News

CCI3* Boekelo (NED): Nicholson in Winning Mood

Oct 15, 2012

World number one Andrew Nicholson from New Zealand has scored another top win, this time at the Boekelo Military International Horse Trials in The Netherlands.

Nicholson and Quimbo trailed Olympic gold medallist Michael Jung through the dressage and cross country phases, but he knew he had a pretty good chance of overtaking the German in the showjumping.

“Quimbo is an amazing showjumper for an eventer,” said a very happy Nicholson just after the victory. “He is good at everything, but particularly this, so I thought we had a good chance.”

Jung dropped two rails in the final phase, giving Nicholson the win.

Wet weather had made ground conditions tricky throughout the event, and Nicholson and nine-year-old Quimbo were 108th of the 112 strong field to go in the cross country.

“It looked worse than it rode, but the same narrow track ridden by so many gets quite deep. It becomes a lot harder work for him but he coped very well.”

It is the second time Nicholson has won Boekelo.

After dressage and the cross country it looked as Michael Jung and Halunke were supposed to become the winning team. But with two bars down (one bar fell at the middle jump of the triple combination plus one at the last obstacle) and two penalty points for exceeding the time during the showjumping, Michael had to leave the victory to Andrew Nicholson. In the end the Nicholson finished with 38.80 minus points, Michael Jung with 40.00 and Nicolas Touzaint/Princesse Pilot from France with 43.40 minus points.

German Ingrid Klimke and her mount Tabasco stayed clear in the jumping course and was happy with her fourth place. Further German combinations were satisfied with their results: Benjamin Winter and Ispo ranked eighth; Dirk Schrade and Edino finished eleventh.

Further placings

5.Kenki SATO JPN Toy Boy
6.Piggy FRENCH GBR West Side
7.Sarah BULLIMORE GBR Lilly Corinne
8.Benjamin WINTER GER Ispo
9.Elaine PEN NED Vira
10.Felix VOGG SUI Onfire

Germany won the Nations Cup in Boekelo plus the newly created FEI Nations Cup series. The German team consisting of Michael Jung, Bettina Hoy, Julia Krajewski and Ingrid Klimke reached a total of 149 points, followed by New Zealand (155.60 points) and France (175.20 points).

For full results please click here.

Source: horeweb.de/ NZ Equestrian