U.S. rider Hallie Coon and the aptly named Cute Girl finished third individually at a muddy Boekelo 4-star eventing Nations Cup Final in the Netherlands on Sunday, with the Irish team of Aiofe Clarke, Austin O’Connor, Susannah Berry and Padraig McCarthy taking top honors scording102.6 penalties. The USA finished second on 116. 1, while Germany was third with 131.9.
“The Nations Cup final here in Boekelo is a huge deal and it means a huge amount to anyone competing. It has a real weight to it that is more than some of the individual legs,” said Aiofe.
She commtend that the organizers, “have really done well here, there’s a great atmosphere- it’s built up to a really fun end of the competition. I love Boekelo and would come back every year if I had a horse for it. I love the enthusiasm of the supporters and the work that went in to getting the cross-country right.”
The victorious Irish team. (Photo courtesy Military Boekelo)
The footing was so mucky after extended periods of rain that a loop had to be taken out of the cross-country course to insure hore and rider safety. Germany won the individual honors however, as 2021 Olympic individual gold medalist Julia Krajewski first on Nickel 21 with 28.8 penalties, having added time penalties to her dressage score on cross-country and finishing clear in show jumping. Nickel is the horse on which she won the Aachen event last summer.
“I came here with the idea that I wanted to finish in the top five,” said Julia.
“But Nickel 21 was just great. He came out of the cross-country super fit and jumped fantastically today. I always like it when there is some pressure. And of course there was, because I had to stay clear. My horse took it well and kept space on every fence. It’s great to win here again after six years, just an hour and a half’s drive from home.”
Great Britain’s Laura Collett, clear through the first two phases with Dacapo, had a rail in the final segment to wind up second individually with 29.3 penalties. Hallie finished on her dressage score of 30.4 penalties, going from twenty-third place to sixth and finally third during the competition.
There was a wide range of ages among the U.S. squad. Twenty-nine-year-old Hallie rode on the team with the eternal Phillip Dutton, 60, who finished twentieth on Possante (43.1). Also on the team were Mary Bess Davis, 45, nineteenth with Imperio (42.6) and looking to the future, 19-year-old, Cassie Sanger, thirty-first with Redfield Fyre (51.2).