It’s hard to fault the Germans for picture-perfect jumping. A crowd of thousands cheered them on in Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Arena, Friday, April 22, in the FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Final II, as they navigated a tough course that stumped the first three riders of the night, causing them to retire after multiple refusals and upset fences. That same course dished out faults at will, even to the top five ranking riders from Thursday’s first leg of the Jumping Final.

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, a California native, turned German citizen, rode Shutterfly to capture the win in this second of three World Cup jumping installments. The pair pulled off a double-clear round in the fastest jump-off time of 32.56.

“I think it was a fabulous course tonight,” Michaels-Beerbaum said. “It was very, very technical. The fences were big. It needed to be ridden very precise; there were a lot of options on the lines. There were lines where you could go forward and leave out strides or take the option to add. Riders did a number of different things on the course. I thought that was very interesting because that doesn’t happen all the time. That’s the sign of a very good course. I have big compliments to the course designer, not just because I won, but because he did great job tonight and I think we had a great class.”

Michaels-Beerbaum’s flawless ride catapulted her into the overall lead, adding 42 points to last night’s score, for a new total of 78. As the leader, that translates into zero penalties as she prepares for Sunday’s final round.

Claiming a close second in Friday night’s jump was Germany’s Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst and Candy 195. They brought in a double-clear round with a jump-off time of 32.62.

“We have very good horse shows [in Germany], and are very proud of it,” said Pollmann-Schweckhorst. “What happens here [in Las Vegas]…is something special. You can see and feel—it is really something outstanding. There was a good presentation and the crowd really loved it.”

Steve Guerdat of Switzerland rounded out the top three on Isovlas Pialotta, also with a double-clear round and a score of 33.16.

Those who saw the feat in person could tell you the jump-off was every bit as spectacular as the initial course. Of the nine who made it that far, it produced five clears, and single knockdowns for each of the remaining four. The trip to the liverpool was arguably the trickiest part. Brazilian mastermind course designer Guilherme Nogueira Jorge had the revised jump-off constructed so that riders had a long option and a short option to that jump. As it turned out, the long option ate away valuable time. The short option, on the other hand, proved too big of a chance for the riders to take.

“To do this in the second leg of a World Cup is quite risky because something would happen like the horse would struggle a bit or get a bad distance and it would maybe cause problems on Sunday,” added Pollmann-Schweckhorst. “That’s why the riders didn’t choose the inside turn. [On the] Sunday Grand Prix, maybe we would have tried.”

“I’m very pleased with the outcome of the class,” said Nogueira Jorge. “I think I got a very good group for the jump-off. I was hoping for 8 clears, so I was happy with the outcome and I think we had a great jump-off.”

America’s brightest and best weren’t able to squeeze their way onto the leader board though. With nine riders snagging clear rounds, tenth place was the only spot open for a rider with faults. That went to Richard Spooner, on Hilton Flight. The pair narrowly missed the elite group, picking up four faults and joining nine others with the same status. Spooner was the fastest of that group, assuring his tenth place ranking with a time of 65.69 seconds.

“The hardest part of the course was everything after the first jump,” said a witty Spooner.

One round remains for the 2005 FEI Budweiser World Cup Jumping Final, and the three leaders going into Sunday’s show-down are all German: Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum will go in with 78 points, or zero penalties. Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst and Lars Nieberg will each go in with 71 points, or three penalties. The top-ranked American going into the final round is Kimberly Frey, riding Marlou. The American favorites from Thursday night after their fourth place finish, Frey and Marlou incurred four faults on Friday, moving them to an overall 10th place ranking. That means on Sunday, they’ll start with a total of 66 points, or six penalties.

For the latest updates from the 2005 FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, log on to www.usef.org. For the latest results, log on to www.usef.org/worldcupfinals.

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