montender (Marco Kutscher) Ger 4/78.49; 20, El Campeon’s
Ado Annie (William Simpson) USA 8/78.68; 21, MacKinley (Rolf-Goran
Bengtsson) Swe 8/78.79; 22, Catch 22 (Ainsley Vince) Can 8/79.16;
23, El Campeon’s So Long (Nicole Shahinian-Simpson) usa 4/79.21;
24, Baloubet du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 8/79.24; 25, Diane
de Fontenis (Grzegorz Kubiak) Pol 4/79.38; 26, VDL Groep Eve des
Etisses (Hubert Bourdy) Fra 8/80.51; 27, Remember Me (Laura Linback)
USA 8/82.29; 28, Anthem (Laura Kraut) USA 0/82.34; 29, Corlanda
(Sencer Can) Tur 4/82.80; 30, JPC Modesto Equifoam (Jean Marc
Nicolas) Fra 8/83.04; 31, Flashlight (Dominey Alexander) RSA 8/84.30;
32, Mill Creek Sweet Dream (Yann Candele) Fra 12/84.71; 33, Salamandra
Chapman Rouge (Andre Miranda) 8/87.06; 34, Novesta (Gunnar Klettenberg)
Est 8/87.65; 35, Mr Innocent (Timothy Amitrano) Aus 8/97.54; 36,
Lucie (Lars Nieberg) Ger 4/99.08; 37, Wembley Da Lagoa (Marcelo
Lemes de Souza) 28/107.64; 38, Survival (Seiji Ninomiya) Jap 28/111.40;
Free Style (Elliot Stone) Can Elim; Goldika (McLain Ward) USA
Elim; Opium Metodo (Ambak Qabil) Mal Elim.
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