U.S. Breaks Jinx! Makes Furusiyya Final Round
By Staff Report September 25, 2015
Gregory Wathelet and Conrad de Hus led Belgium to the top among 19 teams at the Furusiyya Nations Cup. (Photo: Real Club Polo de Barcelona)
The Belgian team came out on top while the U.S. tied for fourth at the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in Barcelona today. The fourth place finish (nine faults — a tie with Great Britain) put the U.S. into round one’s top eight, which means they will compete in the final round on Saturday.
This is the first time in the three-year history of the season-closing Furusiyya’s event that the U.S. show jumping team has made it past the first round. “For the past two years we had a bit of a jinx here and haven’t been good enough and ended up in the consolation class, so we’re really excited,” said U.S. team rider Beezie Madden. “This was our goal for this year and now we can relax and do our best on Saturday!”
The unit of four, which flies under the banner Hermès U.S. Show Jumping Team, is led by chef d’equipe Robert Ridland through $2.6 million in competition at the Real Club de Polo in Spain. Among the 19 competing nations, Germany, Sweden, the defending champions from The Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland also made the first cut.
The testing course set by Spain’s Santiago Varela produced only seven clear rounds from a starting field of 76 horse-and-rider combinations. Setting the U.S. off to a strong start was Laura Kraut (Royal Palm Beach, FL) and Nouvelle, a 2004 KWPN mare owned by the Evita Group. Kraut and Nouvelle were one of only 13 combinations to leave all the rails up, but one time penalty got between them and a clear round.
Next up for team USA: Lucy Davis (Los Angeles, CA) and Barron, a 2004 Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by the Davis family’s Old Oak Farm. The pair had three rails down for a 12-fault total. They were in the elite group to finish within the 81-seconds time allowed, but theirs was the drop score. Lauren Hough (Wellington, FL) and Ohlala (a 2004 Swedish Warmblood mare owned by the Ohlala Group) lost one rail and were well within the time. Anchoring the U.S. team, Madden (Cazenovia, NY) and Abigail Wexner’s Cortes ‘C’, a 2002 Belgium Warmblood gelding, also downed a rail, but performed well enough to ensure the team would advance.
Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and Taloubet Z were among only 7 clear rounds in a field of 76 starters. (Photo: Real Club Polo de Barcelona)
Fair but unforgiving
Varela’s course was fair but unforgiving. The pressure really began on the roll-back at fence five, which was followed by a big double, then a right-bending line to the open water. As the Spanish course designer explained afterwards, the majority of mistakes later on the track were created by loss of control after the open water, followed by a huge oxer and then a turn-back to a two-meter-wide triple bar. (See course map, below.)
“It was six (strides) to the vertical after the triple bar and oxer, but the majority of the riders went on seven and some upset the balance of their horses” Varela explained after the event. Many paid the price at the blue oxer at fence 11, the front pole kicked out time and again before riders turned down the final line.
Every element of the triple combination at 12 saw plenty of action. “It was at the end of the course, and the jump in was a bit short,” Varela said. The red poles at the vertical second element were further complicated by a water tray below, distracting some of the horses. The course wasn’t only difficult to ride, Varela said it was also difficult to build. “We only had the warm-up competition and then a 1.60m class – I think it was a fair course with faults everywhere from the start to the end. The question today was not to win, it was to be in the eight teams that qualify for Saturday.”
The penultimate triple combination claimed a huge number of victims. A total of 33 horses faulted here, and at least 24 of those left the middle element on the floor. All four members of the French team picked up penalties at this one, and the country that won the first Furusiyya Final in 2013 finished well down the line in 16th place on their final tally of 24 faults.
“Really well done to the course builder, he did a great job,” said German team member Ludger Beerbaum. “We call this a Nations Cup Final, so it’s got to be tough and it was. It’s not easy to build for 19 teams at different levels and even the top teams had problems with the course which was technical and delicate. It was one of the best courses we’ve jumped all year.”
Team USA: Laura Kraut, Lauren Hough, Beezie Madden, Reed Kessler, Lucy Davis. (Photo: Richard Juilliart/FEI)
Impossible to predict
It was impossible to predict how the competition would play itself out until the very end as each rider had only one chance to get things right, but the British looked secure having posted a nine-fault scoreline by the end of the third-rider rotation. Germany’s Christian Ahlmann’s opened clear with Taloubet Z, helping to seal his nation’s eight-fault total. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson did the same for Sweden when third to go for his side, but the Dutch had a bit of a moment when one of their dream-team combinations – Maikel van der Vleuten and VDL Groep Verdi – collected an uncharacteristic 17 faults. However with a foot-perfect run from the superstar partnership of Jeroen Dubbeldam and Zenith they finished with 10 on the board after five-fault efforts from both Jur Vrieling (VDL Zirocco Blue) and Gerco Schroder (Glock’s Cognac Champblanc), so the defending Furusiyya champions look well positioned heading into the final.
