Laura Collett has won the seven-year-old title at the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses in France (15 – 18 October).
Move on up
Laura was riding German-bred Mr Bass (Carrico/K-Jeunesse/Exorbitant), who she owns with Keith Scott and Nick How.
The pair was lying seventh following the dressage and moved up to fourth place after going clear in the cross-country inside the time.
William Fox-Pitt was third with the Irish horse Reinstated, but he had a fall on the cross-country and was taken to Hospital with a head injury, where his condition remains stable.
‘So much love’
The showjumping phase proved influential, with the top three riders all faulting, including overnight leaders Michael Jung and Lennox, who had three down.
A clear from Laura saw her move into pole position to win the championship on a score of 45.2pen.
The 26-year-old tweeted she had “so much love for this horse”, and continued on Facebook: “I can’t quite believe it … Mr Bass is 7yo WORLD CHAMPION Mondial Le Lion!”
France’s Thomas Carlile, who won the six-year-old class in 2014, was second with Upsilon (46.5pen), while Belgian rider Vincent Martens came third on Eiskonig (47.6pen).
Another Jung victory
This year’s winner of the six-year-old championship was Michael Jung on Fischerincantas (Ibisco/Ressina/Coriano). Fellow German Ingrid Klimke was in pole position after the dressage with the grey Holsteiner mare Weisse Duene, but she had a stop at fence 15c which put them out of contention.
Michael had just over one fence in hand going into the final showjumping round. The world’s number one eventer had one down, but kept a cool head to win gold. Based on his recent successes, we could well see this six-year-old winner claim the European championships in 2017.
Dutch rider Merel Blom was second on Quizmaster (45.23pen) ahead of Ireland’s Sophie Richards and Adventure in third (47.3pen).