The FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha ended with an intense two-round show jumping competition Saturday night, keeping spectators in suspense until the final horse faulted.
But after all that, it wound up with the most predictable victor, just as the Dressage World Cup had on Friday with Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndel taking the title for the second year in a row.
World champion and world number one-ranked show jumper, Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, didn’t waltz to his win in the Longines Cup. He started out with the lead on Wednesday, but missed qualifying for the jump-off in Thursday’s class.
Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
While it dropped him from first to third in the standings, he later realized that because his fabulous horse, King Edward, jumped one less round during the week, the circumstance may have helped him in the final two-rounder. Henrik noted the Belgian warmblood felt particularly fresh and ready to go when he took him to the ring on Saturday to fulfill a llfetime ambition.
Henrik von Eckermann and the trophy he always wanted. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
“When I was very young, I always went to the Gothenburg Horse Show (in Sweden), and watched the World Cup,” Henrik recounted.
“It was always a big, big goal and a dream for me to be able to have my name on that trophy. So for me, it’s very special.”
Course designer Bernardo Costa Cabral and his team had routes that were both attractive and testing to the proper degree.
“It’s been tiring,” Bernardo admitted.
“We tried to make different tests every day, to have the speed with some options but not a flat race, they had to jump,” he said, referring to the first leg of the competition.
“It’s hard indoors to create nice options, not too small, not too tall. The
second day harder, more efforts, jumps quicker but not too big, just tall verticals, different lines, but they have to flow.
“I am very happy with the result and I think we had a great winner.”
“We had 18 four-faulters in the first round (on Saturday) and that’s the dream of the course designer. We want to be testing, we don’t want too many to be clean, but we want the horses to jump well. And when you have three clears, 18 four-faulters, and then six or seven clears in the second round after all this jumping. I’m happy with that.
It’s not easy to test these guys, and I try to be as good as them.
“It’s hard to create variation in rhythm. It’s one of the tools without attacking the horse. We always have a nice way out for the horse. Just that variation in rhythm creates problems to the rider, but not to the horse. They can have four faults or eight faults and still feel great and fresh afterwards and positive — and not take their heart out.”
Explaining the complicated Cup scoring, as I tried to do in my story after Thursday’s time first jump-off competition, is quite difficult. It’s easy to get placings in one leg of the competition mixed up with the overall score, and the way cumulative faults are counted over the course of the week. So I’ll keep that to a minimum while we look at the big picture.
Harrie Smolders of the Netherlands, sixth in the first leg with Monaco, moved up from a tie for seventh overall after round two to second place in the final. And the USA’s Hunter Holloway, who had been consistent throughout the competition with the fiery Pepita con Spita, was third.
After toppling two rails in the first round of Saturday’s competition, Hunter was determined to continue reaching for the podium.
“I knew I really had to fight for that clear second round tonight, every bit of it,” she said.
“That’s what I tried to do the whole way around, fight for that clear round, every second of it, every inch.” She won the fight with a determined fault-free trip on a brisk clocking that put her ahead of Brazilian Yuri Mansur, who also was fault-free, but achieved that more than one second slower with Vitiki.
There were two other U.S. riders in the top 20; Devin Ryan with Eddie Blue, 13th, and Nick Dello Joio, 20th with Cornet’s Cambridge.
That made U.S. Coach Robert Ridland very happy in his continuous scouting mission for riders who could be important additions to teams for international competition.
“Hunter rode lights-out all week long, from start to finish. She was so focused it was unbelievable. For starters, the experience she got last year at the World Cup finals in Leipzig put her in really good stead for this year,” he said.
Hunter Holloway and Pepita con Spita. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Lisa Roskens, who came up with the idea of holding the Cup final in Omaha (back when people would say “Oma-who?” ) has a long association with Hunter and was delighted with the way she finished the competition. Hunter is practically a local rider, coming from a farm in Kansas just a two-hour drive from the CHI Health Arena where the Cup was held. She has been a regular at the annual show presented there by the Omaha Equestrian Foundation.
“How awesome that a show she has supported for years–probably when it was inconvenient for her and we are most appreciative that she did–how awesome that this is her first time to have a big international podium finish,” said Lisa, the CEO of Burlington Capital Group.
Lisa Roskens with Harrie Smolders, Henrik von Eckermann and Hunter Holloway. ( Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I couldn’t be more thrilled for her and more proud of what she’s done. She’s a great representative of our part of the world. The fact that she did that here is that much more of an inspiration for the kids who watched her.”
Discussing Devin and Eddie, Coach Robert said, “I’m happy to see them back in the fold.”
Devin, based in Long Valley, N.J., had been second in the 2018 World Cup Finals and then rode on the gold medal World Equestrian Games team that year. But a bone bruise sidelined Eddie from consideration for the Tokyo Olympic team. Devin wisely has been conservative with his horse as he brings him back to the top level of the sport. He had one rail down in each round Saturday.
Devin Ryan and Eddie Blue. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Devin emphasized that Eddie “was awesome” in Omaha.
“He jumped great all week. It’s really nice to have him back out there doing it. I felt like we weren’t coming into this on form, but I felt like he came on form here.”
McLain Ward, who won the Cup when Omaha first hosted it in 2017, didn’t have a good show with Callas. He made the cut to the top 30 who started in the first round Saturday night, but after dropping two rails, failed to qualify among the top 20 who jumped the second round. His final placing was 23d.
Click here for class results. Click here for total penalties. Click this link for final standings.
