Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

30 Horse & Hound 22 August 2019

PREVIEW: EVENTING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

I

T’S not often that a nation can go into

an eventing championship with six

pairs who are all individual medal

contenders — a squad usually boasts

a strong cross-country horse who

cannot hope to deliver a seriously competitive

dressage or a younger pair who are there just

for experience.

But excitingly, Britain heads to the

Longines FEI European Championships

at Luhmühlen with six riders who could all

justifi ably harbour hopes of stepping on to an

individual podium.

Kitty King and Laura Collett are likely

to take the individual spots — their horses,

Vendredi Biats and London 52, are both

inexperienced at just 10 years old and have had

blips this year, though both seem to be back on

track now. Make sure you watch Laura in the

dressage as she could really make a stir.

Tom McEwen (Toledo De Kerser) and Piggy

French (Quarrycrest Echo) are both veterans

of last year’s World Equestrian Games (WEG)

gold medal-winning team, and it’s testament

to the class of these combinations that they

deliveredcompetitivespringresultsevenwhen

thingsdidn’tquitegotoplan.

TinaCookwillbringvastexperienceand

hopefullycanputbehindhera recentfall

whenBillyTheRedpeckedonlandingatthe

lastfenceatHartpury.TheBritishsquadis

strongerforhavingOliverTownendbackin

themixafterhisomissionlastyear.Let’shope

CooleyMasterClassthinksLuhmühlenis just

a GermanversionofKentucky,wherehehas

shownhisbestform.

B

RITAINstartasfavourites,butthe

Germanswillbekeentoregainthe

Europeantitletheylostin2017.Riding

onhomesoil,theybringa squadof12,withthe

teamyettobenamed.

IngridKlimkeshouldspearheadon

reigningindividualEuropeanchampion

andworldindividualbronzemedallistSAP

HaleBobOLD,whilethree-timeEuropean

championMichaelJunglooksanotherdead

certforthequartet,onFischerChipmunk

FRH,a newrideforhimthisseason.Don’trule

outa fourthindividualEuropeantitleon

a fourthdifferenthorseforMichael.

TheotherGermanteamspotswillprobably

gotoWEGridersKaiRüder(ColaniSunrise)

andAndreasDibowski(FRHCorrida),who

alsowentwellinAachenrecently.

Irelanddeservetobetakenseriouslyas

medalcontendersaftertheirworldteamsilver.

H&H eventing editor

Pippa Roome on why the

Brits start as favourites

Britain for the gold

PODIUM

PREDICTIONS

GreatBritain

Germany

Ireland

Ingrid Klimke GER

Oliver Townend GBR

Piggy French GBR

INDIVIDUAL

TEAM

Only one complete combination from that

squad come to Luhmühlen — Cathal Daniels

and Rioghan Rua — though Sarah Ennis

and Sam Watson will represent the emerald

isle again, this time on fairly inexperienced

horses. They are joined by Ciaran Glynn with

the exciting November Night, while senior

championship debutant Tony Kennedy will

probably take the individual spot.

None of the Irish will trouble the leaders in

the fi rst phase, but they achieved their WEG

result from seventh after dressage and could

deliver something similar this time.

France will hope to be competitive and

bring forward two pairs from their world

bronze medal-winning team in Thibaut

Vallette with Qing Du Briot ENE HN and

Sidney Dufresne with Tresor Mail. On the

rider side their back-up includes European

champions Jean-Lou Bigot and Nicolas

Touzaint, who has taken the title twice.

N

INE more nations beyond these

leading four will fi eld a team, and

all bar already-qualifi ed Poland

are grappling for two Olympic spots. Italy,

Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden would

be the favourites to collect a Tokyo ticket. H&H

EVENTING

Can reigning

European champions

Ingrid Klimke and

SAP Hale Bob OLD

hold on to their title

this year?

FREE Nutritional Advice Line Call 0800 373 106 or email [email protected] naf-equine.eu/uk

The proof is in the performance