They say a week is a long time in politics, but the fortunes of
international show jumpers can be equally unpredictable as last week´s
Samsung Super League with FEI winners from Great Britain found out today
when failing to complete at the third leg of the 2007 series in St
Gallen, Switzerland where The Netherlands recorded a resounding victory.

On an afternoon that produced only two double-clear performances - one
from the winning side´s Angelique Hoorn riding O´Brien and the other from
Christian Ahlmann and Coster from the second-placed German team - the
pendulum swung wildly at various times. However the US team, which looked
to be in trouble at one stage, rallied brilliantly to finish third ahead
of Belgium in fourth while the much-fancied Swiss had to settle for fifth
ahead of France. Sweden finished seventh, but that was only place better
than the British who didn´t finish at all after double-elimination for
Nick Skelton and Arko and big scores from William Funnnell (Cortaflex
Mondriaan) and Tim Stockdale (Fresh Direct Corlato). Not even the genius
of anchorman John Whitaker could rescue the situation in the closing
stages.

The British were already sharing last place with the French at the end of
the first round, and it was the final line on the course set by Swiss
designer Rolf Ludi that was the undoing of many. The second-last fence
was a big wall on a related distance to the final triple combination
which opened with a vertical followed by one stride to an oxer and two
long strides to another oxer. It stretched many horses to their limit as
Angelique Hoorn confirmed afterwards. "You really needed a lot of scope
there - the two long strides to the last oxer was very difficult" she
pointed out.

It was at the wall at fence 11 that Skelton first came to grief however,
Arko slamming on the brakes and sending his rider to the ground when
British pathfinders. The stallion´s return to the top-class competition
has been much-anticipated following a long break, but despite a promising
performance in last Sunday´s Grand Prix in Rome he did not seem to find
the experience entirely to his liking. Nine faults from Funnell and eight
from Stockdale was counter-balanced by just a single time penalty for
Whitaker and his Rome Grand Prix winner Peppermill, but with a total of
18 the British were on level-pegging with the French whose drop-score of
13 faults came from Eugenie Angot and Ilostra leaving the five from Roger
Yves Bost (Ideal de la Loge), four from Olivier Guillon (Ionesco de
Brekka) and nine from Michel Hecart (Itot du Chateau) to be counted.

The Swedes were hampered by nine-fault results from Helena Lundback
(Madick) and Lotta Schultz (Calibra) and carried 14 into the second round
when Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and Ninja la Silla made a single mistake and
Royne Zetterman and Isaac picked up just one time penalty. US nerves were
rattled by a 12-fault result for Laura Kraut and Miss Independent and
nine for Richard Spooner and Cristallo but Todd Minikus and Olinda had
just one fence down and Beezie Madden´s clear with Authentic raised
spirits dramatically to leave them on a first-round tally of 13.

The Belgians were just one fault ahead on 12 after an encouraging opening
clear from Philippe Lejeune and Vigo D´Arsouilles, while Patrick
McEntee´s nine faults with Every Mury Marais Z could be discarded when
Marc Van Djick (Verlest Goliath) collected four and World Champion Jos
Lansink had two fences down.

The Swiss were well in touch when Christina Liebherr and LB No Mercy
opened with a clear and with Markus Fuchs´ five faults with Nirmette
discounted they completed round one on a score of eight when both Werner
Muff (Plot Blue) and Beat Mandli (Ideo du Thot) faulted once. They were
to slip down the order however in round two. The Germans completed round
one carrying only the six faults collected by Ludger Beerbaum and Couleur
Rubin after clears from both Marcus Ehning (Noltes Kuchengirl) and
Christian Ahlmann (Coster) and the discounted eight from Marco Kutscher
and Cash.

Leading the posse was The Netherlands with the five picked up by Vincent
Voorn and Audi´s Alpapilllion-Armanie. There was considerable pressure on
the final partnership of Gerco Schroder and Eurocommerce Berlin here
after WEG gold medallists Albert Zoer and Okidoki uncharacteristically
left four on the floor but Hoorn´s opening clear was matched by Schroder
to ensure that was discarded.

