Netherlands Wins Vidauban Debut FEI Nations Cup, Sweden 2nd
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VIDAUBAN, France, May 17–The Netherlands won the FEI Nations Cup in dressage at Vidauban, France Friday with Sweden runnerup in the first of a pilot series of four team events in Europe this summer.
Laurens van Lieren and Hexagon’s Welnetta led the Dutch team of only three combinations, the others being Stephanie Peters and Unlimited and Katja Gevers and Thriller, with a score of 206.872.
Sweden’s Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfvén on Divertimento posted the highest individual score but with the results of Minna Telde and Don Charly and Jeanna Hogberg and Liza Minelli the total was 206.468, 0.404 behind the Netherlands.
France placed third and Switzerland fourth.
“We finished very close with Sweden,” Laurens said, “and with just three on our team that put a lot of pressure on our last rider. Katja was first to go and did a really good job with 67.255. We didn’t know what to expect from her, but she won the ‘Future Test’ which is a Grand Prix for Young Riders in Holland. She won at ‘s-Hertogenbosch with over 70 per cent, so she was selected for the team here. She is inexperienced at international level, but she did really well.
“Stephanie and I are more experienced. Stephanie was our last rider to go in and she knew she needed to get 68 per cent, but I reckoned she would be just fine. She had one small mistake in the second passage, and we expected a bigger score for her, but she got 69.234 and it was even more exciting because we had to rely on just the three of us.
“There was nowhere to hide!”.
While the Swedes might have been expected to win, he said, “we were convinced we could do it!”
Great Britain’s Sarah Millis and HP Frontier did not pass the veterinary inspecton leaving only two combinations that dropped them out of the team contest.
The results with only the three top scores counting were 1. Netherlands 206.872, 2. Sweden 206.468, 3. France 198.255, 4. Switzerland 195.958.
More teams, including the United States, are expected to take part in the series that next moves to Rotterdam as a CDIO5* on June 20, the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany on June 27 and a CDIO3* at Hickstead, England on Aug. 4.
The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) created the Nations Cup series in an effort to generate the same level of excitment and commitment garnered by the Nations Cups for jumping. Each team can have a maximum of four combinations and a minimum of three with three scores counting.
Vidauban, hosting a Nations Cup for the first time, implemented the traditional Nations Cups format of the team medals decided at Grand Prix. Rotterdam and Aachen will do the same.
Hickstead, however, has opted to use the Grand Prix Musical Freestyle as the Nations Cup class for the first time ever as organizers experiment with formats to capitalize on the success of the Olympics in London last summer.
The Nations Cup pilot project is an effort by the FEI to broaden the appeal of dressage that, if successful, could lead to creation of an official long-term series.
Rotterdam and Aachen have staged team competitions for many years and, along with Hickstead, have hosted championships in which the Nations Cup is a central feature.
The only non-championship Nations Cup outside Europe is the Wellington CDIO3* in Florida but it is a mixed Grand Prix/Prix St. Georges event aimed at raising the level of Pan American Games dressage to Big Tour from Small Tour.
However, the United States is planning to field teams at Aachen and Hickstead in the test series in Europe.
For this trial season, each event is of equal standing and the best two results for each nation over the four events will decide the overall winner.
The results:
1. Netherlands
 NED | LAURENS VAN LIEREN(HEXAGON S WELNETTA) | 70.383 |
NED | STEPHANIE PETERS(UNLIMITED) | 69.234 |
NED | KATJA GEVERS(THRILLER) | 67.255 |
2. Sweden
 SWE | TINNE VILHELMSON SILFVEN(DIVERTIMENTO) | 70.532 |
SWE | MINNA TELDE(DON CHARLY 1052) | 69.787 |
SWE | JEANNA HOGBERG(LIZA MINELLI) | 66.149 |
SWE | (CAROLINE DARCOURT(PARIDON MAGI) | 65.447) |
3. France
 FRA | CLAIRE GOSSELIN(KARAMEL DE LAUTURE) | 68.234 |
FRA | ARNAUD SERRE(ROBINSON DE LAFONT) | 65.915 |
FRA | CATHERINE HENRIQUET(PARADIESZAUBER) | 64.106 |
FRA | (JACQUES ALBECK(COLLIN 73) | 62.000) |
4. Switzerland
 SUI | HANS STAUB(WARBEAU) | 67.277 |
SUI | MELANIE HOFMANN(GB CAZZAGO C CH) | 65.064 |
SUI | ELISABETH EVERSFIELD-KOCH(ROKOKO N) | 63.617 |
SUI | (GILLES NGOVAN(SOLID BROWN) | 63.511) |