The Irish and Swiss claimed the last two places when posting scores of 13 and 15 faults respectively.
The countries that narrowly missed were Qatar, Mexico and Brazil, who shared ninth place on a 16-fault scoreline, and it was interesting to note that three of the rare clear rounds were posted by riders from countries that finished outside the qualification zone. Pedro Veniss got Brazil off to a perfect start, fault-free with Quabri de L’Isle, while both Australian pathfinder Jamie Kermond (Quite Cassini) and Egypt’s anchorman Karim Elzoghby (Amelia) did likewise, the latter countries sharing 12th place at the end of the day.
Clear winners
The clear winners today however were the Belgians who confidently cruised home with a final tally of five faults thanks to a fantastic last-to-go clear from newly-crowned European silver medallist, Gregory Wathelet.
Their pathfinder, Olivier Philippaerts (H&M Armstrong van de Kapel) made a mistake at the planks at fence five, but, next to go, Judy-Ann Melchior, collected only a single time penalty with the ever-reliable Cold as Ice Z. Jos Lansink fell victim to the middle part of the combination with For Cento, but Wathelet’s clear sealed it in style.
Wathelet said afterwards “for sure I am really happy about my clear round, but today my team was really good and they made it easy for me! There was not so much pressure when I was going in so I could ride a nice, quiet round. I’m happy for my team, and I hope we can keep it this way for Saturday. We will try to do the same on Saturday but it is a whole new day.”
Judy Ann Melchior and As Cold As Ice Z had only one time fault, helping Belgium to an awesome team score of 5, 3 points better than second-placed Germany. (Photo: Real Club Polo de Barcelona)
The Furursiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final 2015 consists of three competitions. Today’s opening class was a one-round qualifier for the final, winnowing the field of 19 to the top eight teams. Tomorrow’s Challenge Cup is open to the 11 teams that did not make the cut (including, sadly, that of host nation Spain). Saturday’s third and final class is a one-round competition with the possibility of a jump-off only for first place.
It was a large and enthusiastic crowd that gathered to spectate at the prestigious at the Real Club de Polo (the show-jumping venue for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games), celebrating its 104th anniversary this year.
Top 8 Results:
1. Belgium 5 faults: H&M Armstrong van de Kapel (Olivier Philippaerts) 4, As Cold as Ice Z (Judy-Ann Melchior) 1, For Cento (Jos Lansink) 5, Conrad de Hus (Gregory Wathelet) 0.
2. Germany 8 faults: Taloubet Z (Christian Ahlmann) 0, Fibonacci (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) 5, Cornet d’Amour (Daniel Deusser) 4, Chiara (Ludger Beerbaum) 4.
2. Sweden 8 faults: H&M Tornesch (Malin Baryard-Johnsson) 4, Tinkabell (Angelie von Essen) 21, Unita Ask (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) 9, Cantinero (Henrik von Eckermann) 4.
4. Great Britain 9 faults: Diva ll (Ben Maher) 1, Spirit T (Jessica Mendoza) 4, Utamaro D’Ecaussines (Joe Clee) 4, Cassionato (Michael Whitaker) 13.
4. USA 9 faults: Nouvelle (Laura Kraut) 1, Barron (Lucy Davis) 12, Ohlala (Lauren Hough) 4, Cortes C (Beezie Madden) 4.
6. Netherlands 10 faults: SFN Zenith NOP (Jeroen Dubbeldam0 0, VDL Groep Verdi (Maikel van der Vleuten) 17, VDL Zirocco Blue (Jur Vrieling) 5, Glock’s Cognac Champblanc (Gerco Schroder) 5.
7. Ireland 13 faults: Molly Malone (Bertram Allen) 5, MHS Going Global (Greg Broderick) 5, Good Luck (Cian O’Connor) 4, All Star (Denis Lynch) 4.
8. Switzerland 15 faults: Quorida de Treho (Romain Duguet) 1, Clooney (Martin Fuchs) 9, Bonne Chance CW (Janika Sprunger) 16, Castlefield Eclipse (Paul Estermann) 5.
Full results here. FEI YouTube: https://youtu.be/WV99DKEslN8
— Louise Parkes contributed to this report.
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