Great Britain, Germany and Belgium held onto the top three team placings at the end of a thrilling second day at the Longines FEI Jumping European Championship 2025 at Casas Novas in A Coruña, Spain today. Meanwhile Germany’s Richard Vogel moved to the top of the individual leaderboard ahead of Britain’s Donald Whitaker in second and Frenchman Julien Epaillard in third.
In a competition filled with unexpected twists and turns it went right down to the wire this afternoon. And, last man into the ring, Britain’s Scott Brash with Hello Folie, ensured it was gripping to the very end.
Only the top 10 nations have made the cut into tomorrow’s medal-decider, and they are Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. Three clear rounds ensured the leading teams from yesterday’s opener would all maintain their positions, and when the Irish were the only other side to also keep a clean sheet they moved up from seventh to fourth place, relegating France to fifth.
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The day began with the news that the man heading the individual rankings, Ireland’s Daniel Coyle, had withdrawn his great mare Legacy (read more about his decision here). And there would be plenty more surprises along the way.
Ben Maher got the British off to the perfect start when clear with his Paris 2024 Olympic team gold-medal-winning ride Dallas Vegas Batilly, but Matthew Sampson and Medoc de Toxandria got into a muddle in the middle of the highly influential triple combination at fence eight and were eliminated.
“He’s not a horse that ever sort of hesitates, he loves his job…. I think he just lost the confidence a slight bit which is understandable. But the main thing is he’s absolutely fine. I think it’ll be quite quickly put behind us,” Sampson said.
Meanwhile everything went smoothly for the first two members of the German team, Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42 and Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames My Prins both leaving all the timber intact. But, like the British, the Belgians began to look vulnerable when their second-line combination, Pieter Devos and Casual DV Z, had the middle and last elements of the triple combination down for eight faults.
Course designer Santiago Varela had once again set them a long 14-fence track with 17 jumping efforts over which a total of 25 partnerships found all the answers.
Recovery
The Belgian recovery began when young Thibeau Spits steadied their ship with a really nice fault-free performance with Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z.
“It was an important round for Belgium as it went wrong in the triple combination for Peter. Starting off today my horse gave me so much confidence and I think it was one of the best rounds we ever did together. We’ve been a team for a long while. I started off with him when he was three already, so we did everything together. But of course on this level we’re still a bit green, it’s for the both of us our first senior championship. So that’s always something new. But to deliver this round really gave me a satisfying feeling!” the talented 24-year-old rider said.
And as he pointed out, this European Championship is proving an excellent launch-pad for many of the sport’s rising stars.
“It’s also nice for me to see many of my generation doing well here, like with Seamus (Hughes-Kennedy from Ireland), the French girls and Antoine (Ermann from France) and Giacomo (Casadei from Italy) and so many of our generation.”
Germany’s third-line contender Christian Kukuk didn’t have such an easy time however with Just Be Gentle who somehow left all the poles in place during a very erratic tour of the track. The reigning individual Olympic champion blamed himself entirely.
“I’m nearly a little bit speechless!” he said. “I had a really, really bad blackout. It’s absolutely a miracle that the horse jumped the clear round! I don’t know how that is possible, honestly! So that’s very, very disappointing. The clear round for the team is the best we can take out of this round. I hope that she didn’t lose too much of her trust in me for tomorrow and then we definitely will try and fight again. I hope I will give her a better ride tomorrow,” he added.
“I honestly lost my focus, my concentration,” he continued. “After (fence) number three (vertical), in that turn to number four (oxer) I suddenly saw a distance which wasn’t there. And then I saw again a distance which wasn’t there to the water. And then again to number six (vertical). And then I kind of organised everything a little bit, but this was the worst round I can imagine, honestly, in the last years. And like I said, I would like to forget about it!”
With three clears in the bag however, Team Germany was already looking very secure.
In the game
A great clear from Donald Whitaker and his lovely grey mare Millfield Colette kept the British in the game. Whitaker was fully aware that he was under pressure after Sampson’s elimination.
“I definitely needed to have some sort of a good round to keep ourselves in it…but she finds it easy and like I said yesterday she’s in a happy place in there (in the arena) and she’s so amazing!” he said of his mare.
Now it was down to the fourth-line riders to decide today’s final team placings. So when Gilles Thomas and Ermitage Kalone put the third Belgian clear on the board then, like the Germans, they would hold their ground on their first-day scoreline. Richard Vogel’s effortless tour of the track with United Touch S was Germany’s fourth clear of the day and secured that individual pole position.
Britain’s fate was hanging in the balance as Scott Brash set off on the final ride of the day. Nothing but a clear would do.
Man of steel
He’s known as a man of steel, but Brash’s nerve, and his incredible horsemanship would be tested to the limit. Setting off with intent with the 10-year-old chestnut mare Hello Folie, all was going fine until he landed over the oxer at fence seven, only to lose his reins and therefore also his steering.
“But I managed just to grab it back at the right moment and asked Folie to jump the triple from where I was, and what an amazing attitude and kind spirit she showed to be able to jump through that triple clear! I’m super-proud of her! She was jumping incredible, but she does pull me and snatch at me a little bit, she just wants to get on the with job …. what was nice was that even after all that she settled down and came home very well so I think that shows how confident she is with me and that we have a great partnership.”
That extraordinary feat brought today’s action to a close in the most dramatic fashion, and Brash now finds himself sitting fourth in the individual rankings, just one place ahead of defending individual champion Steve Guerdat from Switzerland and just behind defending individual bronze medallist Julien Epaillard from France.
Friday’s team medal decider promises to be a cracker, with only fractions separating the top three nations when the action begins at 16.15 local time. So don’t miss a hoofbeat….
Full results here.
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