The thrills and excitement of the first week of fabulous sport at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy will be a hard act to follow. But now that the Dressage, Para-Dressage, Reining, Endurance and Eventing horses have headed for home, the stables at the Games venues in Caen have filled up once more, this time with the world’s top Jumping, Vaulting and Driving horses. Anticipation hangs in the air ahead of another six days of superb sport.
The Jumping athletes and their horses had the opportunity to take in the sights and sounds of the D’Ornano Arena during today’s training session. The stadium was a great deal more silent than yesterday afternoon when the roars of the crowd celebrated a brilliant double-victory for Germany in team and individual Eventing. The atmosphere was electric then, and from the moment the first rider gets the Jumping championship underway tomorrow morning, the temperature gauge, and the sound level, is sure to rise once again.
Withdrawn
The Olympic and European champions from Great Britain, who had the team Jumping title firmly in their sights, have suffered a major set-back with the news that world number 3, Ben Maher, has withdrawn due to injury to his chosen ride, the mare Cella. But the British still have a very strong hand, with world number 1 Scott Brash riding Hello Sanctos, Joe Clee partnering Utamaro d’Ecaussines, Spencer Roe with Wonder Why and Michael Whitaker with Viking V flying the flag.