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Fox-Pitt steals the spoils at Luhmuehlen
Monday, June 16th, 2008
Britain's William
Fox-Pitt secured a superb victory with Macchiato in the CCI 4-Star at Luhmuehlen
this afternoon and subsequently soared to the top of the HSBC FEI Classics™
standings.
The German fixture is the third in the series that links the
4-Star events at Kentucky, Badminton, Luhmuehlen, Burghley and Pau and, adding
the points he earned for his third-place finish with Ballinacoola at Badminton
to today's result, the 39 year old British star now leads the rankings by a
significant margin.
Australia's Andrew Hoy held the lead after a great
cross-country performance yesterday, but the final show jumping phase proved
pivotal when his Irish thoroughbred Moonfleet left four show jumping poles on
the floor and also added three time penalties to drop them to fourth place. Like
the eventual winner, Germany's Frank Osholt held firm with a clear round from
Little Paint to finish second and Australia's Stuart Tinney also kept a clean
sheet with Vettori to slot into third. The result of the 2008 CCI 4-Star at
Luhmuehlen was most definitely not decided on dressage marks - the top-three
finishers improving from 9th, 10th and 11th spots respectively after the opening
phase, while just 14 of the initial 24 starters completed.
This morning's
final horse inspection saw Australia's Emily Anker (Balmoral Cavalier) and
Italy's Luisa Palli (Axia) removed from the start-list, but numbers were already
depleted following the withdrawal of the dressage leaders, Australia's Lucinda
Fredericks and Headley Britannia, before cross-country yesterday and then five
retirements and two eliminations on course. TOUGH TEST.... As it turned out the
show jumping test was not going to be a walk in the park either. The first two
into the ring, Britain's Julie Tew (Look Out) and Julie Lawson (Howecote
Pssamite) both had four fences down along with time penalties and although
Belgium's Karin Donckers (SS Jett) stemmed the tide with just a single error the
next of the British, Jeanette Brakewell (Chill Out Bob) picked up a massive 31
faults.
However British-based Irish rider Sacha Pemble then showed them
how it should be done with a great round from the little dun mare I've Been Dun
before Germany's Simone Deitermann followed suit with Flambeau to also hold her
ground.
Kai-Steffen Meier was lying eighth going into the final phase
but slipped a little when Karascada left a fence on the floor and fellow-German
Dirk Schrade had an unhappier time when his 13 year old Adm. v. Schneider picked
up 17 faults to sink them well down the order.
Julie Tew came back
again, this time with Sir Roselier who double-faulted, but as it happened they
still held onto sixth place while the pressure was piled on Hoy at the top of
the order following clears from fourth-placed Ostholt and from Fox-Pitt who was
lurking dangerously in third. A total of 13 faults saw French rider Didier
Dhennin lose his grip on runner-up spot with Ismene du Temple but that only
served to leave Hoy with an even more comfortable margin as he set off with his
17 year old gelding. His dressage mark of 39.30 had been good enough to earn him
third place on the opening day and his copybook clear over the fixed fences
yesterday left him with an 11-point advantage over Fox-Pitt but that dwindled
into insignificance when Moonfleet collected 19 show jumping penalties. It was a
costly tour of the track, although the rider had still achieved one of his main
goals when coming to Luhmuehlen - Olympic qualification.
LOOKING GOOD... Fox-Pitt now looks to be
in a strong position to pick up the top prize of US$150,000 (€97,500 or
£77,000stg) as series champion at the end of this inaugural HSBC FEI Classics™
season. One of the most incredibly successful competitors on the international
eventing circuit, his record at the formidable Burghley Horse Trials includes
wins there in 2005 and 2007 so the next leg of the series will be right up his
street but of course he first has the Olympic Games in Hong Kong to tackle
before that.....
Speaking after today's prize-giving he described the
last three days of competition as "really tough, but Lucinda Fredericks pulled
out even though she was leading after dressage and then Andrew Hoy had show
jumping fences down - it just went my way really" he said modestly. However he
expressed his great delight that Macchiato took everything in his stride during
his first 4-Star - "he was very good, in all three phases" the rider pointed
out.
Fox-Pitt has had the 10 year old gelding, which he owns jointly
with the Keir family, since the horse was a four year old. "He came originally
from Argentina via Australia - I got him through Sharon Ridgeway who also
produced Navigator and Dumbledore" he explained. Macchiato has won at 3-Star
level at Blair and, most recently, at Bramham "and he is consistent, an
incredible performer who always does his best - he's a real tryer" the rider
said. And he admitted that his victory today was something of a surprise - "I
wasn't expecting it to be honest!" he quipped, "but Macchiato has a way of
pulling it out of the bag!".
