GERMANS CEMENT THEIR POSITION AHEAD OF CROSS-COUNTRY DAY by Louise Parkes
Lexington, 1 October – The German team go into tomorrow’s Eventing Championship cross-country challenge at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games with a 14 point lead over their nearest rivals from Great Britain. Sweden lies third ahead of Australia in fourth but less than 20 penalties separate the top four nations and just 40 penalties, or two jumping errors, separate the top ten teams.
On a day when the standard of dressage just kept getting better and better it was Germany’s Michael Jung who took over at the head of affairs. He admitted during the post-competition press conference that he regularly competes in pure dressage, “but not at the World Equestrian Games!” he pointed out. He described his 10 year old gelding La Biosthetique Sam as “a bundle of energy”, and he used that energy today to post a superb score of 33.0 to go out in front.
ROUSING CHEER
However he is closely followed by Italy’s Stefano Brecciaroli whose test with Apollo van de Wendi Kur Hoeve brought a rousing cheer from the crowd after they put 35.50 on the board. The handsome Belgian Warmblood gelding, which the rider has been competing for the last two years, really rose to the occasion and the 36 year old rider from Rome, who is a member of the Italian police force, the Carabinieri, was delighted with his result. “I competed in Fontainebleau (FEI European Championships) last year and also in Aachen this summer with this horse,” he explained.
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