USA Second in Rotterdam

By Andrew Minnick June 22, 2013

The formidable all-female USA team of Lucy Davis, Lauren Hough, Laura Kraut and Beezie Madden finished second at the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup on June 21 at the CHIO Rotterdam, Germany.

The hometown team, Germany, took top honors among the eight international squads.

With a total score of five faults the USA was in contention for the win till the very end, doing the nation proud and proving themselves to be among the very best competitors in the world.

Making the finish even more exciting for the U.S. team was the performance of its youngest rider, 20-year-old Lucy Davis of Los Angeles, who achieved the team’s only double-clear (one of only three in the entire competition) over the challenging course by Dutchdesigner Louis Konickx. Davis rode Barron, a 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by her family’s Old Oak Farm.

For that she was awarded the Furusiyya Leading Rider of the Day Award. Last year Davis was awarded the United States Equestrian Team Foundation’s 2012 Lionel Guerrand-Hermes Trophy, presented each year at the conclusion of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL, to an outstanding young rider who exemplifies sportsmanship and horsemanship in an Olympic discipline.

“Rotterdam has always been kind to the U.S. and today was no exception,” U.S. show jumping chef d’equipe Robert Ridland said. “Bert de Nemethy won his final European Nations Cup here in 1978, and most recently [previous U.S. chef] George Morris brought a team here that won in 2010. What was most satisfying about this year’s Team was that it was the first “3/2” of the year – matching three veterans from the 2010 all girls Team, Beezie, Laura, and Lauren with two of our most promising newcomers: Lucy and Saer.”

Saer Coulter, of San Fransisco, and Springtime, owned by her family’s Copernicus Stables, were the U.S. team alternates at the Friday event. Both Coulter and Kraut took time out from the Longines Global Champions Tour, where Kraut is currently leading the standings, to participate in the Rotterdam event.

“The result speaks volumes of where we stand in the sport today and where we will be in the future,” Ridland added.

Round One

The U.S. Team led off the competition in round one, and nearly finished clear on the scoreboard. Fault free efforts by youngster Davis and Madden (Cazenovia, NY) on Abigail Wexner’s Cortes ‘C’  were nearly matched by Laura Kraut, but Cherry Knoll Farm, Inc.’s Cedric took off and almost ran right by the water obstacle (the penultimate on the course). A skillful correction from the Longines Global Champions Tour points leader kept Cedric on-track though, and they put only a foot in the water on the way to a four fault finish.

Round Two

The Americans carried those four faults into the second round. They started out in a tight spot, two points behind Germany and one point ahead of Spain, Switzerland, and France. But the competition quickly thinned. As the round progressed downed rails and time faults were prevalent as the Germans, Americans, and French were the only three teams able to put together more than one clear round.

Lauren Hough (Wellington, FL) and Quick Study recovered from eight faults in the first round to start Team U.S.A’s round two with a single time fault. A clear round from Kraut (Royal Palm Beach, FL) & Cedric, and another beautiful clear from Davis & Barron guaranteed the team a score of five or lower. The first three German riders, Christian Ahlmann, Hans-Dieter Dreher, and Philipp Weishaupt finished clear, with nine, and clear respectively.

The French team also had two clears, but with a nine fault total score they were out of contention for the win before the final horses on the U.S. and German teams entered the arena.

Madden and Cortes ‘C’ would end up taking eight faults, so German anchor Ludger Beerbaum was left needing to finish the course with all rails in place. He did, but took his time and created some suspense by earning two time faults, and narrowly avoiding a jump-off.

With competition complete the final standings were:

Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2013 – Round 13 at Rotterdam (NED)

Results:

1. Germany 4 faults: Taloubet Z (Christian Ahlmann) 4/0, Embassy ll (Hans-Dieter Dreher) 1/9, Monte Bellini (Philipp Weishaupt) 0/0, Chiara (Ludger Beerbaum) 1/2.

2. USA 5 faults: Quick Study (Lauren Hough) 8/1, Barron (Lucy Davis) 0/0, Cedric (Laura Kraut) 4/0, Cortes C (Beezie Madden) 0/8.

3. France 9 faults: Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois (Roger Yves Bost) 4/5, Qlassic Bois Margot (Simon Delestre) 5/0, Armitages Boy (Aymeric de Ponnat) 1/0, Silvana HDC (Kevin Staut) 0/4.

4. Great Britain 19 faults: Oz de Breve (Laura Renwick) 1/8, Varo M (Daniel Neilson) 9/4, Winner (Louise Saywell) 5/0, Fandango (William Whitaker) 5/4.

5. Switzerland 22 faults: Picsou du Chene (Pius Schwizer) 9/9, Palloubet D’Halong (Janika Sprunger) 0/0, Albfuehren’s Paille (Alexandra Fricker) 4/8, Nino de Buissonnets (Steve Guerdat) 1/9.

6. Netherlands 26 faults: VDL Bubalu (Jur Vrieling) 1/5, Carambole (Willem Greve) 6/5, Corona HS (Hendrik-Jan Schuttert) 21/5, Winchester HS (Frank Schuttert) 5/4.

6. Belgium 26 faults: Candy (Pieter Devos) 5/9, Calumet (Catherine Van Roosbroeck) 5/9, As Cold as Ice Z (Judy-Ann Melchior) 1/5, Wervel Wind (Jos Lansink) 1/5.

8. Spain 33 faults: Coriana van Klapscheut (Pilar Cordon) 9/17, Qlamp D’Ivraie (Manuel Anon) 1/15, Bonaire (Manuel Fernandez Saro) 4/9, Zipper (Sergio Alvarez Moya) 0/4.

Complete results are available here.

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