Germany re-asserted authority at the top of the Samsung Super League with FEI 2006 leaderboard when winning the fourth leg of the series in Lucerne, Switzerland today but the home team was impressive when finishing second ahead of the Swedes who put in a truly solid performance to slot into third.

Winners at the first two legs in La Baule and Aachen, the Germans stumbled in Rome last Friday but Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Marco Kutscher, Christian Ahlmann and Marcus Ehning combined their formidable talents to reinforce their nation's supremacy at the head of the league table as the series reached its half-way stage today.

With deep concern about the ground conditions following many weeks of heavy rain in the Lucerne area, every effort was made to ensure that the competition was run on the best possible going and, in both rounds, the fences were moved after the first two riders had completed. The surface was holding, but the rain stayed away for the afternoon and the competition developed into a real thriller with the usual measure of the unexpected keeping spectators glued to their seats for the duration of the class.

Designers Rolf Ludi and Heiner Fischer kept the courses as short and simple as possible, and there was no triple combination included in the 10-fence track in either round. This helped the Germans to make it all look even easier than usual but the Swiss kept pace with them every step of the way in round one when, just like Germany's Marcus Ehning and Gitania, Pius Schwizer was not obliged to jump for Switzerland after clears from Christina Liebherr (LB No Mercy), Markus Fuchs (La Toya) and Beat Mandli (Principal).

The Swiss and Germans started the second round on a zero score while the British and Americans were close behind carrying just four faults each. France, Sweden and Holland all collected eight faults in round one and the Irish were only one point behind at this stage with nine faults on the board. As the second round evolved however the real excitement began.

The Irish showed significant improvement when Shane Breen returned with just a single mistake from World Cruise and Cameron Hanley, hero of the Irish effort in Rome last week when double-clear, was foot-perfect with Hippica Kerman to complete with just his single time penalty from the first round. The French score deteriorated however with two more mistakes from Gilles Bertran de Balanda and Crocus Graverie and four faults for Christian Hermon and Ephebe for Ever La Silla at the bogey white planks at fence nine which fell with almost monotonous regularity. Peder Fredricson recovered from an 11-fault first round effort to go clear second time out with H&M Magic Bengtsson to seriously boost Sweden's position but the Dutch began to look vulnerable with eight faults from Jeroen Dubbeldam and BMC Nassau and five more from Eric Van der Vleuten and Audi's Jikke. Meanwhile the Americans began to slip out of contention after Christine McCrea and Promised Land collected 16 faults and Candice King and Tarco left two fences on the floor while the British found themselves in all sorts of trouble.

Nick Skelton opted to replace Arko with Russel on the day and while the grey stallion had seemed happy enough when clear first time out he found the second track much less to his liking. Horses had to turn away from the in-gate when jumping the FEI vertical at fence two and Russel jammed on the brakes at this one before jumping it at the second time of asking. He then hit the second element of the double at four and when Skelton turned him towards the double at fence seven, which again was located close to the in-gate, the grey backed off leaving his rider having to push hard to ensure he took this one on but he clipped the second element along with two more to return with an uncharacteristic 22 faults on the board.

John Whitaker followed with a four-fault result from Peppermill but British fortunes continued to go downhill with eight from Ben Maher and Niko and nine from Michael Whitaker and Mozart des Hayettes to leave them on a total of 25 which proved the worst tally of the day.

Despite nine faults from Marion Hughes and Transmission Irish chances were looking a lot more promising as last-man-in Edward Doyle seemed likely to maintain a low score with Effective but Irish luck was once again absent as the gelding was found to have sustained a puncture wound from a stud during his first tour of the track so was withdrawn to leave them on a score of 22. The French failed to stem the outgoing tide and with two fences down for Patrice Deleveau and Jumpy des Fontaines and the dreaded planks hitting the floor for Florian Angot and First de Launay they also dropped behind the Irish with a total of 24.

The Swedes held firm however, single errors from Helena Lundback (Conan), Lotta Schultz (Calibra) and Svante Johansson (Nostradamus) securing their final tally of 16 while, despite a second superb clear from Gerco Schroder and the big-jumping Eurocommerce Berlin, the Dutch completed with 17 along with the Americans. Molly Ashe and Neuville produced the only US second-round clear and when Laura Kraut and Miss Independent followed their opening fault-free performance with a five-fault result this time out then McCrea's 16 faults could be dropped but this still left the US side on level pegging with the Dutch.

