News

Dutch do it again in St Gallen

Jun 2, 2012

A nail-biting last-to-go round from Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce New Orleans clinched victory for The Netherlands at the FEI Nations Cup™ in St Gallen, Switzerland today.

The host nation enjoyed another great day when sharing second place with Great Britain, while team Germany finished fourth ahead of Belgium in fifth and Ireland in sixth, France in seventh and Sweden in eighth place.

This result has bounced the Dutch to the top of the FEI Nations Cup™ leaderboard going into the fourth leg of the eight-competition series on home turf in Rotterdam (NED) in three weeks’ time. But it is still wide open, with Germany and Belgium only a single point in arrears as the half-way stage approaches.

The Germans had a five-point lead over the Dutch going into the second round after Dubbeldam (BMC Utascha) and Marc Houtzager (Sterrehof’s Voltaire) exceeded the time allowed of 77 seconds for a single time fault and Leon Thijssen (Tyson) lowered the final element of the triple combination. Schroder provided the Dutch discard score first time out when hitting the same plank at the penultimate fence and the final oxer.

The Swiss and British carried eight faults into round two and, in the final analysis, it was these leading four teams who battled it out in the closing stages when the Belgian side of Niels Bruynseels (Conisha van de Helle), Dirk Demeersman (Bufero van het Panishof), Rik Hemeryck (Quarco de Kerambars) and Gregory Wathelet (Euphony Cadjanine Z) disappeared from the reckoning with an additional 16 faults to finish on a total of 25.

The Swiss really rose to the occasion on their home ground however, producing three second-round clears - from Muff/Kiamon, Sprunger/Palloubet d'Halong and Crotta/West Side v Meerputhoeve - that piled the pressure on the British who also shared an eight-fault tally at the halfway stage. The British responded equally well when pathfinders Nick Skelton and Carlo and anchor partnership John Whitaker and Maximillian improved from first-round four-fault results to stay clear, while Stockdale never put a foot wrong all day with his 11 year old gelding Fresh Direct Kalico Bay which had been considerably less impressive at this same event 12 months ago.

With a final score of eight for both the Swiss and British, it was now up to the Dutch and Germans to hold fast, but while Ahlmann/Codex One came up trumps with a second-round clear, it fell apart for the leaders when both Tebbel/Light On and Michaels-Beerbaum/Bella Donna double-faulted. Even without the assistance of last-line rider Ehning/Plot Blue, their final score could not be better than 9 faults, so a back-to-back victory had slipped from their grasp.

Result:
1. The Netherlands 7 faults: Tyson (Leon Thijssen) 4/0, Sterrehof's Voltaire (Marc Houtzager) 1/4, BMC Utascha SFN (Jeroen Dubbeldam) 1/0, Eurocommerce New Orleans (Gerco Schroder) 9/1.
Equal 2. Switzerland 8 faults: Kiamon (Werner Muff) 0/0, Palloubet d'Halong (Janika Sprunger) 8/0, West Side v Meerputhoeve (Clarissa Crotta) 0/0, Carlina (Pius Schwizer) 12/Ret.
Equal 2. Great Britain 8 faults: Carlo (Nick Skelton) 4/0, Viking (Michael Whitaker) 4/12, Fresh Direct Kalico Bay (Tim Stockdale) 0/0, Maximillian (John Whitaker) 4/0.
4. Germany 9 faults: Codex One (Christian Ahlmann) 1/0, Light On (Rene Tebbel) 0/8, Bella Donna (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) 0/8, Plot Blue (Marcus Ehning) 8.0.
5. Belgium 25 faults: Conisha van de helle (Niels Bruynseels) 4/12, Bufero van het Panishof (Dirk Demeersman) 4/4, Quarco de Kerambars (Rik Hemeryck) 1/4, Euphony Cadjanine Z (Gregory Wathelet) 8/8.
6. Ireland 28 faults: Amaretto D'Arco (Shane Sweetnam) 4/8, Voss (Jessica Kuerten) 9/0, Blue Loyd (Cian O'Connor) 8/4, Je T'Aime Flamenco (Billy Twomey) 4/12.
7. France 35 faults: Napoli du Ry (Simon Delestre) 4/4, Orient Express HDC (Patrice Delaveau) 4/10, Mylord Carthago (Penelope Leprevost) 8/5, Lord de Theize (Olivier Guillon) 20/Ret.
8. Sweden 48 faults: Lunatic (Jens Fredricson) 0/4, H&M Arctic Aurora Borealis (Peder Fredricson) 0/18, Chamonix H (Helena Persson) 13/13, Bee Wonderful (Linda Heed) Ret/DNS. Full result here

FEI Nations Cup™ 2012 - Standings after Round 3 at St Gallen:

1. The Netherlands - 20.5
2. Belgium - 20.0
3. Germany - 20.0
4. Switzerland - 16.5
5. Great Britain - 13.0
6. Sweden - 9.0
7. France - 8.0
8. Ireland - 7.0

FEI press release