In France the prestigious CSIO 5* Nations Cup of La Baule was just concluded. As usual, the Nations Cup was held over two rounds. Team Belgium performed excellently in their first 5* Nations Cup of the season by going straight home with the victory!
Grégory Wathelet was one of the only riders to go clear in both rounds. With his Olympic horse Nevados S (v. Calvados Z) he left all the fences up over two rounds, which was a huge advantage for the rest of the team. Niels Bruynseels sent Cristel (v. Diamant de Semilly) nicely clear through the first round. In the second round they had four penalty points. Wilm Vermeir was the third rider of the team. With IQ van het Steentje (v. Toulon) he got two faults in the first round, which ultimately became the deleted score. During the second round they got four penalty points behind their name. Finally, there was Jérôme Guéry with his Olympic partner Quel Homme de Hus (v. Quidam de Revel). In the first round they got four penalty points. In the second round there was a little more pressure on their shoulders, but the two did what they are good at: jumping clear. In total, team Belgium had collected only eight penalty points, and that was more than enough for victory.
Team France was in second place with a total of twelve penalty points. Simon Delestre and Cayman Jolly Jumper (v. Hickstead) got eight penalty points in the first round, but remained clear in the second. Megane Moissonnier and Cordial (v. Casall) reversed Delestre's result with a clear first round and eight penalties in the second. The result of the first two riders of team France was ultimately eliminated. Penelope Leprevost and GFE Excalibur de la Tour Vidal (v. Ugano Sitte) had four penalties in each of the two rounds. Finally, Kevin Staut got a fault in the first round with Visconti du Telman (v. Toulon). The second round they stayed clear. A total of twelve penalty points and a better total time relegated team France to the silver.
The time was of great importance to determine silver and bronze, because Team Canada also collected 12 penalty points - just like France. France was just a bit faster, so Yann Candele (Farezzo), Tiffany Foster (Figor), Beth Underhill (Dieu Merci van T&L) and Amy Millar (Truman) took home the bronze medal.
Individual ranking
In the individual ranking the first place was for Belgium as well thanks to Grégory Wathelet Nevados S (v. Calvados Z). As mentioned before, they jumped both round clear and on top of that they had the fastest time in total of 141,10 seconds. Beth Underhill finished in second individual place with Dieu Merci van T&L (v. Toulon). They cleared both rounds as well in a total time of 142,17 seconds. Antonio Maria Garofalo and Conquestador (v. Nabab de Reve) ended in third place of the individual ranking. They were the third and last combination that managed to stay clear in both rounds.
Photos: © JC Bordas
