Kiwis finish out of the medals at WEG

Posted 21:00, Monday, 28/8/2006 by Russell Hall

The chance of a bronze medal slipped away for Heelan Tompkins as a light touch by Glengarrick’s left hind foot dropped the back rail of the spread at the penultimate fence on the show jumping course during the last phase of the eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) here in Aachen, Germany.

With the surviving 56 combinations from Saturday’s cross-country jumping in reverse order, Heelan had almost completed an immaculate show jumping round when the 20-year-old black gelding's trailing leg slightly brushed a rail, causing it to gently roll out of the cups.

In a tight leaderboard where only two points separated third to sixth placings, the rail dropped Heelan to seventh place overall. She came into the final phase in fifth place overnight.

"That little touch was so annoying but Glengarrick was awesome and he jumped really well," Tompkins said.

There was no doubt that the oldest horse in the competition had given it his all, but as he walked out of the arena he looked exhausted.

"We go on about making your own luck but the team didn't have the luck on their side this time," New Zealand team manager Blyth Tait said.

"Right down to the wire in the show jumping and Glengarrick's toe on the back rail is just rotten luck."

The New Zealand team of Heelan Tompkins, Joe Meyer, Caroline Powell and Andrew Nicholson had a close tussle with Sweden in today's show jumping, but could not improve on their overnight sixth placing to finish 3.5 points behind the Swedes.

Second kiwi to go Caroline and her grey gelding Lenamore finished their competition with an impressive clear round, and for a while it looked like New Zealand would move up ahead of the Swedes.

But then Joe Meyer dropped three rails, followed by Andrew Nicholson’s one, and New Zealand's hopes of finishing higher than fifth disappeared.

A fifth place finish would have meant automatic qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games but there still other avenues left for New Zealand to qualify.

Results:

Zara Phillips and Toy Town (Great Britain) 46.70 points 1, Clayton Fredericks and Been Along Time (Australia) 48.80 2, Amy Tryon and Poggio 50.70 3, HEELEN TOMPKINS and GLENGARRICK (NEW ZEALAND) 53.80 7, ANDREW NICHOLSON and LORD KILLINGHURST (NEW ZEALAND) 79.60 23, CAROLINE POWELL and LENAMORE (NEW ZEALAND) 88.30 26, JOE MEYER and SNIP 170.80 51.

Individual New Zealand riders Donna Smith on Call Me Clifton and Alex de Luca Oliveira on Clifton Checkers retired during yesterday's cross-country.

Teams:

Germany 156 1, Great Britain 180 2, Australia 197.30 3, US 198.10 4, Sweden 218.20 5, NEW ZEALAND 221.70 6, France 312.90 7, Netherlands 358 8, Ireland 361.80 9, Austria 1190 10.

Tough cross-country day for Kiwis

Posted 21:00, Sunday, 27/8/2006 by Russell Hall

The New Zealand eventing team slipped to sixth place after Saturday’s cross-country day here at the World Equestrain Games (WEG) in Aachen, Germany, after a day that saw even the most experienced rider and horse combination get into trouble on an outstanding but highly technical track.

Heelan Tompkins on Glengarrick was the best-placed New Zealander, finishing in fifth place, the only one of the four-strong team to go clear as Caroline Powell (35th), Joe Meyer (53rd) and Andrew Nicholson (18th) all struck trouble on the technically difficult course which caught out many of the top combinations.

Tompkins and her 20-year-old gelding Glengarrick – the oldest horse in the field – powered around the course to finish right on the optimum time of 12 minutes 11 seconds.

"I am overjoyed but also totally surprised," a Tompkins said after just her second start with the 20-year-old Glengarrick this year.

"The course was incredibly difficult and had lots and lots of corners.

"I was incredibly nervous this morning and wondered if I was doing the right thing being here this morning.

"I hadn't done a big cross-country run since Athens (Olympics, 2004) and I haven't had any competition mileage myself for a long time.

"So, I wasn't quite sure whether my eye was going to be in or not and it was nice to get over the first few fences and then I felt pretty confident after that."

Twenty horses were either retired or eliminated from the 79-strong field, which also included the retirements of New Zealand individuals Donna Smith and Call Me Clifton and Alex de Luca Oliveira and Clifton Checkers.

In his first cross-country mistake ever, Clifton Checkers tripped coming out of the water at Fence 12, dumping Alex on the ground. Although entitled to continue, albeit with 60 penalties, Alex decided to retire after feeling dazed from the experience. Up to that point the combination had been going superbly and were up on the time. It was just the second four star event for them, who were making their New Zealand debuts.

