France Wins Hickstead Nations Cup After Mistake By Dutch Rider Drops Holland to 2nd, USA 3rd, Britain 4th

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Katja Gevers and Thriller in the midst of a dramatic two-part opening movement of piaffe to a pirouette that was against the rules and may have cost the Netherlands the Nations Cup victory. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

HICKSTEAD, England, July 30, 2017–France managed to hold on to a lead built over two days to win the CDIO3* Nations Cup Sunday after Katja Gevers on Thriller was severely penalized for a mistake that dropped the Netherlands to runner up and the United States slipped to third with Great Britain fourth.

Sweden, which was not competing here, had already won the seven-event trans-Atlantic series that was decided by the best four results for any nation. The United States, winner of the inaugural year’s series in 2016, was second overall.

The victory for France was the first in the lineup of Nations Cups that was launched in 2013 and became an official International Equestrian Federation (FEI) series in 2016.

French Nations Cup team celebrating victory at the CDIO3* at Hickstead, England. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

The French team had led from the start in this finale event–one of four different formats applied in the seven events that began in Wellington, Florida at the end of March before moving to France, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and then England.

Pierre Volla on Badinda Altena was the individual winner of both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special giving France the lead before the deciding Grand Prix Freestyle but with the Dutta Corp. United States team and the Netherlands within reach.

Katja Gevers and Thriller was the first of two Dutch combinations and came after riders from the French, British and U.S. teams had posted relatively low scores.

Katja and the 17-year-old KWPN gelding gave the same performance delivered at the Olympia World Cup Freestyle in London last Christmas and at Gothenburg, Sweden in February that many, including the Dutch contingent, believed would score high enough to give Netherlands the victory.

However, the five judges huddled for several minutes before the next rider and many were shocked by the score of 70.215 per cent with no explanation what had transpired.

After the freestyle, judges explained to a clearly perplexed Katja that the entry passage that she immediately transitioned to a pirouette that had wowed spectators was in violation of the rules that requires two steps of canter between the two movements.

“I explained that the judges in two previous performances had not found anything wrong,” she said, but laughing added: “I’ll make a change. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Team mate Jean-Rene Luijmes on Aswin produced the highest score of 73.040 per cent among riders in the team competition that was not enough to catch France.

Netherlands’ Jean-Rene Luijmes on Aswin, the top finishing rider from the four teams competing in the Hickstead Nations Cup. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Kastel’s Nintendo scored 69.825 per cent that fell short of keeping the United States in the silver medal position.

The United States was the only country to compete in all seven events this year.

USA’s Charlotte Jorst on Kastel’s Nintendo in the Hickstead Nations Cup. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

The show grounds, that were enjoying the first sunny day in four days of competition, was tense by the last ride, France’s Ludovic Henry on After You.

The pair scored 70.230 per cent for France to hold on to the lead with a total of 424.811, just 0.758 ahead of Netherlands on 424.053 with the U.S. third on 421.920 and Great Britain fourth on 418.391.

Ludovic Henry on After You clinching the Nations Cup victory for France. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

France, along with most countries participating in the Nations Cup series, wants the competitions to be the same–team competition decided by the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special with the freestyle being an individual competition.

Also, they said, all countries competing in the series should be invited to all Nations Cups. France was not invited to the Nations Cup in Aachen, Germany last week.

Bo Jena, the Swedish team chef d’equipe, flew to England to receive a silver plate–not a cup, as the name implies–as the winner of the series which is decided by the best four results

Bo Jena with the award for Sweden, the 2017 Nations Cup series winner..© 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

Results:

CDIO3* Grand Prix Special

Judges–E: Susan Hoevenaars H: Hans Christian Matthisen C: Eddy de Wolff van Westerrode M: Alain Francqueville B: Irmeli Summanen

