Wexford’s Bertram Allen remains the best placed Irish rider at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, lying in 14^th place overall heading into today’s (Thursday) final round of the team competition .

 

Allen knocked a single fence in yesterday’s round with his mare Molly Malone, adding to the clear he produced when winning Tuesday’s opening speed class and the teenager is still just one fence away from French leader Patrice Delaveau with Orient Express.

 

Offaly’s Darragh Kenny riding Imothep and Tipperary’s Denis Lynch with All Star 5, both returned with the same four fault score as Bertram Allen, while Mayo’s Cameron Hanley was the discard score having picked up 12 faults with Antello Z.

 

Ireland go into today’s team medal deciding competition in eighth place overall and will be hoping to grab one of the five automatic qualification places on offer for the Rio Olympic Games.

 

Several of the favourites to take team medals at the World Equestrian Games are out of the competition, with Great Britain, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and Italy all failing to make the top 10 cut off point

 

The individual World Championship will be decided on Sunday at the French venue.  

 

 

Team standings: 1, Netherlands, 4.83; 2, USA, 8.72; 3, Germany, 8.82; 4, France, 10.08; 5, Brazil, 12.95; 6, Canada, 14.00; 7, Sweden, 15.01; 8, Ireland, 18.51; 9, Colombia, 21.86; 10. Ukraine, 22.98. 

 

Individual standings: 1, Orient Express HDC (Patrice Delaveau) FRA, 0.08; 2, Cortes C (Beezie Madden) USA, 0.16; 3, Casall ASK (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) SWE, 0.34; 4, Cornet D’Amour (Daniel Deusser) GER, 0.70; 5, Zenith SFN (Jeroen Dubbeldam) NED, 1.25; 6, Glock’s London N.O.P. (Gerco Schroder) NED, 1.29; 7, Tailormade Esperanza de Rebel (Soren Pedersen) DEN, 2.49; 8, Rothchild (McLain Ward) USA ,2.56; 9, Vienna Olympic (Sheikh Ali bin Khalid Al Thani) QAT, 2.89; 10, VDL Groep Verdi TN N.O.P. (Maikel van der Vleuten) NED, 3.05.

 

144 horse-and-rider combinations competed in today’s first round of the team competition and second individual qualifier.

20 clear rounds over the 13-fence track.

6 eliminations and 2 retirements.

The Netherlands improved from fifth place overnight to take the lead going into tomorrow’s second round of the team competition which will decide the team medals.

The USA lies second and Germany third with the host nation of France in fourth place when tomorrow’s action begins.

French rider Patrice Delaveau leads the individual standings ahead of America’s Beezie Madden in second and Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in third.

Bertram Allen, the young Irishman who topped the individual standings overnight dropped to 14^th with Molly Malone when lowering just one fence today.

Just 10 teams go through to tomorrow’s second round – Netherlands, USA, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Columbia and Ukraine.

Brazil enjoyed a meteoric rise from overnight 12^th all the way up to fifth place today thanks to three clear rounds.  

The only other team to produce three clear rounds today were the new leaders from The Netherlands.  

Michael Whitaker GBR: “I’m frustrated because I rode good but my horse was distracted by the atmosphere – he was spooky and tense so I had faults.”

 

Pius Schwizer SUI: “My horse is quite young, only nine years old. He is still quite sensitive and showed it today. He never makes mistakes like this at home or at other shows, and he never makes a mistake twice. But here I think he was really impressed by all the things around the fences, and the difference of light between the sunny part of the course and the parts in the shade. He kept shying at all this and felt like a piece of wool under my saddle. Switzerland is lucky to have other good riders on the team.”

 

Jeroen Dubbeldam NED: “The course is more difficult than yesterday but my horse felt good and fit. The oxers were extremely wide but Zenith is very good at that. I believe in taking time to prepare a horse for this kind of competition. I took two years with this horse and its going well because all the buttons are there!”

 

Simon Delestre FRA: “My round wasn’t bad but having one down is always painful. It is a very subtle course, the fences are beautiful and the course is well built and the time is tight. You have to ride each fence very carefully, they are all light, and there are quite a few verticals at the end of the lines.”

 

Yann Candele CAN: “I came a little bit early to see McLain (Ward) ride. It’s a step up from yesterday, and you probably won’t see as many clear rounds as yesterday either. It’s bigger, wider, lighter but fair at this level, and Showgirl jumped it really well. I really appreciate that the French also cheer for me since I used to live not far away, in Soliers, for about 10 years.”

 

Maikel van der Vleuten NED: “I’m very happy, it wasn’t easy and I lost a stirrup at one stage so I was a bit out of balance.”

 

Marcus Ehning GER: “Christian (Ahlmann) was very unlucky with one down and I had a really good round. The course is nothing crazy, it’s a championship and it’s technical with a few really big oxers….the last double is very hard, I think it is a good world championship course. If you go to a championship as a German rider there is always a lot of pressure. But in our sport I think it’s a bit closer. You can see after yesterday the first six teams within one fault (of each other), then if you have one rail down it can be not so good! The pressure is on every jump.”

 

1. Patrice Delaveau (FRA)

French: http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Alltech_delaveau_day2_fr.mp3

English: http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Alltech_Delaveau_day2_eng.mp3

2. Beezie Madden (USA)

3. Daniel Deusser (GER)

6. Gerco Schroder  (NED)

7. Soren Pedersen (DEN)  

9. Shaikh Ali bin Khali AL THANI (QAT)

11. Cassio Rivetti (UKR)

14. Betram Allen (IRL)

 

15.  Dr Pearce Lyons, President and Founder of Alltech http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Alltech_lyons.mp3

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