Donna Smith and Call Me Clifton never seemed to fire properly from the start and a stop at the same water jump as Alex nearly tipped Donna on the ground as well, but she hung on to continue the course at a steady speed. At Fence 19 she was the first rider of the day to elect to take the easier but time-consuming option, but it was clear by this stage that something was wrong and she pulled up just after the trakehner at fence 22.

“He just felt flat from the time I sat on him this morning”, said Donna afterwards. "He was not going forward and I just though it was not was dangerous to try and keep going, as one of us was likely to get hurt".

Just before the competition Call Me Clifton had a dreadful flight from his base in Virginia, USA to the Games, taking five days to get there as a result of increased security following the Heathrow terrorist threats. After waiting at New York for two days, he was supposed to go directly to the UK, but ended up in Amsterdam without any stabling.

“I knew he was fed up and miserable when I first saw him with his back to the door in the stables this morning. I can’t really blame him after what he’s been through the past few days,” added Donna.

The field's trailblazers Scotland-based Caroline Powell and Lenamore recovered well from a refusal at fence 5 with a strong finish to pick up just 20 penalties and two time faults to give New Zealand a solid start.

Joe Meyer and the New Zealand-bred Snip completed the first half of the course in stellar fashion, but struck trouble at the 27th fence of 31 with a tactical error, which resulted in a refusal and a fall for Joe. Although the combination went on to finish the round, they slipped down the field as a consequence.

The experienced Nicholson and Lord Killinghurst was one of many combinations to have a refusal at the troublesome fifth fence, but responded well to finish the rest of the course without further drama and well within the time, although they escaped a close call on at least one occasion.

"It's been a tough day and it's been a hard course for all countries," New Zealand team coach Erik Duvander said.

"It's been a fantastic day for the sport and I think everyone can probably say that with a little bit of luck we could have been up there because we were going well.

"It wasn't as if we were scrambling around."

Besides the obvious delight at Heelan’s performance, Erik was full of praise for Joe and Caroline, who but for the one fence, were right up there with the day's best rounds.

"And if Andrew (Nicholson) had hit the first couple of fences just a little bit easier the whole day could have been a different story," he said.

New Zealand are less than nine points behind fifth-placed Sweden heading into tomorrow's show jumping round and need to nail fifth or better to win automatic qualification to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Kiwi team in fifth place at WEG

Posted 3:39, Saturday, 26/8/2006 by Russell Hall

The New Zealand eventing team is currently holding onto fifth place at the (WEG) here at Aachen in Germany.

Impressive rides on the second day of dressage from the experienced Andrew Nicholson, on Lord Killinghurst, and Joe Meyer, on Snip, left the New Zealand team in fifth place behind Germany, Australia, Great Britain and the United States.

Although now based in the UK but originally from Matamata, Joe and Snip produced a top effort in the dressage in their first outing for New Zealand to finish 22nd equal.

"I was nervous coming down to the ring but when I got there I was fine, said Meyer.

Andrew Nicholson, on Lord Killinghurst, was placed 19th after a steady ride, a somewhat disappointing score admitted Andrew.

"He was a little tense going into the arena, which made things difficult for us,” said Andrew afterwards.

Caroline Powell and Heelan Tompkins on Glengarrick were 58th and 20th respectively after completing the dressage.

Riding as individuals, Donna Smith on Call Me Clifton was sitting in 10th place after her stunning debut on Friday whilst Alex de Luca Oliveira in Clifton Checkers was 47th.

"I'm satisfied and I think we will be snapping at the heels going into the cross-country," team manager Blyth Tait said. "It was probably what we were hoping for. We didn't expect to be in the lead, that would have been unrealistic but we are, in all honesty, as close as what we could have hoped for and closer than some of the other nations would have thought."

Tomorrow's cross-country track was described by Andrew Nicholson as "very good,” presenting many technical challenges along its twisty course. However, despite the frequent rain showers he is confident that the going will be good.

After walking the cross-country course a couple of times, the New Zealanders generally like what they saw. "I'm very impressed with the course and I think it will be quite influential," Tait said.

Joe Meyer said completing the highly technical cross-country in the optimum time of 11 minutes 12 seconds would be difficult because of the twisting course.

“There's not a lot of places where you can really gallop a long way," he said. "And there's a big question at the last water, it's a risk and a risk that we need to take if we want to get a prize."

Former British rider Lucinda Green described the jump as “a five-star obstacle.”

