German riders claimed two team and one individual gold medal at the European Pony Championships at Moorsele in Belgium. The Netherlands’ Antoinette Te Riele scooped both the Individual and Freestyle Dressage titles however while Denmark took team gold in Jumping and Ireland’s Kellie Allen was individual Jumping champion.
Dressage
The Dutch presented a strong challenge to the German victors in Team Dressage when finishing just 2.84% behind the gold medallists, while Denmark claimed bronze another 12.77% further in arrears. The Netherlands’ Maria van den Dungen (Rembrandt DDH) earned a mark of 70.944% and when Julia van Schaik (Den Ostriks Dallan) notched up 71.111%, Antoinette Te Riele (Golden Girl) scored 71.222% and Dana van Lierop (Equestricons Lord Champion) returned 72.000% the Germans were always going to feel the heat.
However the 2008 champion, 14 year old Sonke Rothenberger, sealed German victory with a fabulous test from his 10 year old palomino stallion Deinhard B. When his score of 75.056% was added to the 71.889% put up by Bianca Nowag (Der Feine Lord), the 70.722% recorded by Katharina Weychert (Golden Derano C) and 70.000% from Grete Linnemann (Cinderella) they had the edge and those precious medals around their necks.
In the Individual test, the 2008 medals were reversed when Rothenberger had to settle for silver behind 15 year old Antoinette T Riele who was last year’s individual silver medal winner. Riding her 7 year old mare, the aptly-named Golden Girl, Te Riele scored 74.000% to put the result beyond doubt but Germany had a strong presence on the medal podium when Katharina Weychert took bronze.
Rothenberger might have been expected to take his revenge in Monday’s Freestyle but Deinhard B kept spooking in the arena and, failing to execute his movements to good effect, finished uncharacteristically last of the 15 starters. In contrast, Te Riele’s elegant mare kept her cool to reign supreme once again with an excellent mark of 75.900 while Weychert took silver when scoring 73.600% and Holland’s Dana Van Lierop was awarded bronze when notching up 72.050%.
Eventing
In Eventing, the German team champions finished almost 10 full points ahead of the British who took silver while Belgium earned bronze. Credit is due to the fourth-placed Swedish side of Moa Kulle, Caroline Berggren Persson and Ebba Rosendal however as they just missed out on bronze despite only fielding three team-members.
It was the Belgians who were in the lead after the opening dressage phase when Pieter Kenis (Rocky), Idalie de Cartier de Marchienne and Marie de Cartier de Marchienne held individual fifth, sixth and eighth places respectively while Chloe Raty’s (Pomelo) 46th finishing spot was discounted. The British already lay second ahead of the Germans in third, but these two sides swopped places at the end of cross-country day when the host nation still maintained the advantage. The Belgians lost their grip on gold in the show jumping ring however while Britain’s Lottie Kennedy (Darraks Tonto), Katie Bleekman (Cregan Scenic) Ella McEwen (Catherston Nutsafe) and Sophie Martin (Trewithian Bracken) held firm to move back up to silver position. It was the clear rounds from Julie Wewer (Dorina) and Maria Braig (Andy) that clinched gold for Germany when Nina Stegemann (Mr Hale Bob) lowered just a single fence and Stefanie Bendfeldt (Dara) joined them on the team medal podium.
There was a game of cat-and-mouse going on for the individual title but dressage leader, Julie Wewer, never flinched even under the most intense pressure in the closing stages. She had thrown down the gauntlet with her mark of 41.70 in the dressage ring and never added any more to her tally on her way to taking her second gold medal of the Championships while those following her enjoyed more mixed fortunes. Britain’s Sophie Martin was lying second after dressage but the cross-country course put paid to her chances and it was Ireland’s Joseph O’Brien (Ice Cool Bailey), 16 year old son of world-famous race-horse trainer Aidan O’Brien, who was holding silver medal spot going into the final morning. The very last show jumping pole fell however and the Irish lad finished with bronze while Pieter Kenis’s foot-perfect round earned silver for Belgium.
Jumping
Denmark triumphed in Team Jumping when completing with a total of eight faults ahead of the Irish with 12 and Germany in bronze position with 16 on the board. It was the Irish who led the way on a zero score at the halfway stage following clears from Michael Duffy (Sillogue Darkie), Kellie Allen (Ballyowen Maybell Molly) and Emma O’Dwyer (Edna) while Emily Turkington (Sambo Lino) provided the discard with five faults. Duffy, Allen and O’Dwyer all faulted once second time out however and this left the Danish side of Jessica Vinther Jensen (Nikolina), Christiane Tetzlaff (Murphy’s Flight), Zascha Andreasen Nygaard (Ewald) and Alexandra Sisseck (Top Jezabel de L’Etape) in pole position when they added just four more faults to the single error registered by Sisseck in the first round.
Germany’s Laura Klaphake (Jerome) and Maurice Tebbel (Giovanni) picked up only four faults in round two but eight first-round faults from both Miriam Zell (Wombel) and Leo Clausen (Celine) ensured that the eight more picked up next time out would pin them into third place.
It came down to a two-way, third-round jump-off against the clock to decide the individual Jumping title with Ireland’s Kellie Allen – an all-round athlete who also plays Girls Gaelic Football and who is a member of the Irish International Girls Soccer squad – setting the target with a fast clear from her seven year old Connemara pony. Allen was one of five riders carrying four faults into the final day but when Jessica Vinther Jensen incurred an expensive 16 faults the Danish rider’s team-mate Christiane Tetzlaff found herself pitted against the Irish contender. Tetzlaff was already behind on time however when taking a fall at the very last fence and Allen took gold, Tetzlaff silver and Great Britain’s Chad Fellows took bronze.
Facts and Figures
Eventing Teams – 9 nations, 8 with full four-member teams and Sweden (finished fourth) with just 3 riders
Eventing Individuals – 46 competitors from 9 countries
Jumping Teams – 10 nations, 9 with full four-member teams and Poland (finished 10th) with just 3 riders
Jumping Individuals – 49 competitors from 13 countries
Dressage Teams – 10 nations, all with four riders per team
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