Germany’s Christian Ahlmann claimed the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2010/2011 title in a thrilling finale on his home ground in Leipzig today with superb jumping from his stallion, Taloubet Z. Sharing the lead with fellow-countryman Marco Kutscher, the 36-year-old rider added just four faults to an otherwise foot-perfect performance to finish ahead of reigning Olympic champion Eric Lamaze from Canada, while The Netherlands’ Jeroen Dubbeldam rocketed up from overnight 11th to finish third when producing one of only two clear double clears on the final afternoon.
There was huge disappointment for Kutscher who had the world’s most prestigious indoor title in his sights until his luck ran out at the very end. Such was the unforgiving nature of Frank Rothenberger’s testing courses however that the slightest of errors proved very costly indeed. Today’s jumping was about scope, speed, courage, accuracy and, most importantly, the rideability of the horses. In the end it was Ahlmann’s 11-year-old Taloubet Z who put all the ingredients together to create the winning formula.
FIND THE KEY
US riders were first to find the key to the opening track as veteran Margie Engle’s spectacular round with the exciting grey, Indigo, was followed by a copybook run from Beezie Madden and the stunning Coral Reef Via Volo. These ladies however were jumping middle-order in the start-list of 27 runners after the previous two competitions, and it didn’t seem that Dubbeldam’s clear with BMC van Grunsven Simon, or the equally impressive fault-free effort from 10th-placed McLain Ward and Antares, would prove overly influential. The remaining nine however struggled to leave all the fences up – defending champion Marcus Ehning from Germany lowering both the second element of the triple combination at fence four and the last element of the final double to slip from contention with Sabrina.