The U.S. team was standing second this morning after the dressage phase of eventing at the exciting Aachen competition, but the show jumping segment during the afternoon dropped the squad to fourth.
There’s still hope, however, and you know how fast things can change on cross-country. This event has the same format as a horse trials, with show jumping following dressage and ending with cross-country, rather than show jumping as the finale, the way it is in the 5-stars. So Saturday’s test will be the tale of the winner.
This Nations Cup in the quaintly picturesque German city is not part of the league in which countries are vying for a chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. And the U.S. already qualified with silver at the 2022 world championships.
Yet it’s still quite important. Many consider Aachen the best show in the world, and as I said in our previous coverage, with competition in five disciplines–vaulting, show jumping, dressage and four-in-hand driving, in addition to eventing–it’s the closest we’ll come to the defunct World Equestrian Games.
Land Rover 5-star Kentucky winner Tamie Smith on Mai Baum was the best of the Americans after dressage, fifth with 26.9 penalties, but toppling a plank on a course that asked all the right questions put her ninth with 30.90 penalties. She was among 24 riders in the field of 44 who had knockdowns.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum on course.
Asked what she thinks about the cross-country, she said, the course is “Non-stop,” citing its technicality and noting, “you’ve got to be really smart and on your A-game.”
For dressage and jumping, she noted, the Aachen stadium is “like no other atmosphere. The first time is a little awe-inspiring. It’s a really unbelievable magical feeling to be on that grass.”
At this point, the highest-ranked U.S. rider is Will Coleman, who won Aachen two years ago, becoming the first American ever to take the title. He and Off the Record moved up to fifth with a clear round adding nothing to his dressage score of 28.10.
Asked what he thought of the show jumping course, Will said simply, “It felt like Aachen. Frank Rothenberger (the designer) is one of the greatest at putting the colored poles up. It’s such a great privilege to go into that arena; It’s a magical experience.”
Will Coleman and Off the Record. (Photo courtesy USEF)
But that’s over and it’s time to move on.
As Will put it, “Now you just forget about all of it and look forward to tomorrow.”
(Click here to get a look at the cross-country course)
Will, who has experienced Aachen’s cross-country test four times, believes that of all of them, “This is the toughest. You have to be really precise on your lines. The speed at which you’re going to try to get close to this (optimum) time makes it really easy to make a small mistake. The course is set up that a small mistake is going to be very expensive. It builds a little bit as you go, as you’re trying to go the hardest to get the time and your horse might just be fatiguing….he (course designer Rudiger Schwarz) asks you a question literally until the last fence.
“Every time you come here even if it’s the same horse, it’s a totally new experience,” said Will. Off the Record may be “marginal” as a 5-star horse, but he noted, “this event has suited him well in the past. i just love coming to this event.”
Tom McEwen, the British star who was second at Kentucky with JL Dublin and in the same spot after dressage at Aachen, had an efficient clear today to keep his dressage score at 24.3 and move up one place to take the lead.
Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH (Photo courtesy CHIO Aachen)
But only 0.1 penalty behind is Germany’s Michael Jung, of whom you might have heard while following all the Olympic medals and world championships he has won.
He’s on the reliable fischerChipmunk FRH. I watched Michi handle the Turkish Airlines two-stride double and glimpsed the most subtle of moves that got his mount in the right place to take the second element, which had been a problem for some of the other riders. It’s exciting when you can glimpse the things that have made him a master.
World Champion Yasmin Ingham of Great Britain had two time penalties (she was one of 10 who couldn’t beat the clock) with Banzai du Loir, which dropped her from the lead to third (25.5) ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price. The winner of last year’s Maryland 5 star with Coup de Couer Dudevin, Tim this time is on Falco (26).
Mai Baum struts in the eventing dressage at Aachen. (Photo courtesy USEF)
World Champion Yasmin Ingham of Great Britain had two time penalties (she was one of 10 who couldn’t beat the clock) with Banzai du Loir, which dropped her from the lead to third (25.5) ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price. The winner of last year’s Maryland 5 star with Coup de Couer Dudevin, Tim this time is on Falco (26).
Another U.S. rider, Liz Halliday Sharp, third at Kentucky, was sixth in the standings with Miks Master C until she had a rail and two time penalties to wind up standing fourtheenth, four places ahead of Phillip Dutton (Z), who was double clear in show jumping and moved up six places from dressage.
For the individual standings in eventing, click here. For team standings, click this link.
