FRENCH GET THE BEST OF THE DRAW, AT LAST by Louise Parkes
Rotterdam (NED), 25 August 2011 – The luck of the draw went in favour of France for the first time this season today, so the defending double-champions will be last into the arena for tomorrow’s final leg of the FEI Nations Cup 2011 in Rotterdam (NED). French form has been unexpectedly weak throughout the series, and they are one of three nations that could possibly face the prospect of joining Denmark, already assured of relegation, in the Promotional League in 2012.
The order-of-go for the eighth leg of the series is as follows: 1, Germany; 2, The Netherlands; 3, Denmark; 4, Great Britain; 5, USA; 6, Ireland; 7, Belgium; 8, France. And there is plenty of tension in the air ahead of the final clash.
The rules dictate that, after the last of the eight legs in the premier tournament, the two lowest-placed nations are demoted to the second-tier Promotional League. And the countries in most danger of joining the Danes are the Americans and Belgians. But after the previous round in Dublin (IRL) three weeks ago, the French are lying fifth on the leaderboard and just four points ahead of Belgium. Should they experience yet another bad day, the country that has dominated the sport of Nations Cup Jumping for the last two seasons could be in a very vulnerable position.