Sweden repeats as NC Eventing Champions
It was a weekend of excitement at the place Boekelo in beautiful Enschede in Overijssel, at the far border of the Netherlands with Germany. The weather was perfect for the event, which made the foot ideal for four competition days.
When all 59 participants had completed their dressage tests, Great Britain was in the lead with 80.8 points, thanks to the fantastic performances of Fox-Pitt and European Champion Nicola Wilson with Coolsparks Sarco, who both finished in the top six.
The United States chased the British riders, just a few points behind, followed by Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.
On the Individual leaderboard, Leube was at the top, with a dressage result of 24.4. Tim Lips was in second place, and Tamra Smith in the USA was in third with Danito.
As usual, the cross country element shook the rankings. Adrian Ditcham’s course forced three riders to retire and 11 combinations were eliminated, largely for rejection. All the best teams, except the UK, lost riders and got penalty points for the final result.
At the end of the day, Leube remained on top, still on his dressage result, and Smith stayed in third place. But Tim Lips dropped to 21st place and Fox-Pitt moved up in Lips place from fourth. Nicola Wilson and Sydney Dufresne were hot on the heels, as was American rider Sydney Elliott, with only the show jumping left to sort out the winners.
The arena jumping can be tricky for many competition horses who are used to being able to rub obstacles in cross-country skiing without taking them down. Again, the top list saw a flood of activity, as not even a fence separated the top six.
Elliott had a rail down to pick up 4 points, but when compatriot Tamra Smith added 9.2 to her score, she went up a notch as Smith dropped to 10th place. Dufresne had a beautiful round, with only points for the time being, which gave him a good shot on the podium.
Nicola Wilson got 4.4 points for a fence plus time but was working on her dressage result of only 25.6 could hover near the top.
It all came down to a fight between Fox-Pitt and Leube. The tall British adventurer guided his young Oldenburg expert around the track but lost for a moment a stirrup that added fractions of a second to his run.
Fox-Pitt won at Boekelo in 2003 and 2005, but no rider had ever won it three times. With 1.2 points to be over the time limit, would that be enough to win?
Leube answered that question quickly with his 11-year-old baysto, who also finished but with a faster time to take the first position and leave Fox-Pitt in the second.
Said Fox-Pitt about his mare, who is still only nine years old, “She is a very good horse. But we could not beat our winner! I have to keep trying now. ”
The duo will no doubt return to challenge Leube and the others again, but when asked if she will repeat next year, Leube replied: “Hopefully!”
Nicola Wilson finished the day in fourth place, followed by Elliott, Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa (Calle 44), Hallie Coon in the USA (Global X), Izzy Taylor from the UK (Hart Attacker), Padraig McCarthy from Ireland (MGH Tokyo Phil) and Smith .
France finished fourth on the Boekelo stage, with Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Italy behind them in that order.
There is a lot more action to come, as exciting competitions in Dressage, Jumping and Driving start for the new season of the FEI World Cup ™ series. Capture all the fun FEI TV.