The host team will be hoping to establish an even more secure grip at the top of the leaderboard when the second leg of the Samsung Super League with FEI series takes place in Aachen, Germany on Friday.
Convincing winners at the opening leg in La Baule, France two weeks ago, the Germans already head the table with a full three-point advantage over the USA in second spot and Chef d’Equipe, Kurt Gravemeier, will select his side for Friday’s challenge from the almost overwhelming strength of Christian Ahlmann, Ludger Beerbaum, Marcus Ehning, Marco Kutscher and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.
The great depth of Germany’s pool of riders and horses was highlighted by Ludger Beerbaum after the recent victory at the French fixture, but they are unlikely to feel over-confident following last year’s experience on their home turf when they finished second-last after collecting a total of 30 faults. The heavy season that preceded the Aachen fixture may well have explained the poor performance that day when it was the Americans who excelled, and US team manager George
Morris brings back three of the four team members who scooped the honours on that fascinating afternoon including Jeffery Welles, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward.
Lauren Hough and Margie Goldstein-Engle make up the US representation and, after the strong performance in France, the US should be feeling optimistic about keeping the pressure on the league leaders.
The French are lying third at this early stage of the series and Jean-Maurice Bonneau has Herve Godignon, Laurent Goffinet, Eric Levallois, Jean-Marc Nicolas and Michel Robert to choose from. The double-clear performance from Robert and Galet d’Auzay at La Baule should have been a shot in the arm for French morale, but France does not seem to be tapping into the same level of conviction that earned them the Super League title in both the opening 2003 season and again in 2004. Perhaps things will come together a little more for them this time around.
Switzerland and France share fourth spot and the Swiss look very competitive with Markus Fuchs, Christina Liebherr, Beat Mandli, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer on call. Mandli is listed with the talented Ideo du Thot, the horse that took him to third place at the FEI World Cup Final in Kuala Lumpur last month, and if Schurtenberger and Schwizer can show the same kind of solidity this Friday as they did two weeks ago then the Swiss could be holding a strong hand.
Leopold Van Asten, Gerco Schroder, Jurgen Stenfert, Emile Tacken and Albert Zoer are included in the Dutch selection and they will be hoping to keep pace with the Swiss so that they too can hold their ground. Van Asten picked up 10 faults with VDL Groep Fleche Rouge in the first round in La Baule but then completely redeemed himself when the partnership was foot-perfect next time out while Stenfert did likewise when coming back from a disastrous 23-fault first-round effort with BMC’s Octavia to collect just a single time penalty. Manager, Rolf Grass, will probably be hoping however that his men will not need to stage such a dramatic recovery again this week.
The British picked up just two points in La Baule to slot into sixth place on the leaderboard. Not even the double-clear from Tim Gredley and Omelli could make enough of a difference when both John Whitaker (Exploit du Roulard) and Mark Armstrong (Thesaura) felled a lot of timber but they look stronger this time out with Gredley in the starting blocks once more alongside Robert Smith, Michael Whitaker and Duncan Inglis while John Whitaker brings Hugo de Heup and Peppermill by way of a change.
The Irish are carrying just a single point after new Chef d’Equipe, Robert Splaine, suffered something of a baptism of fire in France. Conor Swail’s ride, Poncho, did not cope well with the French venue leaving the other three riders to make the running and although none were heavily penalised, only Edward Doyle’s Effective lived up to his name when producing a clear round. Doyle is back in the side again this week along with Shane Breen, Captain Shane Carey, Jessica Kuerten
and Cian O’Connor - the latter two competing side-by-side for the first time since Kuerten’s refusal to ride alongside O’Connor in the aftermath of the now infamous 2004 Olympic medal drama.
The ones under real pressure on Friday afternoon however are the Swedes who clocked up an horrific total of 58 faults in La Baule to finish last and claim only the 0.5 points available for the team at the bottom of the order. They worked very hard to re-take their place in the Samsung Super League with FEI series, but things have not started well for them and Chef d’Equipe, Henk Nooren, will be expecting a much better result this time around. Malin Baryard-Johnsson, the darling of Swedish show jumping, will have to put behind her the memory of the first-round elimination she suffered with her faithful campaigner Butterfly Flip in La Baule, but the presence of Rolf-Goran Bengtsson should strengthen Swedish resolve while Peter Eriksson, Maria Gretzer and Royne Zetterman are unlikely to be lacking in determination either.
The 2006 Samsung Super League with FEI battle has really only just begun….
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI 2006 : LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 1 AT LA
BAULE:
1. GERMANY - 10
2. USA - 7
3. FRANCE - 5
4. SWITZERLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS - 3.5
6. GREAT BRITAIN - 2
7. IRELAND - 1
8. SWEDEN - 0.5
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI : 2006 CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
ROUND 1 - La Baule (Fra) 4-7 May;
ROUND 2 - Aachen (Ger) 17-21 May;
ROUND 3, Rome (Ita) 25-28 May;
ROUND 4 - Lucerne (Sui) 1-4 June;
ROUND 5 - Rotterdam (Ned) 22-25 June;
ROUND 6 - Hickstead (GBR) 26-30 July;
ROUND 7 - Dublin (Irl) 9-13 August;
ROUND 8 and FINAL - Barcelona (Esp)
14-17 September.
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