The U.S. eventing team at the Aachen International Equestrian Festival is in podium position—just—after dressage and show jumping, the first two phases of the three-part test.
The squad stands on 102.100 penalties, only 0.5 ahead of fourth-place New Zealand. Great Britain leads the way on 96.3, with Australia on 100.1.
Dressage wasn’t the best, but the team recouped in the afternoon show jumping.
The highest-placing American Friday was Hallie Coon, sixteenth for the two segments with Cute Girl, one spot ahead of Alyssa Phillips on Oskar. James Alliston was first in the jumping with Karma, moving up to twenty third from thirty third in dressage. Liz Halliday is one placing ahead of James on Shanroe Cooley.
Eventer Hallie Coon and the aptly named Pretty Girl. (Photo U.S. Equestrian)
And guess who was in first place?
Who else but Germany’s superstar Michael Jung with fischerChipmunk FRH? He won the dressage and came fourteenth in the jumping on time, while adding no jumping faults to his 22.5 penalty dressage mark. But the multi-gold medalist isn’t taking his Olympic horse cross-country. So another German, Julia Krajewski, is actually first on Nickel 21 with 23.9 penalties. Julia was the first woman to take the individual gold in Olympic eventing when she achieved that feat in Tokyo three years ago.
Michael is on the team with another horse, Kilcandra Ocean Power (42.20), but he had two rails. That didn’t help the fortunes of the German squad, which stood sixth on Friday afternoon.
Bobby Costello, the U.S. chef d’equipe is pleased so far with his team. But Saturday’s cross-country laid out by Rüdiger Schwarz will tell the tale, as it always tends to do at Aachen–even if the designer has borne in mind that most teams are using it as a prep for the Paris Olympics.
“After a bit of a slow start in the dressage this morning, all four of our athletes rode really classy and clear rounds to move right up into the conversation for tomorrow,” Bobby said.
“The cross-country is serious, as it usually is here in Aachen, and our riders have a very clear plan for what they need to do.”
In the big dressage arena Friday, no U.S. riders were competing. The team will reappear Saturday in the 5-star Grand Prix Special.
But there was plenty of action in that discipline as world champion Lottie Fry of Great Britain made it two-for-two in her Aachen recordbook as she took the 4-star Grand Prix Special on her Paris Olympic mount, Glamourdale, the way she won the Grand Prix – almost.
Her second pirouette this time went astray when her mount did a flying change and then lost his balance in the pirouette.
But no matter. His quality was such that he was marked at 80.107 percent, far ahead of runner-up Isabell Werth on Quantaz DSP. The German pair was marked at 75 percent, ahead of another German entry, Frederic Wandres on Duke of Britain FRH (73.128)
“To be honest,” said Lottie, “that was one of the best feelings that he has ever given me in a test.”
Lottie Fry and Glamourdale at Aachen. (Photo © DigiShots)
So why the error?
“I was so pleased with my pirouette to the left that I somehow forgot to ride the rest of the center line. So it was my own fault. But in the remaining parts of the test, he was so focused on me, had so much `go’ and so much fun in there. That was the best feeling I could have wished for before Paris.”
Dressage for fun was not neglected either. The Prize of Handwerk is a quadrille competition, and the winners took the USA’s Partner Nation status for 2024 seriously.
The District Association of Bergisch Land was directed by their team leader, Norma Frerck, dressed as the Statue of Liberty. They rode to the song, “Hit the Road Jack.”
The winning quadrille team. (Photo by Hubert Fischer)
Dressed in the traditional Uncle Sam red, white and blue costumes, Stefanie Haase with Chestnut K, Nicola Heynen with Livius, Heike Holtkamp with Sambuko and Ramona Müller with Dr. Mo, were excellent.
“Anyone who manages to get a Statue of Liberty rocking has achieved a great deal,” said judge Katrina Wüst, who awarded the quartet 93 percent for their second victory in a row.
