The flying Dutchmen take the Furusiyya title by storm
The Netherlands’ team celebrate victory in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2014 Final in Barcelona, Spain tonight. (L to R), HRH Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Dutch team members Jeroen Dubbeldam, Gerco Schroder, Chef d’Equipe Rob Ehrens, Maikel van der Vleuten and Jur Vrieling. (FEI/Dirk Caremans)
The newly-crowned world champions from The Netherlands stormed to victory at the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2014 Final at Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain tonight. On the crest of a wave following their gold-medal-winning performances at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy last month, they oozed class and confidence as they put the result beyond doubt with fabulous clears from their first three riders.
Written by Louise Parkes
Last to go, Gerco Schroder was only competing for his share of the €200,000 on offer to the horse-and-rider partnerships who could leave all the fences up in both Thursday’s opening round and again this evening, because his team-mates had already done all the hard work. When Glock’s London hit the first element of the triple combination, Schroder had settle for his share of the team winnings instead – a massive €500,000 – but he wasn’t complaining. It was all smiles at the post-competition press conference during which the unity within the winning side was clear for all to see.
Popular, hard-working and self-effacing, the team that includes new world champion, Jeroen Dubbeldam, proved beyond doubt that, right now, they are simply untouchable. But they were quick to point out that they owe much of what they have achieved to the inspiration of “one special man” as Jur Vrieling called him. “Our Chef d’Equipe Rob Ehrens is really good at team-building, he is a positive man, and he can really inspire us. He has inspired Jeroen Dubbeldam to a completely other level, and Jeroen is now the best rider in the world for sure. This Final has been unbelievably good, and I think we all owe that to Rob” Vrieling insisted.
Another big one
Tonight’s course was another big one, with a testing triple combination at fence eight proving influential. However it was the oxer-to-vertical double at 11 that played the most significant role in the early stages, the first element hitting the deck on numerous occasions.
The Dutch were the only side to produce a clear from the first-line riders, Jeroen Dubbeldam’s Zenith this time looking much more like the horse that clinched double-gold in Caen for him just a few short weeks ago. In Thursday’s opening round the pair collected eight faults and the 10-year-old horse seemed a little less concentrated. But tonight the pair were focused, clean and clear and once the world championship winning team had the bit between their teeth they were always going to be difficult to rein in.
Germany arrived at the Furusiyya Final with a side filled with super-stars, but they didn’t live up to expectations, finishing fifth of the eight nations that made the cut to tonight’s last competition. A mistake at the water, and another at the first element of the double at 11 for openers Christian Ahlmann and Codex One was followed by an uncharacteristic 16 faults from Marcus Ehning and Plot Blue. Daniel Deusser and Cornet D’Amour were the only German pair to go clear, and this left the reigning Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping champion sharing that €200,000 double-clear bonus at the end of the night. But when Ludger Beerbaum and Chiara hit the oxer at fence seven then the German total was 12 when the best three scores were counted, and they lined up just ahead of the British who finished on the same scoreline but in a slower time. Italy and Brazil shared a final tally of 13 faults each to fill the last two places, and it was the Canadians who came closest to the winners when posting just a four-fault result.
Classic clear
Yann Candele and Showgirl clipped the bogey opening element at 11, but Tiffany Foster showed just how much her partnership with Tripple X, the horse that won team gold for Britain’s Ben Maher at the London 2012 Olympic Games, has matured this year, as they cruised home for a classic clear. Ben Asselin’s Makavoy hit the second element of the triple combination, but when Eric Lamaze produced a faultless run from Zigali PS then that would prove plenty good enough for the Canadians to pick up the €300,000 second place prizemoney.
The Swedish team edged Belgium for third place by just a single fault when finishing with eight on the board. The pressure was all on Henrik von Eckermann when last to go with Cantinero after eight faults for Peder Fredricson (H&M Simon), 12 from Alexander Zettermann (Cafino) but a fabulous clear from Malin Baryard-Johnsson with H&M Tornesch. And von Eckermann kept a really cool head to deliver not only the podium placing but a tidy €50,000 for himself as one of the four to share the double-clear bonus.
Olivier Philippaerts (Cabrio van de Heffinck) and Pieter Devos (Dylano) each faulted just once for Belgium while Niels Bruynseels (Pommeau du Heup) left two on the floor. But the single time-fault from Judy-Ann Melchior in an otherwise copy-book round with As Cold as Ice saw them missing out on that coveted podium position.
Commitment and involvement
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal talked about Furusiyya’s commitment and involvement with the revamped FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping series. “The spirit of Furusiyya is about giving everyone a chance. The team won that won today deserved it, but the feeling I am getting is that we are here for the sake of the sport, and everyone is a winner!” His Royal Highness said.
FEI Jumping Committee Chariman, John Madden, pointed out that “we saw really fantastic sport, great horsemanship, and we had fantastic victors in the team from The Netherlands today. They proved it at the World Equestrian Games, and they proved it again here. The course designer Santiago (Varela) was wonderful, the Real Club de Polo have been the most gracious hosts and provided us with a magnificent Final, and of course none of this would be at all possible if it wasn’t for Furusiyya, and the wisdom and the guidance of Prince Faisal. This is an absolutely wonderful partnership – the FEI, the Saudi Equestrian Fund and Furusiyya. It is truly an honour and a pleasure to be involved in producing this fantastic celebration of the horse” he said.
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Category: International, News, Results, Show Jumping
