Ukraine claim hat-trick of FEI Nations Cup legs with victory in Sopot

They came into the competition filled with confidence after victories at Celje, Slovenia, and Odense, Denmark, last month, and they made it a hat-trick of successes even without a second round run required from anchorman Rene Tebbel.

Having been tied with the eventual winners on a zero score at the halfway stage, Austria survived a second-round elimination to hold on for runner-up spot ahead of Belgium in third and Spain in fourth place.

Just eight of the 15 teams who lined up made the cut into the second round, and it was Denmark that finished fifth ahead of Sweden in sixth, Germany in seventh and Australia in eighth place.

The usual rule of limiting the number of teams on the start-list to 13 is different for the Olympic year during which up to 15 nations are permitted to compete. And with Rio 2016 only a few short weeks away now, all 15 spots were filled by a mixture of sides, some using the competition for Olympic training while others experimented with new horses and new riders finding their way up to the next level of the sport.

The 12-fence course designed by Germany’s Olaf Petersen Jr had a time-allowance of 75 seconds which left little room for extra caution. So much so, only three horse-and-rider combinations posted double-clear rounds – Ukrainian pathfinders Cassio Rivetti and Fine Fleur de Marais, the Austrian anchor partnership of Max Kuhner and Chardonnay and Belgian pathfinders Nicola Philippaerts and Bisquet Balou C.

The second round began with Ukraine and Austria both on a clean sheet while Australia followed close behind carrying just the individual time faults collected by Jamie Kermond and Yandoo Oaks Constellation and James Paterson-Robinson with Amarillo after Matt Williams opened their account with a clear from Valinski S.

Germany sent out a strong foursome of Andre Thieme (on Conthendrix), Denis Nielsen (on DSP Cashmoaker), Mario Stevens (on Brooklyn) and Patrick Stuhlmeyer (on Lacan) and they were just off the pace at the halfway stage with four faults while Sweden and Spain trailed them with six apiece. Belgium made the cut with eight faults and Denmark were next in line with nine, but round two would bring some big changes of fortune.

Paterson-Robinson’s second single time fault was the only saving grace as the Australian effort fell apart with the addition of 19 faults that would drop them to last place on a total of 21. Germany fared only marginally better when adding 16 to slot in ahead of them on a total of 20. The Swedish anchor partnership of Jonna Ekerg and Air Pia VGZ produced a clear round second time out but her side picked up 13 faults to add to their tally to finish on 19, just one fault behind Denmark who ended their day with 18 on the board.

The Spanish also struggled with 10 more on their scoresheet but the Belgians rallied really well, thanks to the double-clear round from Nicola Philippaerts and Bisquet Balou C and a clear round from Karel Cox with Cor van de Wateringhoeve. It meant only one of the four-fault rounds from Niels Bruynseels (on Cas de Liberte) and Jerome Guery (in Grand Cru van de Rozenberg) had to be counted as they rounded up their result to 12 faults.

The Austrians began to look vulnerable when Julia Kayser with Sterrehof’s Ushi and Christian Rhomberg on Saphyr des Lacs added faults. And things were looking even less optimistic when Roland Englbrecht’s Mevisto’s Poorboy was eliminated.

It was not all plain sailing for the Ukrainians however despite another foot-perfect run from Cassio Rivetti and Fine Fleur du Marais. Ulrich Kirchhoff’s run with Prince de la Mare ended with the last fence on the floor, but when Ferenc Szentirmai followed that with a clean tour of the track with Chadino it was all done and dusted, and the Ukrainians were already celebrating.

Tebbel and his team-mates could watch from the sidelines as a second clear round from Max Kuhner on Chardonnay sealed runners-up spot for Austria in fine fashion.

With only two teams from Europe Division 2 set to qualify for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping 2016 Final, Spain still lead the division having collected points at five events. Second-placed Ukraine has only four legs counted so far, with each team’s best four results counting for the Division 2 overall standings, and now just two legs of the Europe Division 2 series remaining. Budapest in Hungary will host the penultimate competition on Friday 15 July, before Gijon in Spain will be the venue for the last leg on 27 August.

Before then, the next leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping 2016 series is the Europe Division 1 leg at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on Friday 24 June.
In Saturday’s CSIO5 star Longines Prize of Poland in Sopot, Nicola Philippaerts and Karel Cox secured a double Belgian presence on top of the podium.

Riding Forever D Arco ter Linden, Philippaerts won the 1.60 Longines Ranking competition that featured no less than 62 riders. Moving on towards the jump-off as one of sixteen riders, Philippaerts stopped the clock on 39.30 seconds to take a comfortable victory with more than two seconds down to his compatriot Cox aboard Cor van de Wateringhoeve. Third place went to Ukraine’s Cassio Rivetti on Coleman, who followed another 0.29 seconds behind Cox.
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping 2016 Europe Division 2 League
Result: Sopot, Poland.

1. Ukraine 4 faults
2. Austria 9
3. Belgium 12
4. Spain 16
5. Denmark 18
6. Sweden 19
7. Germany 20
8. Australia 21
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping 2016 Europe Division 2 League
Standings after fifth leg: Sopot, Poland.

1. Spain 405
2. Ukraine 390
3. Austria 225
4. Poland 140
5. Portugal 132.5
6. Denmark 130
7. Luxembourg 120
8. Norway 115
9. Russia 102.5
10. Hungary 92.5
11. Finland 55
12. Turkey 47.5
13. Slovenia 25
14. Slovakia 0