William Fox-Pitt has moved up to the gold medal position at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, after his customary strong performance on the cross-country phase. But a day of British triumph was overshadowed by the death of one of Team GB’s horses.
Collapse
It had looked to be a day of celebration for the Brits, with William holding the lead and the team sitting in silver position, but elation soon turned to despair when the news broke that Harry Meade’s Wild Lone hadcollapsed and diedafter crossing the finish line, after jumping a clear round for the team.
There was also some confusion over scoring after the cross-country had reached its conclusion. Germany’s Ingrid Klimke had 20pen added some hours after her round, which were later removed, so that Germany temporarily dropped below Britain before returning to their gold medal position. The Dutch also had one rider temporarily eliminated before they were quickly reinstated, leaving the team in fifth place.
Chilli starts
Fox-Pitt started today’s cross-country in a good position, sitting in second place after dressage. But as the testing conditions and tricky questions on course started to take their toll on the competitors, it became clear that no one was going to have an easy ride round this four-star track – even though it had been shortened because of the going.
British pathfinder Zara Phillips soon boosted Team GB’s confidence when she posted a clear round on High Kingdom. But with 14.4 time penalties still being good enough to put her into an early lead, it became very clear that this was going to be no dressage contest. In fact, not one competitor all day made it home within the time.
Water complex
William was the next British rider to set off on course, and he steered Chilli Morning round to finish on 12.8 time penalties with just one very sticky moment at the second water complex, a fence that caught many riders out.
“He was strong,” said William. “He always is because he’s a feisty and opinionated horse. He’s never been asked these questions before or over such a demanding track and ground, but he was amazing.”
Despite his good result, William admitted that it was difficult to feel pleased. “With Harry being such a good friend, it’s very hard to celebrate,” he added.
In the Clover
With two British stars clear, another soon followed with individual rider Nicola Wilson producing a good round on four-star debutante Annie Clover to finish on 64.0pen.
Fellow individual Oliver Townend was not so fortunate, with his horse Black Tie visibly tiring on course – their WEG journey ended with a refusal at the water jump at 30/31.
Lots of fancied teams quickly fell by the wayside, so Britain needed to get at least one more rider home. Both the USA and New Zealand failed to have their first two riders complete, while Belgium, Sweden and Italy all saw their team chances disappear after eliminations.
Cook rules
But Britain’s third team rider Tina Cook was able to produce another great round, ending on 17.6 time penalties to go into 14thplace.
It put Britain in very good stead in the team rankings, which was quickly backed up with Harry Meade’s clear round – a fourth for Great Britain’s team – until tragedy struck soon afterwards.
The final rider to ride the course this afternoon was Germany’s Sandra Auffarth, who was the dressage leader. Her horse Opgun Louvo found the cross-country going tough but the rider brought him home with 16.8 time penalties to drop into second.
Unusually, only two New Zealanders managed to complete the cross-country phase. Jonelle Price netted the fastest time of the day (10min 40sec – eight seconds over the optimum) for fourth place, while Andrew Nicholson finished one place lower in fifth.
Germany rules
With Sandra’s second place and Michael Jung’s third, Germany maintained their gold medal position with a team total of 177.9pen.
They have two showjumping fences in hand over Great Britain, with 186.8pen, while Australia lags some way behind in bronze medal position with 226.8pen.
In total, 63 horse and rider combinations completed today’s cross-country. Eleven riders retired, while 13 were eliminated.
Final day
Tomorrow’s showjumping will be held an hour’s drive away from the eventing venue of Haras Du Pain, moving to the main Stadium D’Ornano in Caen. The horses will have to make the journey to the final phase travelling in convoys of horseboxes.
But before the final showjumping can commence, the horses must pass the final vet inspection. With Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil and Spain needing all three of their remaining horses to pass in order to stay in contention for a team medal, there could be a rather nervous wait ahead for some.