Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and Marco Kutscher share the lead going into Sunday’s third and deciding competition at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final 2010/2011 on their home ground at Leipzig. But it was reigning Olympic champion, Canada’s Eric Lamaze, who reigned supreme in today’s second qualifier riding the great stallion Hickstead. The win has bounced Lamaze up to fifth spot, just six points behind the leading pair as the thrilling series draws to a close.
The startlist for today’s class was reduced to 40 following the withdrawal of Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Sharbatly, and course designer Frank Rothenberger lived up to his promise to present a considerably stronger track. A total of seven made it through to the second-round jump-off which Frenchman Simon Delestre (Couletto) and New Zealand’s Katie McVean (Delphi) missed out on when picking up just a single time fault. McVean has created quite a sensation this week however as the 24-year-old daughter of Australian legend Jeff McVean has ridden her home-bred 10-year-old mare with extraordinary confidence and panache. Despite not making the cut into the timed round, she is lying in fourth place, just behind The Netherlands’ Gerco Schroder, going into Sunday’s decider after the result of the first two competitions have been calculated into points.
BIG AND BOLD
Rothenberger’s course was big and bold, with the triple combination at fence four creating some of the earliest problems. The opening vertical consistently hit the floor as horses did a double-take at the following oxer and the third-element vertical which were decorated in the colours of the German flag. And the line that included the double at eight and the following vertical at fence nine proved another big test. It was here that Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum’s chances slipped away. She arrived on a fairly long stride to the triple-bar opener at 8a, and although the 16-year-old Checkmate cleared the second-element oxer, he found himself a distance off the following vertical and ducked left. The partnership completed without any further ado but their seven penalties put paid to the chances of the three-time Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping champion claiming a fourth title.