Technical/Artistic (Rank)
Pl.RiderHorse EHCMBTotal
 1.RICHARD DAVISON
GBRFEI ID 10011348
BUBBLINGH
KWPNFEI ID 104QJ85
Nation
71.75
78.00
(1)
74.50
79.00
(1)
72.25
75.00
(1)
72.00
73.00
(2)
72.50
73.80
(2)
74.180%
2.JEAN-RENE LUIJMES
NEDFEI ID 10034412
ASWIN
KWPNFEI ID 104JP73
70.00
74.00
(4)
70.75
75.00
(2)
69.50
72.00
(4)
71.50
74.00
(1)
75.25
78.40
(1)
73.040%
3.LOUISE BELL
GBRFEI ID 10109580
INTO THE BLUE
AESFEI ID 104QG61
68.25
77.00
(3)
70.00
74.00
(3)
69.75
72.00
(3)
69.50
73.00
(5)
67.75
72.40
(4)
71.365%
4.MARIE-EMILLIE BRETENOUX
FRAFEI ID 10008349
QUARTZ OF JAZZ
SFFEI ID 104IB12
67.75
74.20
(5)
67.50
73.00
(8)
69.00
73.00
(2)
69.25
73.00
(6)
67.00
72.80
(5)
70.650%
5.HENRY LUDOVIC (T)
FRAFEI ID 10016226
AFTER YOU
DSPFEI ID 103EV75
69.75
77.00
(2)
67.75
73.00
(7)
66.50
69.00
(10)
70.25
74.00
(4)
65.25
69.80
(11)
70.230%
6.KATJA GEVERS
NEDFEI ID 10079997
THRILLER
KWPNFEI ID 103HL43
68.75
72.00
(7)
70.00
71.00
(6)
68.75
70.00
(7)
68.25
71.00
(8)
70.00
72.40
(3)
70.215%
7.CHARLOTTE JORST
USAFEI ID 10042954
KASTEL’S NINTENDO
KWPNFEI ID 103YF35
66.25
71.00
(11)
69.75
74.00
(4)
65.50
69.00
(11)
70.75
74.00
(3)
67.00
71.00
(7)
69.825%
8.NICOLE FAVEREAU (T)
FRAFEI ID 10013502
GINSENGUE
BWPFEI ID 104TO76
68.00
70.00
(9)
69.25
73.00
(5)
67.25
70.00
(9)
68.00
71.00
(9)
67.50
72.00
(6)
69.600%
9.SARA GALLOP
GBRFEI ID 10099115
SUMMERHOUSE ZELHAM
KWPNFEI ID 104AL37
69.75
72.00
(6)
66.00
68.00
(10)
68.25
71.00
(5)
70.25
71.00
(7)
67.25
68.20
(10)
69.170%
10.VICKY THOMPSON-WINFIELD
GBRFEI ID 10060406
MANGO JACARO
FEI ID 104RQ00
67.50
71.00
(8)
64.50
71.00
(9)
68.50
69.00
(8)
66.50
69.00
(12)
67.00
70.20
(9)
68.420%
11.PIERRE VOLLA
FRAFEI ID 10062012
SIR PIKO
MECKLFEI ID 103QB24
65.25
68.00
(13)
64.75
67.00
(13)
70.25
69.00
(5)
66.75
67.00
(13)
64.25
70.40
(12)
67.265%
12.SUSAN DUTTA
USAFEI ID 10003416
CURRENCY DC
FEI ID USA10641
66.50
69.00
(12)
64.50
68.00
(11)
64.50
65.00
(14)
65.50
66.00
(15)
66.25
71.00
(8)
66.625%
13.NIINA NILOSAARI
FINFEI ID 10098642
KOM RAGDOLL
FWSFEI ID 104EW24
64.00
66.00
(15)
65.25
67.00
(12)
66.75
66.00
(12)
66.00
66.00
(14)
64.25
68.80
(13)
66.005%
14.ANNA ROSS
GBRFEI ID 10026019
WYDNY
KWPNFEI ID 105JE16
67.00
71.00
(9)
62.75
64.00
(15)
65.50
65.00
(13)
68.25
69.00
(10)
62.25
64.20
(15)
65.895%
15.ULRIK MOELGAARD
DENFEI ID 10079468
MICHIGAN
DWBFEI ID 102UC82
62.25
69.00
(14)
61.25
66.00
(14)
61.75
67.00
(15)
68.00
69.00
(11)
60.50
68.60
(14)
65.335%