Belgians Clinch Historic Furusiyya Victory at St Gallen
(L to R) Sabrina Zeender, FEI Secretary General; Farouk Mohamad Wazeer Ali, Saudi Arabian Chargé d’affaires to Switzerland; winning Belgian team Niels Bruynseels, Pieter Devos, Dirk Demeersmann (Chef d’Equipe), Greogry Wathelet, Jos Verlooy; Markus Straub, Präsident des Kantonsrates des Kantons St. Gallen; Nayla Stössel, President of Organising Committee CSIO St. Gallen and Urs Schiendorfer, Event Director CSIO St. Gallen. (FEI/Katja Stuppia)
St Gallen (SUI), 5 June 2015 – On a tough afternoon of top-class competition, Team Belgium produced a pugnacious performance to win the fourth leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 Europe Division 1 League at St Gallen in Switzerland. Lying third at the halfway stage they fought back with three fabulous second-round clears to pin the host nation into runner-up spot ahead of Ireland in third.
Like the Swiss, Team Germany were also chasing their first Furusiyya points of the season and sent out their big guns in an attempt to maximise their chances. But in the end they had to settle for fourth spot ahead of France in fifth, while the high-scoring British, Italian and Dutch sides filled the last three places.
Today’s result confirms the growing strength of Dirk Demeersman’s Belgian side, and it was all the more memorable for the fact that this was only the second Nations Cup victory ever recorded by a Belgian team on Swiss soil. Their single previous success was 81 years ago – at Geneva in 1934.
Copybook tour
The course designed by Switzerland’s Gerard Lachat looked deceptively elementary when Germany’s Hans-Dieter Dreher and Embassy ll produced a copybook tour as the first pair into the arena. But although eight other horse-and-rider combinations would also find the key at their first attempt, it presented a very big test.
Even the opening vertical took its toll, while the sweeping left-hand turn to the big oxer at fence four proved troublesome, yet most managed to leave the following Longines triple combination – oxer, vertical, vertical – intact. Apart from the fence dimensions, horse-and-rider combinations were also challenged by the stride distances at various points on the course, and many found it difficult to leave the flimsy white planks up after crossing the 4-metre-wide open water at fence seven whether they went on six or seven strides. The double at fence nine was located just past the entrance to the arena and reigning European champion, Roger Yves Bost, had to sit out some histrionics from Pegase du Murier here before also hitting the following wide oxer for a first-round total of 11 faults.
But on a day of great horsemanship, the Frenchman and his big-jumping grey stallion cruised home next time out, while Italy’s Emilio Bicocchi was greeted by loud cheers from the crowd when he persuaded the nine-year-old Ares to take on the open water which the horse had stalwartly refused to do in round one. The last two fences also proved influential, the penultimate tall rustic vertical hitting the floor on numerous occasions.
Whip hand
It was the Irish who held the whip hand at the halfway stage on a zero score after clears from Shane Breen (Golden Hawk), Greg Broderick (MHS Going Global) and Bertram Allen (Romanov), but the Swiss were hot on their heels carrying just four faults, followed by the Belgians and British, each carrying nine. The German team was just one fault further adrift, while France went into round two carrying 12 and Italy carried 24. But The Netherlands’ day was already done, with a massive 38 faults already posted.
The British slipped right out of contention when adding 20 more to their scoreline, but second-round clears from Christian Ahlmann (Epleaser van T Heike) and Ludger Beerbaum (Chiara) meant Germany added just four from Mario Stevens (Brooklyn 17) which stabilised their position. However, the real battle was played out between the Irish, Swiss and Belgians – the latter simply proving too good for the rest at the end of the day.
Cemented their scoreline
Clears from Pieter Devos (Dream of India Greenfield) and Gregory Wathelet (Conrad de Hus) and the second part of a double-clear for Jos Verlooy (Domino) cemented their scoreline at those nine first-round faults – Niels Bruynseels’ single time-penalty with Pommeau du Heup providing their discard. Switzerland’s Romain Duguet (Quorida de Treho) and Martin Fuchs (Clooney 51) also jumped double-clear, but when Steve Guerdat’s Olympic champion, Nino des Buissonnets, lowered the second element of the double at nine and the following oxer at 10 then his score had to be counted because Pius Schwizer’s anchor round with Amira went seriously awry after they mistimed their jump at the open water.