Nicholson said the course got harder as it went along, with the first really big question at Fence 19, a combination of brushes that required very accurate riding.

Donna Smith third at WEG

Posted 6:07, Friday, 25/8/2006 by Russell Hall

Donna Smith produced a stunning dressage test on her ten-year-old dark-bay gelding Call me Clifton just as the heavens opened today (Thursday) at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) here in Aachen, Germany.

As the sound of thunder crashed around the stadium this afternoon, Donna scored a total of 45.4 penalties, just 1.3 off the lead set earlier by Australia’s Megan Jones on Kirby Park Irish Jester.

Late in the day the German combination of Andreas Dibowski and FRH Serve Well took the lead on a remarkable 40.5 penalties.

Riding as an individual, Donna was the fourth Kiwi to ride in the dressage phase today. She and ‘Webby’ looked calm and professional through the driving rain and owner Frances Stead was delighted with the result.

“The pair produced almost perfect flying changes and I am sure that if they had not got the last one a little wrong she’d have taken first place”.

Donna, 26, who has been based in the US with David and Karen O'Connor for four years, struck the worst weather of any of the competitor's today when light rain began falling just as she entered the arena and then turned into a deluge for the duration of her test. It stopped moments after she had left the arena.

"I realised it was raining when I went in, but I had no idea how hard it was coming down until I finished the test. I didn't even hear the thunder".

"He's still a young horse, he's getting stronger but he's a very classy horse.

This is the combinations's first international competition, although they ran at the Rolex Kentucky 3DE in 2004 and again this year.

"I've been watching all the competitors going about their work over the last couple of days, people that I grew up reading about in books and admiring so it's a bit daunting to think I'm now competing against them."

Riding as a member of the New Zealand team, UK based Caroline Powell was the day’s ‘rookie’. However, being first to go out into the arena, her test on Lenamore suffered as a result, and she finished on a score of 66.3 penalties, which left her in 30th place at the end of the first day of dressage.

Second kiwi to do their dressage test today was individual rider Alex de Luca Oliviera from Cambridge in the Waikato. Riding Clifton Checkers, his and Frances Stead’s nine-year-old grey gelding in the pair’s first competition at this level, Alex turned in an excellent test, scoring 61.3 penalties to leave them in 23rd place at the end of the day.

Team manager Blyth Tait was well satisfied with the day's efforts, saying that "Alex produced probably the best test I've seen him do".

The fourth kiwi combination to go today was the highly experienced Heelan Thompkins from Taranaki on Glengarrick, at 20 years, the oldest horse in the competition. Riding just before the lunch break they took the lead on 49.8. However, by the end of the day they had dropped to eighth place.

Heelan and Glengarrick had a bit of a scare at Wednesday’s first veterinary inspection when they were put in the holding box. However, they were later accepted when represented. Only one horse failed the trot-up, the Irish team’s Drunken Disorderly.

The second day of dressage tomorrow sees the remaining two New Zealand riders Joe Meyer on Snip 2 and Andrew Nicholson on Lord Killinghurst.

Donna Smith and Call Me Clifton and Alex de Luca Oliveira and Clifton Checkers are riding as the two individuals. Both are on New Zealand horses, bred and owned by Whitford based Frances Stead.

"Alex and Donna probably haven't had quite the experience of the four team riders and their horses but we think that them being here as part of the whole New Zealand squad is all about the future," Blyth said.

"Don't get me wrong, it's about here as well. We think they're a very good chance but it just takes the pressure off them not being in the team at their first championship."

Saturday’s cross-country course is mainly a turning, twisting track, but with some galloping stretches. This should favour the more athletic thoroughbred types, which bodes well for the New Zealanders.

Photo: Donna Smith on Call Me Clifton

Eventing - detailed preview

Posted 21:00, Thursday, 10/8/2006 by Russell Hall

Eventing breaks new ground in Aachen where, for the first time, the World Championships will be run without steeple chase. This version of the sport, introduced at top international level shortly before the 2004 Olympic Games, dispenses with the two sections of roads and tracks and the steeplechase that for decades traditionally preceded the cross-country.

It will also mark an important innovation for the famous Soers showground, long renowned as a centre of excellence for show jumping, dressage and driving. The organisers were faced with the massive undertaking of building from scratch a brand-new cross-country course. Fortunately they had at their disposal a conveniently situated square kilometre of land adjacent to the main stadium on the Soerser Weg, so the event will be very much at the heart of the Games.