One of the things that sets the best apart from the rest is the ability
to rise above difficulty, and that was exactly what Zoer did second time
out when producing a copybook clear. "It was Okidoki´s first big outdoor
show after a rest and he was just too full of himself in the first round
but he had his mind right second time around" Angelique Hoorn explained
afterwards. That clear added to another from Hoorn put the Dutch in a
strong position, although again Schroder found himself under pressure
when Vincent Voorn picked up nine faults. Schroder could afford only one
fence down as he came into the ring last to go, but judicious riding saw
him collect just a single time penalty to ensure victory for his side who
finished on a total of six faults.

Germany added just four more to complete with 10 on the board and take
second spot while the USA improved from fifth to finish third on 17
faults thanks to clears from Kraut and Spooner. Belgium added eight more
to complete on 20 for fourth spot as the Swiss slipped to fifth when,
following elimination for Fuchs and Nirmette, single errors from Liebherr
and Muff and five more faults from Mandli had to be counted.

It was second-round clears from Guillon and Hecart that raised the French
from the bottom of the order to finish sixth with 22 faults but the
Swedes added 13 more to their tally despite a second-round clear from
Lundback to complete on a total of 27. The British took a battering
however when Skelton and Arko were eliminated for a second time. Funnell
could only manage to match his first-round score of nine and when
Stockdale picked up 13 faults there was nothing Whitaker could do to save
the day so he withdrew.

All is not lost however as the British have only dropped two places on
the Samsung Super League with FEI leaderboard and are fifth going into
the next leg in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in three weeks´ time. The
Germans are already stretching their lead at the top of the table with a
seven-point advantage over the Swiss in second while the Dutch now lie
third, narrowly ahead of Belgium in fourth. Below the British however
there is a struggle going on between the French in sixth, the USA in
seventh and the Swedes who have now dropped to the bottom. These three
are separated by only a few points, and as the series draws towards the
halfway stage the relegation danger-zone is not where any nation wants to
be.....

RESULTS:
1. THE NETHERLANDS 6 faults: O´Brien (Angelique Hoorn) 0/ 0, Audi´s
Alpapillon-Armanie (Vincent Voorn) 5/9, Okidoki (Albert Zoer) 16/ 0,
Eurocommerce Berlin (Gerco Schroder) 0/1.
2. GERMANY 10 faults: Noltes Kuchengirl (Marcus Ehning) 0/4, Couleur
Rubin (Ludger Beerbaum) 6/0, Cash (Marco Kutscher) 8/4 , Coster
(Christian Ahlmann) 0/0.
3. USA 17 faults: Olinda (Todd Minikus) 4/4, Miss Independent (Laura
Kraut) 12/0, Cristallo (Richard Spooner) 9/0, Authentic (Beezie Madden)
0/Ret.
4. BELGIUM 20 faults: Vigo D´Arsouilles (Philippe Lejeune) 0/ 9, Every
Mury Marais Z (Patrick McEntee) 9/ 4, Verelst Goliath (Marc Van Djick)
4/4 , Al Kaheel Turbo R (Jos Lansink) 8/0.
5. SWITZERLAND 21 faults: LB No Mercy (Christina Liebherr) 0/4, Nirmette
(Markus Fuchs) 5/Elim, Plot Blue (Werner Muff) 4/ 4, Ideo du Thot (Beat
Mandli) 4/5.
6. FRANCE 22 faults: Ideal de la Loge (Roger-Yves Bost) 5/4, Ilostra Dark
(Eugenie Angot) 13/5, Ionesco de Brekka (Olivier Guillon) 4/0, Itot du
Chateau (Michel Hecart) 9/0.
7. SWEDEN 27 faults: Madick (Helena Lundback) 9/0, Ninja la Silla (Rolf-
Goran Bengtsson) 4/5, Isaac (Royne Zetterman) 1/ 8, Calibra 11 (Lotta
Schultz) 9/8.
8. GREAT BRITAIN - Retired: Arko (Nick Skelton) Elim/ Elim, Cortaflex
Mondriaan (William Funnell) 9/9, Fresh Direct Corlato (Tim Stockdale)
8/13, Peppermill (John Whitaker) 1/DNS.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI - LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 3 AT ST GALLEN:

1. Germany - 21.75
2. Switzerland - 14.75
3. Netherlands - 14.0
4. Belgium - 13.75
5. Great Britain - 11.0
6. France - 9.75
7. USA - 7.0
8. Sweden - 5.5

Source: horsesport.org

hg