Rebecca also took the stunning photos
It was a case of the youngsters taking over in the European Championships at Rotterdam. The individual final was won by 27 year old Swiss rider Martin Fuchs on his grey powerhouse Clooney. It’s been a rocky road to this point with the pair, who share a special relationship and have been together for five years, and it often seems that they are the bridesmaid but never the bride. They almost took out the Aachen Grand Prix a few years back until a cheeky Clooney ducked out of a fence for no apparent reason, devastating his rider. The Cornet Obolensky gelding is known for his trickster attitude but seems to have calmed down in the last couple of years.
Martin and Clooney
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With a silver at Tryon last year and another at the World Cup Final this year, their time had come in Rotterdam. It was a big relief for Fuchs and his emotion was evident.
“It looked very much like I’d be second again. Ben (Maher) has been great over the past two years and I thought I would not beat him at this championships. I had a fault in speed class, I took a lot of risk and Clooney struggled on the last combination. It was my fault. But he’s been getting better and better over the last few days. I knew if I do my job right, he will leave the poles up. I was pretty sure I could still make it to the press conference after day one, but not as the winner. This morning on Facebook I had a notification that nine years ago I won the Youth Olympic Games. I hoped it was a good sign!”
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Ben and Explosion
And it definitely was, but he had to wait until the final ride of the day when Ben Maher and Explosion W had a rail. Although previous European Champion Peder Fredricson won the first speed class, it was Ben who had been leading the field in every class afterwards and hadn’t knocked a fence. But the “very hot horse”is utterly glorious and for most of the show he seemed to be clearing the fences with plenty of room to spare.
Although disappointed with the rail, Ben was still thrilled with silver and all praise for his horse, “Explosion jumped amazing again today. He jumped a very good first round. I was confident. We bought him when he was seven and he’s been under my programme but with the stable riders. I’ve ridden him for two years now.”The horse is young at 10, so we’re sure to be seeing him on the podium many more times.
Holly and Heart’s Destiny
Ben was joined in the top ten by fellow Brit Holly Smith and her big bay, Heart’s Destiny. Holly broke her collar bone in a fall in July and has had a speedy post surgery recovery. “I’ve been working hard in the gym and waited the two weeks before I could get back on the horse. He’s 10 years old and was bred in Britain. He had done very little up until this time three years ago. He had done three 1.20 classes so keeping in mind he’s jumping 1.60 now, his progression has been really, really rapid. I think it’s been the best thing for him, not having done much as a young horse. He was absolutely fantastic. I think his second round today was even better than his first. He was really trying for me and he showed what a true championship horse he is. He’s an inexperienced horse and he just got better and better and it gives me something to build on for the Olympics next year.”
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Team GB as a whole has spent the last few years building and it has really paid off. “Hopefully I’m proof that it has been worthwhile and we have a stronger pool of riders. We’ve been given chances to jump at five star shows which is very hard to do if you’re not on a Nations Cup team. That’s been the main thing,” said Holly. Not only is she proof, but Great Britain managed to finish the teams competition in bronze position and secured their ticket to Tokyo. Germany took silver and Belgium won gold. Ben said later, “Securing Tokyo qualification was a hard job, we’ve had a difficult year. We’ve got a great team.”They certainly did what they needed to do and Chef d’equipe Di Lampard was very happy stating, “We’ve been looking forward to this for 12 months now. Dublin was a good trampoline for here. We’ve got good owners and team behind us.”
The young Belgian team showed how good they were under pressure skyrocketing from eighth to first position and with that winning their first European gold and earning a spot in Tokyo as well. The final Tokyo spot was taken up by France.
Gregory and Nevados
Team member Gregory Wathelet, who loves riding under pressure on his glorious stallion MJT Nevados S, explained that team Belgium is more experienced now since Tryon and have worked at this for a few years. It really showed. Teammate Pieter Devos, who rode Claire Z, said afterwards, “We are a strong, young team, we are good friends and work together,”and Jos Verlooy enthused, “Belgium is so strong at the moment and it was about time.”
Pieter and Claire Z
Jos, with his young horse Igor, was a star of the showjumping in just his second championships, the first having been Tryon. Although football was more his choice of sport when young, Jos took to the horse sport like a duck to water with both his parents riders, his father having ridden in the 1984 Olympics. Also following in his father’s footsteps is Igor, whose sire is Harrie Smolders’Emerald van’t Ruytershof.
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Jos and Igor
The gelding has been at the family’s stable Eurohouse since it was five years old with Jos taking up the ride just over two years ago. Now 11 years old, the chestnut is a very careful horse but can be a little tricky with his big personality, which is probably what makes him so good. “For me he’s been phenomenal this week and I’m so happy I can give him this medal. He’s still young. Last year we had faults due to his inexperience. We really learned a lot last year and it’s really paid off. It gives me a lot of confidence, especially going into next year.”
Although the host country weren’t amongst the medals, they had some interesting moments of their own. In the second round of the individual final, Marc Houtzager on Sterrehof’s Calimero had to deal with an animal rights protestor mid course. An annoyed Marc said afterwards, “I don’t want to talk too much about this idiot. Between jumps 2 and 3 the noise started from the crowd and I thought I jumped the course wrong. I saw something going into the treble but I was so concentrated on my course that I just kept going.”Saw something he did as the protester stood right in front of the jump, but was swiftly taken away by stewards. “For sure it affected my time. It was very difficult.” The combination still managed to finish a credible eighth.
Doron and Charley
On the positive, 28 year old Rotterdam native Doron Kuipers was riding at his first championships in front of his home crowd. His first show on the grey gelding Charley was at a national show a couple of years ago at the very same stadium, so the pair have come full circle. “It’s really amazing to be part of the Dutch team because we have so many good horses and riders. There are big names with big sponsors and owners who have been in teams for years. I have a really good owner who believes in me and gives me the opportunity to ride this horse. I was very pleased I got to be in the best four.” Doron runs his own stable of 18 horses (including his retired pony) just out of town.
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With less than a year out from the Olympics, it seems the field is really opening up. With America having won gold in Tryon, Brazil taking out the Pan American Games and now the Belgiums taking out the Europeans in top form, it will mean the more established teams such as Germany and Sweden will really have to work to stay in the running. Team GB is also on the rise and with another few months for individuals such as Ben Maher with Explosion W and Holly Smith with Heart’s Destiny, it should be one hell of a Games.
