Germany takes 2017 Nations Cup Eventing title after New Zealand’s double victory in final series

Boekelo was the ninth and final stop for this year’s Nations Cup circuit, and coming into the competition Germany was just 10 points behind the British team. Great Britain has competed at every competition this year, but could only manage a 10th place finish at the Dutch finale.

And while Team New Zealand (Tim Price with Cekatinka, Sir Mark Todd with McClaren, Daniel Jocelyn with Grovine de Reve, and Blyth Tait with Havanna van’t Castaneahof) won at Boekelo with a collective score of 160.90, Germany came in second (174.30), securing its status as overall 2017 champions. Australia rounded out the podium in the Netherlands (203.70).

In Eventing, the Dressage score and jump penalties in Cross-Country and Show Jumping are converted into penalty points, with the horse and rider with the fewest number of points winning the competition. And in Holland, it was Tim Price and his compatriots who best handled the challenges, including Olympic designer Sue Benson’s sophisticated cross-country course, in advance of Price’s victory over the home side’s Tim Lips and Bayro in Sunday’s Show Jumping.

Out on the cross-country course Saturday, as Eventing Nations reported, a relatively low 50% of the field jumped clear, with only one pair making it home in the allowed time — Australia’s Chris Burton on Cooley Lands. Price, 95th of 98 starters, was one of those with a clear round, but he and his mount had 4.0 time penalties.

“It’s always a difficult thing when you go at the end of the day because you have to spend all day watching people do things very well and other people do things not so well, so it’s hard to stay on your focus and not get distracted by other things,” Price told EN. “She’s not got a lot of experience at this level, but she’s a very clever horse. She knew her job, so I stuck to my plan.”

At Show Jumping the next day, with his 11-year-old mare (normally ridden by his wife, who had taken a break to have their child), Price secured victory at the competition with a clear round in a charged atmosphere. And Germany, even without some of its top riders such as World No.1 Michael Jung, has again confirmed its powerhouse status in the sport.