Meanwhile, the Irish lost their grip with double-errors for Breen and Allen and five faults from O’Connor. Broderick’s double-clear, however, ensured they could drop one of the eight-fault results to finish on a total of 13, and slot in behind the Swiss who rounded up their score at 12.
Rallied brilliantly
The winning Belgians rallied brilliantly second time out, and Chef d’Equipe, Dirk Demeersman, was asked afterwards what he had said to his riders during the half-time break. “I said we are strong, so let’s show it that we are strong, and they showed it! We hoped to finish in the top three, so first is even better!” he replied. “The goal was to stay in Division 1 and to qualify for Barcelona (Furusiyya Final). I want to congratulate Gerard Lachat (course designer). I thought it was a super course today,” he added.
Pieter Devos said he was a little disappointed with his first-round effort. “My horse jumped well, but I made a mistake,” he insisted. He came out filled with resolve after the half-time team-talk, however. “I really wanted to go clear in the second round. We have a very good team spirit and we wanted to come back good and we did!” he said.
A result to savour
For 19-year-old Jos Verlooy, this was a result to savour. The super-talented young Belgian has produced the 12-year-old Belgian-bred gelding Domino since he was a five-year-old and has achieved great things with him. Today’s double-clear that helped his team to victory made him very proud. “Domino was great, as always. This course was tough, so the double-clear felt extra good!” he said.
Gregory Wathelet said he wasn’t sure why he faulted twice in the first round. “Maybe I was a little bit too relaxed. But Dirk asked me to change a few things and I did, so the second round was great!” he said.
Team Belgium has now accumulated 250 points and heads the Europe Division 1 leaderboard with just one more points-gaining outing remaining, at Hickstead in Great Britain at the end of July. Before that, the league also visits Rotterdam, The Netherlands on 19 June, and Falsterbo, Sweden on 10 July.
For further information on the tenth leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 series at St Gallen, Switzerland, visit www.csio.ch or contact Press Officer Roman Gasser, Email roman.gasser@csio.ch or Tel +41 79 635 5005.
The next leg of the series will take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Friday 19 June. For details of the Dutch fixture, visit www.chio.nl or contact Press Officer Anita Lussenberg, Email press@chio.nl.
Full result here.
Facts and Figures:
St Gallen in Switzerland staged the fourth leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 Europe Division 1 League today.
8 teams competed, with five – Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland – chasing points towards the Furusiyya 2015 Final which will take place in Barcelona, Spain from 24 to 27 September.
Course designer was Switzerland’s Gerard Lachat.
The time-allowed over the 12-fence track was 78 seconds.
Team Belgium were victorious, with the host side from Switzerland lining up second ahead of Ireland – leaders at the halfway stage – in third.
9 horse-and-rider combinations jumped clear in the first round.
4 double-clear rounds on the day.
There were three 19-year-old riders competing in this leg of the series – great Britain’s Jessica Mendoza (Spirit T) and Ireland’s Bertram Allen (Romanov) who both jumped clear in the first round, and Belgium’s Jos Verlooy (Domino) who produced one of the four double-clear performances.
1 elimination in the first round, for Italy’s Emilio Bicocchi whose 9-year-old gelding, Ares, refused to take on the 4-metre-wide open water. However, the pair returned to complete the course for eight faults in round two.
Belgium heads the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2015 leaderboard, with France in second and Ireland lying third going into the fifth leg of the Europe Division 1 League at Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Friday, 19 June.
Quotes:
Sabrina Zeender, FEI Secretary General: “I would like to congratulate the Belgian team on their outstanding performance and success today. It was fabulous… we were off our seats with excitement! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank St Gallen CSIO under the presidency of Nayla Stossel for the excellent work they do in hosting this wonderful event which is one of the flagships in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup series.
A big thank you also to Furusiyya for their support without which all this would not be possible, and of course to our top partner, Longines, to whom we are extremely grateful.”
Nayla Stossel, President of Organising Committee CSIO St. Gallen: “We had a great day with super sunshine, 7,500 spectators and great sport. I want to congratulate the Belgian team – we are just happy, although I have to say that we would have loved to see the Swiss in first place this afternoon!”
Detailed standings here.
For further information on the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping series, check out this link.
By Louise Parkes
Media Contacts:
At St Gallen:
Roman Gasser
Press Officer
roman.gasser@csio.ch
+41 79 635 5005
At FEI:
Grania Willis
Director Media Relations
Grania.willis@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 42
Malina Gueorguiev
Manager Press Relations
malina.gueorguiev@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 33
