Rosalind Canter and Izilot DHI hold on to to spot!
With a picture-perfect cross-country round, Rosalind Canter (GBR) and Izilot DHI held onto their Longines CCI5*-L lead (26.9) with Jennifer Kuehnle (IRL) and Polly Blue Eyes storming up the leaderboard from 22nd to 2nd place (35.5), closely followed by Lara de Liedekerke-Meier with Hooney d’Arville in 3rd (35.6)
A morning of rain, storm and brilliant cross-country: Ros Canter, who added only two time penalties to her dressage score on Izilot DHI, was overjoyed after her brilliant cross-country round: “I’m absolutely delighted, Izilot felt so grown up today. He’s brave and he’s genuine, sometimes he gets a little spooky, and he was at the beginning but then he really settled down and he gave me a brilliant ride. He was fantastic all the way around, absolutely on point today.”
There were some outstanding rounds from British pairings today. Tom McEwen and CHF Cooliser maintain their 4th position with a flawless clear round and just a few time penalties. Prominent partners David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed achieve another clear round, moving from 25th to 5th place, while the dazzling duo of Yasmin Ingham Eventing and Rehy DJ climb from 28th to 6th.
Topspin indeed as Alice Casburn had an incredible round, propelling them from 32nd to 7th. Meanwhile, Kirsty Chabert and Opposition Heraldik Girl also made significant progress, advancing from 26th to 8th place.
Hot off his Badminton podium, Alex Bragg Team Bragg Eventing had another stellar cross-country day; this time piloting Ardeo Premier to a lovely clear and a 24-place leap up the leaderboard
Jennifer Kuehnle’s Polly Blue Eyes seemed absolutely unfazed by Mike Etherington Smith’s influential five-star course, smoothly tackling all the questions, one of only four horse-rider combinations to finish without time-faults: “My horse is just great. I’ve had her for six years and we’ve worked our way up the levels. She’s just the best horse I could ever wish for, she’s just amazing!”
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, who only added four time penalties to her dressage score, worked her way up the leaderboard into third place. The joy about her brilliant cross-country made her beam: “I’m totally overwhelmed! Hooney d’Arville is now a five-star horse. She is such a fighter, I’m so happy!”
Tom McEwen, who had a brilliantly smooth round as pathfinder with CHF Cooliser and is in fourth place after cross-country (36.0), was full of praise for his 14-year old mare: “She jumped every fence well. The lines rode brilliantly, the ground is absolutely perfect, and we’ve even brought the British weather. She cruised, picked up everything on a lovely line, we had a brilliant flow – I couldn’t be happier!”
German five-star debutante Libussa Lübbeke was over the moon, despite eleven penalties for an activated MIM clip: “It was our first five-star, so I’m very happy with our round. Riding a five-star really is something special. There’s a lot
of time between the questions to think, recover and sharpen your focus again. I’m really proud of my horse, she fought for me all the way round. I think the eleven penalties were my fault. She didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the course. I’m as happy as I could be.”
Photo © TGL / Sportfotos Lafrentz and Eventing Times