Talking about the HSBC FEI Classics™ series
William said "it is a terrific addition to our sport, a real boost, and everyone
is very excited about it". He explained that riders cannot completely focus on
winning a series of this kind "because we are lucky to have a horse ready for a
4-Star event so we cannot always be sure when we can compete in them". However
he believes "this series acknowledges the rider who goes best at 4-Star level in
any year, and it is extremely valued".
AND NOW?.... So what about the next two
legs of the series? "Well Macchiato will have an easy summer now. Luhmuehlen
comes quite late so he will have a break and maybe he will go to Burghley or Pau
- I don't know just yet" said the man who leads the HSBC FEI Classics™ table by
a big 10-point margin. Kentucky winner, America's Philip Dutton, lies second
with Badminton winner Nicolas Touzaint in third but this weekend's runner-up
placing for Frank Ostholt has moved him into sixth and, earlier in the week, he
expressed an interest in visiting Burghley later this year. "I did Badminton for
the first time last year but I've never done Burghley - I'd like to if I can" he
said. With a handsome prize-pot up for grabs it might just be worth his
while....
FINAL
RESULT: 1, Macchiato (William Fox-Pitt) GBR 51.00; 2, Little Paint
(Frank Ostholt) Ger 51.40; 3, Vettori (Stuart Tinney) Aus 52.20; 4, Moonfleet
(Andrew Hoy) Aus 58.30; 5, Sir Roselier (Julie Tew) GBR 61.00; 6, Ismene du
Temple (Didier Dhennin) Fra 61.20; 7, Flambeau Z (Simone Deitermann) Ger 74.60;
8, Karascada (Kai-Steffen Meier) Ger 75.10; 9, I've Been Dun (Sacha Pemble) Irl
79.80; 10, Adm. v. Schneider (Dirk Schrade) Ger 86.50; 11, Look Out (Julie Tew)
GBR 90.30; 12, SS Jett (Karin Donckers) Bel 99.40; 13, Chill Out Bob (Jeanette
Brakewell) GBR 120.90; 14, Howecote Psammite (Julie Lawson) GBR 153.40.
Withdrawn before show jumping - Balmoral Cavalier (Emily Anker) Aus,
Axia (Luisa Palli) Ita. Retired on Cross-Country - Comanche (James Robinson)
GBR, Expo du Moulin (Arnaud Boiteau) Fra, Smart Approach (Fiona Hobby) GBR,
Jakata (Julia Crowson) GBR, The Nightflight (Alberto Giugni) Ita. Eliminated
on Cross-Country - Kincluny (Sarah Wardell) Irl, Catherston Defender (Alberto
Giugni) Ita. Withdrawn before Cross-Country - Headly Britannia (Lucinda
Fredericks) Aus.
THE TOP TEN ON THE
HSBC FEI CLASSICS™ LEADERBOARD - (after 3 of 5 events): 1. William
Fox-Pitt (GBR) - 25 2. Philip Dutton (USA) - 15 3. Nicolas Touzaint (FRA)
- 15 4. Rebecca Holder (USA) - 12 5. Lucy Wiegersma (GBR) - 12 6. Frank
Ostholt (GER) - 12 7. Stuart Tinney (AUS) - 10 8. Missy Ransehousen (USA)
- 10 9. Caroline Powell (NZL) - 8 10. Stephen Bradley (USA) -
8
The HSBC FEI CLASSICS
is a new FEI series linking the five 4-Star Eventing competitions
currently on the international calendar.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2008: 1, Rolex
Kentucky Three Day Event (USA) 24-27 April; 2, Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse
Trials (GBR) 1-4 May; 3, Luhmuhlen CCI**** presented by EON (Ger) 12-15 June; 4,
Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR) 4-7 September; 5, FINAL - Les Etoiles de
Pau (FRA) 22-26 October.
POINTS
SYSTEM: Points will be awarded to the top ten riders at each event
as follows: 1st: 15 points 2nd: 12 points 3rd: 10 points 4th: 8
points 5th: 6 points 6th : 5 points 7th: 4 points 8th: 3
points 9th: 2 points 10th: 1 point Riders can only win points with
their best horse/performance at one event and if the combination has obtained a
qualifying result. Only the top ten riders will score points. Tie-Break: In
case of equality of ranking points, the best-placed rider is the competitor with
the lowest total of penalty points at the specific event (=differentiating
score).
PRIZE MONEY
HSBC will contribute US$1million to the series over the next
three years. At the end of each season, the five riders with the greatest number
of points will be awarded PRIZE-MONEY as follows: Series Champion - US$
150,000; 2nd - US$ 75,000; 3rd - US$ 50,000; 4th - US$ 33,333; 5th - US$ 25,000.
This represents the biggest prize pot on offer in the sport of eventing on
an annual basis.
USEFUL
INFORMATION For further information on the third leg of the 2008
HSBC FEI Classics™ check out website www.luhmuehlen.de
For more information about the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM, please check the official website
www.feiworldcup.org.
