A TEAM win for Great Britain, who led from the outset; an individual win for Germany, but not for the rider first announced; and the death of an equine champion marked last weekend’s CCIO4*-S in Aachen.

Ireland was last of the six teams from the start but a fine performance saw Joseph Murphy finish fourth individually on Calmaro whose owners, Annette O’Callaghan plus Charlie and Claire Mayne, were present as they had been when the combination placed ninth in the CCI5*-L at Kentucky in late April.

“Everything went well from start to finish,” said Murphy. “I was delighted that I was last of the Irish to compete which meant I had a late slot in dressage, giving my horse more time to acclimatise. The stadium is huge and I was really pleased that he adapted so well to the occasion. Show jumping took place the same day (Friday) and he has been very consistent in this phase, again jumping clear.

“For the cross-country here you basically go as fast as you can. The gap between Kentucky and Aachen was a bit tight so I wasn’t able to get a huge amount of work into him so he didn’t quite get the time (3.2 penalties for a three-phase total of 33.6). The course walked very tough as it was strong with a lot of combinations and you have to go at speed; it really did have an effect on the results.

“I’m now working towards being selected for the world championships (at Pratoni, Italy in mid-September) and I’ll plan things backwards from there. I’d say Millstreet at the end of August would be on the agenda and he’ll have to have a run or two before then. They are fortunate in Germany as they are bordering on so many countries and can easily get to so many international fixtures; you really need to be consistent at the top levels in this game.

“I’m grateful to my owners for their wonderful support and I must also pay tribute to Ryan Hopper who works with me and does such a great job in managing Calmaro and keeping him in a good frame of mind.”

CHIO Aachen Britain's Yasmin Ingham and the Irish Sport Horse Rehy DJ helped Britain to win the SAP Nations Cup at CHIO Aachen \ Tomas Holcbecher

The other two Irish riders didn’t fare so well. Having withdrawn his non-team ride CDS Cairnview Romolu after dressage (38.1 penalties) and show jumping (2.4 for time), Cathal Daniels was 18th of the 29 finishers, 42 starters, with Sarah Hughes’s Barrichello (30.4 after dressage, six show jumping penalties, 14.4 cross-country time penalties).

On 35.8 after the first phase which had her in 35th position, Camilla Speirs improved two places after show jumping in spite of having a fence down and being nearly two seconds over the time with BT Angelo, the Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by her mother Bridget and Orla O’Neill. Unfortunately, while delighted to have completed the cross-country phase with 40 penalties on the nine-year-old’s first start outside Ireland, Speirs was eliminated when it was later determined that she had jumped outside the flags at fence 11.

Initially announced as the winner having added just 1.2 cross-country time penalties to his leading dressage score (22.2) with his non-team ride fischerChipmunk FRH, Germany’s Michael Jung was belatedly given 15 penalties for a missed flag at fence 14, dropping down to eighth (38.4).

Jung’s compatriot Sandra Auffarth thus moved up a place to first with Viamant du Matz (29.5), ahead of Australia’s Andrew Hoy, who was fastest across the country when just a second over the time on Vassily de Lassos (30.5), and Britain’s Tom McEwen with Toledo de Kerser (32.8). The last-named led Britain to team success backed up by William Fox-Pitt, who was seventh on Little Fire (34.8), and Yasmin Ingham who finished 12th on the ISH gelding, Rehy DJ (41.7).

Sadly, the fourth member of the British team, Ros Canter, suffered a major loss when Allstar B, who she owned with leading coach Caroline Moore, suffered a catastrophic injury when running out at fence 16d, a skinny arrowhead, and had to be put down. Canter had partnered the 2005 Dutch Warmblood gelding to win individual and team gold at the 2018 World Championships in Tryon and team gold at the 2017 and 2021 European championships.

“There are no words for the love and respect that I have for Alby. Time after time, he has shown his generosity, kindness and love of our sport. He has been such a huge part in building my career, and he will be missed by many,” said a devastated Canter.