The EEF Nations Cup season has officially kicked off in Mannheim! Germany took the lead in this CSIO3* Nations Cup, with Belgium following closely behind in second, ahead of Ireland. The Dutch quartet had an incredibly strong second round, but their 16 penalty points pushed the riders in Orange back to seventh place.
Germany started the competition in peak form. Sandra Auffarth (Quirici H), Stefan Engbers (Baju NRW), and Gerrit Nieberg (Ib Queen) all finished the first round clear. Michael Jung and the nine-year-old gelding Fischerbheros Z also kept all the rails up, though they finished—as the first to start—with a single time penalty.
In the second round, only Sandra Auffarth knocked a rail with the gelding bred by G.J. Hagemann. Consequently, the German team was the only squad to finish with a completely faultless total score.
The Battle for the Podium
Belgium and Ireland both finished with a total of four penalties (one rail). Yves Vanderhasselt was the first to go for the team aboard the nine-year-old Pepper Vitseroel Z, recording one jumping fault in each round. Anthony Philippaerts and the 10-year-old Gabell d'Arvor picked up a single rail in the second round. Both Katja Haep (Romy FZ) and Jos Verlooy (Nixon van 't Meulenhof) delivered impressive double-clear performances to anchor the Belgian effort.
Ireland took third place with the same number of penalty points. They entered the second round carrying four faults, and because their result was already secured, their final rider did not need to start. Ultimately, the clock acted as the tie-breaker to determine the final standings between Belgium and Ireland.