The man with the onerous task of designing the 30-fence course, which will involve some 45 actual jumping efforts, is Germany's own Rudiger Schwarz. The 56-year-old former international rider, winner of a world team silver medal back in 1982, is now a highly successful trainer of junior and young riders and, since 1998, has gained a reputation as an international course designer.

He has promised a true World Championship track that will test the best riders and horses, as well as offering slightly less technical but more time-consuming alternatives for the more cautious. The lay-out of the track is guaranteed to provide a thrilling experience for the crowd. It will include three water obstacles and several other technically difficult complexes as well as the usual smattering of straightforward "let-up" fences. The course will be 6,270 metres in length - slightly shorter than Badminton - and must be ridden at the same speed as Badminton (570 metres per minute). Riders incur time penalties at the rate of 0.4 of a penalty added for every second they take over the optimum time.

The Games bring together the finest riders and horses from the world's most successful eventing nations - headed by the reigning champions Jean Teulere and Espoir de la Mare from France ˆ as well as individuals from countries unable to muster a full team. A team comprises four members (though it is permitted to run only three). The three best riders' final total scores count for the team classification for medals, the worst being discarded.

In addition each nation may run two more individuals, giving a maximum of six riders/horses per nation. Team and individual riders compete in one and the same competition.

Four continents will be represented, with seventeen nations expected to field teams and another 10 running one or more individuals.  A total of around 95 runners is expected.

Among nations fielding full teams  will be the three "big guns" of the world stage, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and the main European contenders, France, Germany and Great Britain.

The USA are the current team title holders, but in the previous four runnings of the Games it was New Zealand who dominated, with two victories to Britain's one. Overall, though, since Ireland won the very first World Championships back in 1966, it is the British who have the best record at this level, with four team gold medals compared with the USA and New Zealand's two apiece. France, Ireland and Canada have each been champions on just one occasion.

This time Frenchman Jean Teulere is not alone in considering the Germans to be the ones who will take all the beating. They will certainly be hungry to make amends for their Athens debacle, when Bettina Hoy's last-day error (she crossed the start-line twice in the show jumping) cost her and her compatriots both individual and team gold medals.

The German riders have embraced the format of the sport without steeple chase as well as anyone. They were in tip-top form at the only four-star event run on their home soil, at Luhmuhlen in June. Bettina on Ringwood Cockatoo finished a close runner-up to Frank Ostholt (Air Jordan 2), while fellow WEG nominated riders Dirk Schrade, Andreas Dibowski, Hinrich Romeike and Stefani Thompson all finished in the top nine. Ingrid Klimke and Sleep Late, individual bronze medallists at last year's FEI European Championship and runners-up at Badminton this spring, will also be among the favourites.

The USA's most deadly weapon is, once again, the combination of Kimberly Severson and the British-bred Winsome Adante, three times winner of the Rolex Kentucky event, and team bronze and individual silver medallists at the Athens Olympic Games.

However, the one that Kim, Bettina, Ingrid and the rest have to fear most is likely to be Bettina's husband, Australian Andrew Hoy, winner at Kentucky and Badminton this year and, after a quarter of a century in the sport, riding better than ever. Andrew and his compatriots have won Olympic gold on three consecutive occasions (1992, 1996 and 2000) but the Aussies have yet to score at the FEI (WEG). This could well be the year they set the record straight.

The New Zealanders look like having it all to do this time, while the French, runners-up in the last three World Games and in the 2005 Europeans, are always difficult to assess because they tend to compete mainly on home soil, the result of having insufficient top-class horses to run at events such as Kentucky and Badminton. After being side-lined all last season following a fall during training, when he broke his pelvis, 52-year-old Jean Teulere is back to full fitness. Were he to succeed in retaining the title he won in Jerez, he would be only the third rider to win two World Championships - American Bruce Davidson took back-to-back titles in 1974 and 1978 (on two different horses), and New Zealander Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy were victorious in 1990 and again in 1998.

The British, who have reigned supreme in Europe for so many years - team victory at Blenheim last September was their sixth consecutive European Championship title and their 19th overall - will also be among the favourites for a medal despite having lost one of their chief hopes, Pippa Funnell. Her proposed ride Primmore's Pride, previous winner of the world's three toughest non-championship events at Lexington, Badminton and Burghley, has been withdrawn with a suspected leg problem. Funnell has been replaced by championship debutante Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town, who ran well to finish sixth at Badminton this spring.

