Audi Equestrian Masters
Sunday, October 01, 2006
For the 3rd consecutive week Belgium has played host to a major CSI. This time the venue was Brussels where the Audi Equestrian Masters show ran at Tour & Taxis from 28th September to 1st October, under the direction of the Brazilian maestro Nelson Pessoa who, like his son Rodrigo has long been resident in the area.
The first evening commenced with a presentation and auction of foals. The first major jumping class was the Equifirst Trophy, a 6-Bar competition which attracted 19 starters. Clearing 2m in the 4th jump-off Nick Skelton and Russel maintained their remarkable record in this event which demands great precision as it is effectively one long combination fence. They have only been beaten just once in 8 events. On this occasion they shared the win with Germany's Marco Kutscher and Cash (by Catthago) being rewarded with 3,500 euros each. The trio sharing 6th place included Michael Whitaker on Insul Tech Leonardo 590 and John Whitaker on Nepos van Limbo with 4 faults in the 3rd jump-off. The organisers' bank balance stayed in the black - they had offered a jackpot of 50,000 euros for anyone clearing 2.20.
Michael on Leonardo was the only one of the 4 British riders to manage a clear 1st phase in Friday's 34 starter 1.45m La Libre Belgique Trophy in the Gold League category, but one mistake in the 2nd phase left him in 12th place. Richard Davenport on Nelson Z incurred 1 time fault. 3,000 euros went to one of the home riders, Philippe Lejeune with Gentleman, a 9 year-old by Graf Grannus.
Belgium had another win in the Catherine de Buyl Insurance Trophy, the next 1.45m Gold League class when Dirk Demeersman on Tymoon Caloo Meerchen (by Skippy II) beat Gregory Wathelet (who changed from Belgian to Ukrainian nationality last year) on Ceasar (by Contender) by over 2 seconds. Robert Whitaker took 10th place on Liz Hunt's 14 year-old mare Karina, with the fastest time at the expense of one fence down.
The last class of the night was the Rolex Classic Trophy (1.55m), for which Frank Rothenberger set a 12 fence course for the 33 starters. 8 contested the 8 fence jump-off course which included 2 obstacles not featured in the 1st round. Michael Whitaker on Insul Tech Quidame des Hayettes (a mare out of Albonnie who was also the dam of his Grand Prix ride Mozart des Hayettes) took 6th place and 1,500 euros with 4 faults in 43.12. Brazil took the top 2 places, Bernardo Alves on Topic van Voorhof with a clear in 40.81 beating Rodrigo Pessoa on Oasis (a 10 year-old by Dollar de la Pierre) by 1.99 seconds, and winning 9,000 euros. Malin Baryard Johansson's Butterfly Flip showed a welcome return to form with one of the 5 clears in the jump-off to take 3rd. Nick and Russel won 500 euros for 9th place having incurred 1 time fault.
On Friday morning Ludo Philippaerts's 13 year-old twin sons Nicolas and Olivier had been 1st and 2nd in the Bronze League 1.10m 2 phase class and next day he was the winner of the Gold League 1.50m Embraer Trophy, an Accumulator, when riding Vici van het Plutoniahof, he scored a maximum 3.12 secs faster than the runner-up, Robert Whitaker on Prima Vera. 5th and 6th places went to John Whitaker on Peppermill (who had been eliminated the previous night) and Richard Davenport on Werly Chin de Muze (a 7 year-old by Nabab de Reve).
The evening's 1.45m speed class, the ASBL Jumping de Bruxelles Trophy was won by France's Philippe Rozier on Ideal Deroy (by Quidam de Revel). Nick Skelton on a new horse for him, Cento S, an 8 year-old stallion formerly ridden by Switzerland's Dehlia Oeuvray, came 8th with the slowest of the clear rounds. The 7,000 euros winner's prize in the Conrad Hotel Tropy ( a Winning Round 1.50m) went to Rodrigo Pessoa on Cantate Z (a mare by Cantus, owned by Vittorio Orlandi a former member of the Italian team) who were over a second faster than Beat Mandli on Principal. Michael, Robert, Richard and John all finished out of the money with faults in the first round.
The British quintet were also out of luck in Sunday morning's Estoril Trophy, a 1.45m speed class which was won by the Dutch rider Leon Thijssen on Oramibro Z. 37 starters tackled the Grand Prix, the Audi Equestrian Masters Trophy, The course in this long and relatively narrow arena featured 13 fences (16 efforts) and the jump-off 7 fences (8 efforts) including one new fence. The 12 1st round clears did not include Richard Davenport on Nelson Z who had 1 time fault, Robert Whitaker on Lacroix 9 and Michael Whitaker on Mozart des Hayettes who had 4 faults each, or Nick Skelton and Russel who had 8 faults. Rodrigo Pessoa again emerged triumphant, with the fastest of 5 clears in the jump-off, on Oasis.
The prize of an Audi Q7 came just a week after their victory worth 50,000 euros, in the VDL Groep Grand Prix which was the Final of the Open European Masters Gold League at Zangersheide. Oasis is owned by Double H Farm in the USA and only joined Rodrigo earlier this year, their first major win coming in July in Grand Prix at the Falsterbo CSIO, and is the horse he plans to ride in the 2007 Pan American Games. Runner-up was the American rider Laura Kraut and Anthem, 1.59 secs in arrears, who picked up 35,000 euros and 3rd was the stylish Gregory Wathelet on Nike who won 30,000 euros. John Whitaker and Peppermill finished in a creditable 4th place adding 20,000 euros to their winnings in what has proved a very successful season for Rebecca Stones's stallion who was so well produced by Stuart Harvey.