At the sharp end the Germans and Swiss were locked in a fierce battle. Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly put in a superb double-clear exhibition but Marco Kutscher's Montender lowered the second element of the double at four and Christian Ahlmann's Coster caught the back bar of the final oxer. In the Swiss camp both Liebherr and Fuchs faulted once but when Beat Mandli and Principal produced a very classy second clear then newly-crowned FEI World Cup champion Marcus Ehning was forced into the ring to secure Germany's position with Gitania which he did in typically cool fashion to ensure a four-fault finishing score for his team. Now all the pressure was on the final Swiss rider Pius Schwizer who did not have to jump in the first round. A clear from him would also leave Switzerland with just four faults at the end of two rounds, but it was not to be as Unique hit all of the first three fences before being retired.

Far from being disappointed however, Swiss Chef d'Equipe Rolf Grass was in upbeat mood afterwards. "I am very satisfied with second place" he said, "the Swiss team is in good order so far, there are three months to the championships in Aachen and everything is going well for us right now" he added.

If it is going well for the Swiss however then it is going even better for the Germans who are looking very comfortable indeed ahead of the World Equestrian Games. Michaels-Beerbaum said "Shutterfly is in the best form of his life. He feels wonderful, he had a double-clear at Aachen and he's having a lot of fun doing his job at the moment. I hope he can hold his form for the rest of the season".

Christian Ahlmann joked that he deliberately made a mistake at the last fence in the second round just to make sure that Marcus Ehning had to go into the ring. Ehning has been side-lined by the brilliance of his team-mates in recent weeks but had to make a contribution today and it was a crucial one. Kutscher remarked that Montender is going better for him right now partly because he is now riding him in a Hackamore, or bitless, bridle. "It's just my third time to use it with him" he explained.

On the leaderboard the Germans have now extended their advantage to almost eight points ahead of the Americans while the Swiss are five points further behind in third. The Swiss lie fourth ahead of the British in fifth and the Swedes are strengthening all the time in sixth. But just over one point separates the Dutch in seventh and the Irish in eighth place and bottom of the table. The Netherlands team will, no doubt, want to rectify that situation when the next leg of the series takes place on their home ground in Rotterdam later this month.

RESULT:
1. Germany 4 faults - Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) 0/0, Montender (Marco Kutscher) 0/4, Coster (Christian Ahlmann) 0/4, Gitania (Marcus Ehning) DNS/0.
2. Switzerland 8 faults - LB No Mercy (Christina Liebherr) 0/4, La Toya (Markus Fuchs) 0/4, Principal (Beat Mandli) 0/0, Unique X CH (Pius Schwizer) DNS/Ret.
3. Sweden 16 faults - H&M Magic Bengtsson (Peder Fredricson) 11/0, Conan (Helena Lundback) 4/4, Calibra (Lotta Schulz) 4/4, Nostradamus (S Johansson0 0/4.
4. The Netherlands 17 faults - BMC Nassau (Jeroen Dubbeldam) 4/8, Audi's Jikke (Eric Van der Vleuten) 4/5, Olad (Leon Thijssen) 8/4, Eurocommerce Berlin (Gerco Schroder) 0/0.
4. USA 17 faults - Promised Land (Christine McCrea) 0/16, Tarco (Candice King) 8/8, Neuville (Molly Ashe) 4/0, Miss Independent (Laura Kraut) 0/5.
6. Ireland 22 faults - World Cruise (Shane Breen) 12/4, Hippica Kerman (Cameron Hanley) 1/0, Heritage Transmission (Marion Hughes) 4/9, Effective (Edward Doyle) 4/DNS.
7. France 24 faults - Crocus Graverie (Gilles Bertran de Balanda) 8/8, Ephebe for Ever La Silla (Christian Hermon) 4/4, Jumpy des Fontaines (Patrice Deleveau) 4/8, first de Launay (Florian Angot) 0/4.
8. Great Britain 25 faults - Russel (Nick Skelton) 0/22, Peppermill (John Whitaker) 0/4, Niko (Ben Maher) 12/8, Mozart des Hayettes (Michael Whitaker) 4/9.

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE WITH FEI 2006 : LEADERBOARD AFTER ROUND 4 IN LUCERNE :

1. Germany - 31.625
2. USA - 23.5
3. France - 18.0
4. Switzerland- 16.125
5. Great Britain- 13.5
6. Sweden - 10.125
7. Netherlands- 9.125
8. Ireland - 8.0

SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE - NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!

For more information about the Samsung Super League with FEI at Lucerne, Switzerland on Friday 2 June check out WEBSITE www.csio.ch. Show President is Mr Peter Stoessel, Show Director is Urs Schiendorfer and Press Officer is Peter Wyrsch - email wy@sda-ats.ch.

The next leg of the series takes place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands 22-25 June. Show President is Frans Lavooy, Show Director is Emile Hendrix and Press Officer is Anita Lussenburg - email anita.lussenburg@Ingram.nl, Tel - +31104528900.