The British squad is a mix of the very experienced and total newcomers to championship riding. Mary King, 43, team gold medallist in The Hague in 1994, is the senior member. She rides Call Again Cavalier, the former mount of Caroline Pratt, who was so tragically killed at Burghley two years ago. William Fox-Pitt, the next most experienced, will be among the individual favourites with the part-Arab Tamarillo, winner of team gold and individual silver medals at last year's Europeans. New to the team are 24-year-old Oliver Townend (third at Badminton 2006) and Daisy Dick (11th in the Europeans 2005). Daisy must be the only international event rider to have a Master's degree in zoology from Oxford University.

Although lady riders have not yet managed to grasp the individual gold since the introduction of the FEI (WEG) in 1990, three British women took the pre-Games world title, Mary Gordon-Watson (1970), Lucinda Green (1982) and Virginia Leng (1986), and the victorious British team in 1994 at The Hague, was an all-female one.

Among the countries unable to field whole teams, Finland probably has the best chance of success. Of the 100,000 Finns who ride, 93% are female, so it no surprise that their top eventer is a woman, the highly successful Piia Pantsu, with Ypaja Karuso. This pair were bronze medallists in Jerez in 2002.

Samantha Albert will be Jamaica's sole representative in the entire Games, while Pepo Puch, who has been competing at international level for several seasons, fills a similar role for Croatia. For the first time ever Belarus is represented at the World Eventing Championships, their two entries being Iryna Lis and Svetlana Yevshchik.

The scoring system at the World Championships is the same as those for other international events. In the dressage test, designed to demonstrate the horse's balance, suppleness and free forward movement, each movement is marked out of 10 by each of the three judges. Perfect 10s are rare. Four lots of 10 further marks are also available for the quality of the horse's paces, his impulsion (desire to move forward), his attention and obedience and for the rider's skill. The judges' marks are averaged and then converted to penalties.

On the cross-country a first refusal, run-out or circle at a fence incurs 20 penalties, a second at the same fence incurs 40 penalties, a third at the same fence results in elimination. An overall fourth refusal at any of the fences incurs elimination, as does the fall of a horse at an obstacle. If a rider falls, they are given 65 penalties and are allowed to remount, but a second rider fall results in elimination. The height of a cross-country fence may not exceed 1.20m (1.40m for a brush fence).

In the final day's show jumping 4 penalties are given for each fence knocked down and for a first refusal. A second refusal, jumping a fence in the wrong order or a horse-fall all incur elimination. A first rider fall incurs 8 penalties, a second fall brings elimination. Exceeding the time allowed results in 1 penalty per second.

In eventing, as in the world of football, it has become common practice to appoint non-national coaches. The British have enjoyed great success during the past few years under the tutelage of Sweden's Yogi Breisner; Ireland appointed another Swede, Lars Christenssen, earlier this year to try to improve their championship results, and the Germans have a British coach, international eventer and former Olympic dressage rider Christopher Bartle.

However, the trainer who most looks like being pulled in several directions at once during the first week of the Games is Mark Phillips, a world team gold medallist himself back in 1970 and now the successful coach of the United States squad. His wife, Sandy, has been selected for the British dressage team, while Zara, the daughter from his first marriage to HRH The Princess Royal, will be riding her 2005 European Champion Toytown with the British eventing team.

The estimated number of competitors at WEG 2006 is 95 from approximately 25 countries, an improvement compared to previous WEGs. For the record, 88 riders from 22 countries participated in in Stockholm; 93 in The Hague; 91 riders from 23 countries participated Rome, and 80 riders from 21 counties competed in Jerez de la Frontera.

By Malina Gueorguiev, FEI

***
Past World Champions in Eventing (Individual)
1966 Burghley: Carlos Moratorio on Chalan (ARG)
1970 Punchestown: Mary Gordon Watson on Cornishman V (GBR)
1974 Burghley: Bruce Davidson on Irish Cap (USA)
1978 Lexington: Bruce Davidson on Night Tango (USA)
1982 Luhmühlen: Lucinda Green on Regal Realm (GBR)
1986 Gawler: Virginia Leng on Priceless (GBR)
1990 WEG Stockholm: Blyth Tait on Messiah (NZL)
1994 WEG The Hague: Vaughan Jefferis on Bounce (NZL)
1998 WEG Rome: Blyth Tait on Ready Teddy (NZL)
2002 WEG Jerez: Jean Teulère Espoir de la Mare (FRA)
 
Past World Champions in Eventing (Team)
IRL - 1966
GBR - 1970
USA - 1974
CAN - 1978
GBR - 1982
GBR - 1986
NZL- 1990
GBR - 1994
NZL - 1998
USA ˆ 2002