Today’s focus class was the second round of the Youngsters Tour.
Similar to Tuesday’s first round of the Youngsters Cup, today’s competition was a single round judged on penalties and time, with the seven year olds competing over 1.40m level before the fences are raised 5cm for the eight year olds.
First on course was the grey gelding with the big floaty jump, Leonie Jei (Baltic VDL x Corland) and Martin Fuchs (SUI) who took the inside turn to seven, but otherwise posted an unhurried clear in 75.16 seconds.
The next clear didn’t come until number seven in the draw, and what a clear it was. Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt had Hatrona (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x Numero Uno) positively on fire, and despite the mare’s massive jump still managed to be extremely quick – in part due to an insane inside turn to fence 10 – to finish clear in 65.02 seconds. That is going to be very hard to beat.
Habitat BP (Dantos x l’Esprit) and Marc Houtzager (NED) were wasting no time right from the start, however opted for the wider outside lines; a forward but composed clear in 72.84 seconds and in to second place thus far.
The tall bay Generously Paid For (Bamako de Muze x Diamant de Semilly) and the USA’s Nicole Shahinian-Simpson took advantage of the stallions massive scope with a couple of long spots at oxers, and with his ground covering canter managed to pilot around the outside lines in the second fastest time yet of 72.43 seconds.
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Next in the ring was Eduardo Menezes (BRA) with H.Big Action (Action-Breaker x Big Star); this stallion is just so stylish over the fences, and they were extremely quick! Electing not to take Philipp’s daring turn into fence ten cost them to lead, but their clear in 66.15 seconds put them into second place at this point.
The cute little chestnut mare Malissa de Muze (Vigo d’Arsouilles x For Pleasure) with Lorenzo de Luca (ITA) came in with her ears pricked and looked like she was having the time of her life out there; with her lovely snappy jump and forward but unrushed canter they came home clear in 69.43 seconds and into third.
After raising the fences to 1.45m, first on course for the eight year olds was the winner of the first round of competition, Britain’s Scott Brash with Hello Franklin (Billy Mexico). This is such a lovely horse with a really nice canter, but today it wasn’t meant to be with both fences 10 and 11 coming down.
Fourth out for the eight year olds was Olivier Philippaerts (BEL) and Freesby de V. (RO) (Deister x Fidji du Fleury), who despite being a bit of a handful between fences put in a fast clear on the outside turns in 66.79 seconds, third best so far.
Next on course came Beezie Madden (USA) with the cute chunk little Garant (Warrant x Verdi TN), they were a bit slower between the fences than some of the others, but they dared the inside turn to 10 and pulled it off!! It wasn’t enough to hit the top of the leader board unfortunately, clear in 68.39 seconds.
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Elektric Blue P (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x For Pleasure) and Max Kühner came next, and the big horse with the lovely ground-covering canter put in a really classy clear in 70.40 seconds. Not the fastest of the day, but you really get the feeling that this horse will jump some big courses in the future; one to watch.
The bay mare Libelle v. Heffinck (Cooper van de Heffinck x Diamant de Semilly) is has such lovely technique behind, and despite giving it a good go with Niels Bruynseels (BEL) taking the outside lines meant they were unable to catch the leaders; still, a good round, clear in 70.51 seconds.
Number 37 in the draw Gerrit Nieberg (GER) and Ben 431 (Sylvain x Quincy Jones) came out flying, and the little horse with the big spring put in a super fast round but on the outside lines, clear in 67.08 seconds and into third.
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Last out was Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer with Diawella D (Diamant de Semilly x Litsam) and the big mare simply ate up the course with her massive canter. An excellent clear but not quite quick enough, 69.15 seconds and sixth.
Final results for the class:
- GER – Philipp Weishaupt – Hatrona (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x Numero Uno)
- BRA – Eduardo Menezes – H.Big Action (Action-Breaker x Big Star)
- GER – Gerrit Nieberg – Ben 431 (Sylvain x Quincy Jones)
- BEL – Olivier Philippaerts – Freesby de V. (RO) (Deister x Fidji du Fleury)
- USA – Beezie Madden – Garant (Warrant x Verdi TN)
- SUI – Pius Schwizer – Diawella D (Diamant de Semilly x Litsam)
- ITA – Lorenzo de Luca – Malissa de Muze (Vigo d’Arsouilles x For Pleasure)
- AUT – Max Kühner – Elektric Blue P (Eldorado van de Zeshoek x For Pleasure)
- BEL – Niels Bruynseels – Libelle v. Heffinck (Cooper van de Heffinck x Diamant de Semilly)
Philipp Weishaupt takes the win on Hatrona after only having the ride for a week!
Tonight is the much anticipated Mercedes Benz Nations Cup, which will see eight teams from the Netherlands, France, the United States, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland battle it out for top honours.
Full report on this class tomorrow!