Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
SPONSORS
PARTNERS
ECM Blogs
Will Luhmuehlen Be Lucky for Frank?
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
This week
Luhmuehlen in Germany hosts the third leg of the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM, the new
series which links the five great 4-Star three-day events, and Germany's Frank
Ostholt is determined to put his name up there on the leaderboard at this
halfway stage of this inaugural season.
"In Germany we love this event,"
the 32-year old rider says, "and it has been very special for me - I have
enjoyed great success in Luhmuehlen over the last few years".
Lying in
the heart of the Luneburger Heath in Lower Saxony, Luhmuehlen village is next to
the town of Salzhausen and about 40 kilometres south of Hamburg. The region is
extremely popular with holiday-makers who come to enjoy the glorious
countryside.
"Many families spend time here, and many people rent a
house and bring their horses with them because there are is lovely farmland to
ride over - it is a very popular place," Frank explains.
HIGH
HOPES
Frank has a busy week ahead of him because he will be competing in
both the CIC 3-Star and the CCI 4-Star in which the top-finishing riders will
earn points on the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM rankings.
The 3-Star competition
is compulsory for a number of those on the German three-day-event Olympic
long-list including Frank, who will partner Air Jordan in an effort to convince
selectors that he should be put on the short-list.
With the Hannovarian
gelding, who is now 13 years old, he claimed team gold at the European
Championships at Blenheim in 2005 and team gold again at the FEI World
Equestrian Games in Aachen a year later. "He is an amazing horse," Frank says.
"He has been competing at top level since he was eight years old. He ran at the
European Championships in Punchestown in 2003 and he has been going really well
ever since, always staying sound, so I am very lucky to have him - he is a great
horse," he points out. He will also take Air Jordan to Aachen early next month
after which the Olympic decision-making process will be completed.
But
for all of Air Jordan's great talents, Frank also has high hopes for Little
Paint - the 10-year old with which he finished ninth in the Luhmuehlen 4-Star
last year. Frank believes he will be an even better 4-Star contender this time
around. "He is good at his ground-work, good show jumping and very consistent
cross-country," he explains. He thinks Little Paint is still on a bit of a
learning curve when it comes to coping with the excitement of major competition
however. "He is still affected by the atmosphere at an event, he can get
irritated and nervous and so far he has not shown himself to be totally ready
for the big moment. I think there is still a little more learning for him, but
he is a very talented horse," he adds.
FAMILIARITY
Little Paint
also has the added advantage that his rider knows every inch of Luhmuehlen and
the surrounding countryside. Frank's track record here is highly impressive -
third in the 4-Star in 2005 with Air Jordan behind Britain's Zara Philips and
Toytown in second and German compatriot Bettina Hoy in pole position with
Ringwood Cockatoo, he came back in 2006 to claim the honours himself. This time
Bettina had to settle for second place after Air Jordan's speedier cross-country
run reversed the placings established in the dressage phase.
Britain's
Ruth Edge and Two Thyme pipped the home side's Dirk Schrader and Gadget de la
Cere to take the 4-Star title last year but Frank's ninth-placed finish was all
the more creditable for the fact that Little Paint picked up 20 cross-country
jumping penalties. An excellent dressage test left them a close fourth after the
opening phase and without that blip on cross-country day the partnership would
have slotted into fourth in the final analysis. He will be hoping things go more
according to plan this week.
Describing the cross-country course in
Luhmuehlen Frank says, "the ground is flat, and normally the going is very good.
The course design changed last year and it was a good, fair track with some
serious 4-Star questions. One of the things I like most about Luhmuehlen is that
normally you can get your horse into a nice rhythm - there is plenty of nice
galloping," he says.
A SPECIAL PLACE
One of the other things he
likes about it is the warm welcome that all riders receive at this popular
venue. "The people are very friendly and they look after us very well. There is
a great spirit and that creates good sport between the riders. For me it is a
very special place," he explains. With all this positivity in the air it seems
very likely indeed that he will be in line for some of those all-important HSBC
FEI ClassicsTM points available to all the riders finishing in the top ten next
Sunday afternoon.
At present the series leaderboard is headed by
America's Philip Dutton who came out on top with Connaught at the opening leg in
Kentucky at the end of April. He is followed by reigning European Champion
Nicolas Touzaint who, last month, made eventing history when becoming the first
ever Frenchman, and the first continental European since Switzerland's Capt Hans
Schwarzenbach and Vae Victus secured victory in 1951, to clinch the Badminton
trophy. The runners-up at Kentucky and Badminton - America's Becky Holder and
Great Britain's Lucy Wiegersma respectively - hold third and fourth ahead of
that other great British star William Fox-Pitt in fifth, but Frank will be
giving it his best shot to adjust that order with a satisfactory result this
week.
HSBC contributes US$1million to the series over the next three
years and at the end of this season the rider who heads the leaderboard will
take home a handsome US$150,000, with US$75,000 going to the runner-up,
US$50,000 for third place and US$33,333 and US$25,000 up for grabs for the
fourth and fifth-place finishers.
Following the German fixture there are
two further rounds - at Burghley in September and then at Pau in October where
the final leg takes place - so it is still wide open and all to play for as the
HSBC FEI ClassicsTM comes to lovely Luhmuehlen. And Frank is hoping to make his
mark.
