2004 CSIO Aachen

Germany Wins Samsung Nations' Cup on Home Turf

July 16, 2004

It's been six years since Germany last captured the Nations' Cup on home turf at the CSIO Aachen. Fortunately, this year Germany was in such good shape that they were intangible for failure and supported by a mass they were cheered to victory.

The summer of 2004 in Europe has been lousy so far, but today the sky turned blue instead of gray and sunshine beamed over the huge Aachen Rennbahn which was filled with thousands and thousands of people who were gathered to watch the second most exciting jumper class of the show, the Nations' Cup. The German crowds are very respectful towards quality rides, but they act like groupies when it comes to supporting their compatriots.

Eight nations in total participated to the 2004 Samsung Nations Cup in Aachen and four of them (Germany, Holland, Belgium and the United States) tied with 8 penalty points after the first round.

Germany, however, was the only that rode such a brilliant second round with three faultless rides. They added no additional penalty points to the 8 of round 1 and reigned supreme. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was the star rider as she was the only german to produce a faultless first round aboard Shutterfly (Silvio x Forrest xx), so she did not even have to ride a second one after Otto Becker on Dobel's Cento, Marco Kutscher on Montender and Christian Ahlmann on Coster all cleared the course.

Finishing second in the Nations' Cup was team U.S.A. Peter Wylde, Alison Firestone, McLain Ward and Beezie Madden were equal competitors in round one. Both Firestone on Casanova and Becker on Cento had 8 penalty points in round one and became the scratch score for the team.

In the second round, Beezie Madden and McLain Ward didn't touch a rail. Unfortunately, Wylde's Fein Cera (Landadel x Cor de la Bruyere) knocked down one rail and referred the American team to a second place in Aachen.

The French team, consisting of Florian Angot, Eugenie Angot, Christian Hermon and Eric Navet had 15 penalty points in round one, but because of three 0-point rides and one 4-penalty point ride by Christian Hermon on Ephebe for Ever, the French team moved up the ranks into third position.

It was a tough match in Aachen for the Irish team. Last year they won the Nations' Cup, this year they had to be satisfied with a fourth place. In round one, Kevin Babington and Carling King knocked down two rails and Jessica Kurten on Quibell one.

In the second round, the Irish team performed much better with two clear rounds by Cian o Connor and Marion Hughes, but Jessica Kurten has a disastrous ride with 12 penalty points (scratch score) Babington had one rail down which made his team lose third position.

The Nations' Cup is ridden over one of the heaviest courses in the world with huge jumps, a high amount of jumps and a large stretch of distance to cover. Two horses in particular made a big impression with their talent and scope over the jumps, and fascinatingly enough, both horses were on the Belgian team. Clinton, a Holsteiner stallion by Corrado, and Cumano, a Holsteiner stallion by Cassini, were the incredible ones. Both of them did knock down a rail, but that showed such scope over each single jump, it was breath taking.

Text and Photos by Astrid Appels of Eurodressage.com

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