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Tom McEwen

SUNSHINE ON A RAINY DAY

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

15/06/2024 0 comment

Eventing International News

THE FANTASTIC FOUR-STARS

written by Katie Neat

This competition couldn’t be tighter! Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH hold onto their lead in the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy, but just by a slim margin of 0.3 over Laura Collett (GBR) and London 52

“Today was amazing – pure joy! fischerChipmunk is a real cross-country machine. He was brilliant, supple, attentive and focused, making my job very easy today. In two lines, I added an extra stride, everything else rode as I expected when I walked it. The conditions were great, despite the rain”

Laura didn’t take any chances, tackling Mike Etherington-Smith’s intense four-star course with focus and determination: “You can’t not smile when you ride a horse like that. He’s just phenomenal. He seems to love it here, he loves the crowd. It was an absolute joy to ride. I got him when he was seven and he’s 15 now, like a fine wine he gets better each year and I’ve just thoroughly enjoyed every second of that horse. He’s just very, very special. The aim of today was to have a good, confident ride. He covers the ground and the ground is amazing. I was having a real wobble earlier when it was torrential storm. But it was absolutely perfect going, which meant I could just let him run and make sure I set him up for the fences to make sure there are no silly mistakes. He trusts me and I trust him, we’ve built a real partnership over the last years. I know how fortunate I am to ride a horse like him”

Championship stars Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir tied times with the much-adored JL Dublin and Tom McEwen, both completing in 06:59 with 1.2 time penalties, securing 3rd and 4th positions. “This year things have really come together and we’ve had some really exciting top results. To have had such a great round here today is absolutely exciting. He was pretty perfect everywhere, looking for the flags, an absolute pleasure to ride”

Kudos to German pairs Anna Siemer and FRH Butts Avondale, one of only two teams to finish inside the optimum time, moving up from 37th to 11th, and Calvin Bockmann and Altair de la Cense, who climbed from 27th to 8th

The other clear round within the optimum time was achieved by Clarke Johnstone (NZL) and Domasco, delivering one of the standout performances of the day and jumping from 39th to 12th place. Clarke is having a stellar Luhmuhlen and heads into the final day of show jumping with two horses in the top twenty. Fellow countryman Tim Price also made significant strides, with a clear round from 15-year-old Falco to sit in 14th

Images © TGL/Annette Dölger and Eventing Times

15/06/2024 0 comment

Eventing International News

CLASSY CANTER MAKES IT A GB 1-2-3

written by Katie Neat

LONGINES CCI5*-L: Ros Canter in pole position

With a beautiful dressage test, Rosalind Canter (GBR) and Izilot DHI took the five-star lead (24.9). Eleven of the top twenty positions are held by British riders, including the top three with Ros, Tom McEwen (Brookfield Quality 28.3) and Laura Collett (Hester 30.6)

The Olympic Gold medalist was very pleased with her horse: “He’s fantastic, I’m absolutely delighted with him. He’s become a real professional. He can obviously be a bit spooky which he wasn’t today, he’s much more settled in his brain than he used to be and he’s very established with his movements now, so now I’ve just got to train the brain and keep him in a happy place.”

Having walked the five-star course four times, Ros Canter’s focus is now on Saturday. “I’ve got a good plan and I’m going out with the intention of going fast and clear. I haven’t come here to be middle of the pack. So hopefully I can give him a good start. It’s quite nice here at the start in that it’s not overly dressed. I’m going to go out and give it a good shot.”

After having secured a great result with CHF Cooliser yesterday (30.8, rank 4), Tom McEwen now has two irons in the fire: “Brookfield Quality was absolutely brilliant. Outside he was struggling with people on benches but in there he switched to focus and was just mega! He’s pretty perfect and always performs on the day – whatever he’s up to outside you can always trust him.”

Cross Country flash quotes

Laura Collett: “It’s a five-star course. The first water is serious. It comes very much up in your face. But I think they’ve been very kind in that there’s a get out of jail card. If things go wrong in the first part you can take a long route. There are questions all the way round, so you’ve got to be on your game.”

Tom Mc Ewen: “We came here because the ground’s always good, especially considering how much rain we’ve had. I’ve got three different rides, two very different rides in the five star, so I can reevaluate between both horses and assess what needs to be done on each one. But for him I think it will suit him really well. I just need to build him up into the course and flow because there’s plenty of questions all the way round – a lot to do!”

Nicolai Aldinger: “It’s very intense, there are a lot of questions all the way round so you have to focus and the horses have to be fit. Timmo is a super cross-country horse and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Going cross country with Mike Etherington-Smith
“I think one of the biggest developments over the last years is that the communication between riders and officials has become much closer. We’re all in this sport together and share the same values and objectives. If any athlete has a query or a question, we are keen that they feel they can talk to us at any time. As it happens, we haven’t had any questions at all this year but it’s important to have an open line of communication. Other major improvements in the sport in recent years is the development and increasing use of frangible pins and MIM Clips. We use them on fences wherever we can. Led by research in the UK, we also spend a lot of time considering what horses see and how they see it. We know through research that they see in contrast and definition and we also know the colors that horses can see well. We are also very conscious about the background and all of this helps horses understand what is in front of them. Another important aspect is the profile of the fences. The rules now state that all fences have to have ground lines but it goes beyond this: it’s about the height and type of material used. Additionally, we are conscious of trying to manage speed without sacrificing the flow and the rhythm. One way of doing this is to place the fences off a turn.

The final ingredient is the ground. Horses need to feel secure and so the importance of good ground cannot be overestimated. We’re lucky here in Luhmühlen in that the ground is primarily sand and will hold up in any weather conditions.”