Britain put in a strong performance in the fourth leg of the FEI Nations Cup, but they had to settle for second place behind Germany’s ‘A team’.
Mixed experience
British team manager Philip Surl has used this series to give up-and-coming eventers experience on a senior squad. This leg in Strzegom, Poland was no exception and Britain was represented by a team of riders with mixed experience.
Sarah Bullimore (41) put in the best performance with Valentino V, finishing in fourth place behind three members of the German team. Sarah jumped clear on the cross-country and showjumping to finish on a score of 48.2pen.
Just behind them was FEI Nations Cup regular Ros Canter (28) riding Zenshera. The pair added just 3.2 time penalties in the cross-country to their dressage mark of 45, to take the fifth spot.
Solid performances
Katy Hurst (32), who made her Nations Cup debut, moved up from 21st place after the dressage to seventh, when Weston lV also jumped clear on the cross-country and showjumping.
Nicky Roncoroni (35) and Watts Burn finished in 16th place, to provide the team’s drop score. Nicky also won the CCI3* class with Stonedge.
“The team posted excellent results all round with really solid performances from everyone,” said Phillip. “It definitely ranks up there as one of our best Nations Cup performances to date against a very strong German team overall.”
Big guns
In contrast to the British team, Germany’s team manager Chris Bartle pulled out the big guns with some of the world’s best combinations competing.
Reigning World and Olympic champion Michael Jung took the individual honours riding his gold medal-winning La Biosthetique-Sam FBW. In second place was Dirk Schrade on his 2013 European team gold partner Hop And Skip, while third place went to Sandra Auffarth and Opgun Louvo, who won gold team gold at London 2012.
“We certainly had the ‘A team’ out and it’s great that they went so well,” said Chris said. “It’s lovely to have Sam and Louvo back and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that they all stay in good form.”
Winning form
The Germans won the inaugural FEI Nations Cup in 2012 and were second last year. They missed the first two events in 2014, but are back on winning form to take the third spot on the leaderboard.
Great Britain is the only nation to have competed at each leg so far this season, and is currently at the top of the leaderboard, nine points ahead of France.
The question is, can Germany’s top team maintain their form at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in two month’s time? And whenBritain fields its best riders, will the Germans still look as strong?
Peak too early
The German squad has yet to be announced as the next leg of the FEI Nations Cup in Aachen is their final team trial. As well as trying to impress the selectors, riders will have the added pressure of competing in front of a home crowd.
Aachen will certainly be an exciting competition as four of the British squad for WEG have been selected – three of which will be riding their World Games partners.Whether either teams peak too early, remains to be seen.