BELGIUM are the new European champions after a thrilling final competition at the Longines FEI European Championships in A Coruña, Spain where Ireland just missed out on a medal to take fourth place.
Holding the gold medal position overnight but up against it after a refusal from Matt Sampson’s horse, Britain held on to finish with the team silver medal on a final score of 5.61, ahead of Germany who won bronze (8.19).
The Belgium team was made up of Nicola Philippaerts (Katanga v/h Dingeshof), Pieter Devos (Casual DV Z), Thibeau Spits (Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z) and Gilles Thomas (Ermitage Kalone).
Final round
Spanish course designer Santiago Varela upped the height and technicality of the course for the team final which had 14 fences and 17 jumping efforts. From early in the order of go it was obvious the bogey combinations would be the triple at 9abc and the penultimate double at fence 13ab.
It was incredibly tight at the top of the leaderboard going into the final. After a dramatic first Nations Cup round on Thursday, Britain held on to the top spot on a score of 3.96 thanks to a miraculous recovery from Scott Brash after he lost his reins coming into the tricky triple combination and somehow managed to jump a clear round. That was crucial as Matthew Sampson suffered elimination earlier in the day.
Germany was just a whisker behind on 4.19 after four spectacular clear rounds on Thursday, and they were only 0.42 of a point ahead of Belgium who had three clear rounds. Ireland rose from seventh to fourth when Denis Lynch, Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Darragh Kenny all jumped clear, and they were less than a pole off the bronze medal position on 8.39.
As they did all week, Denis Lynch and Vistogrand, owned by Tipperary’s Finest Est, were the pathfinders for Ireland. After jumping clear the previous two days, the pair had four faults at the middle part of the combination (9b). It would heap the pressure on the remaining team members as nothing but a zero score would get Ireland on the podium.
Lynch was disappointed after his round. “That was not quite good enough. I think now with hindsight I should have done the seven up that line to the triple combination. I did the six and it’s just very tight for the horse. The horse jumped fantastic so I’m very disappointed with myself as a rider. It was a rider mistake. Seamus has just gone clear so we’re still in the fight.”
Denis Lynch and Vistogrand at the FEI European Championships in A Coruña \ Tomas Holcbecher
Cool
At his first senior championship, Seamus Hughes Kennedy was next to go with the Ennisnag Stud-bred ESI Rocky (Stakkato Gold x For Pleasure), owned by Clare Hughes. Riding beyond his 22 years of age, Seamus again looked like a veteran and jumped an easy clear round with the 10-year-old gelding with whom he won double clear at the 2023 Young Rider Europeans.
“I am just delighted now we’ve done everything we could do for the team. I thought Rocky jumped brilliantly again, I’m very happy for him to do that three days in a row. He has such a big jump and he’s so clever that he makes it feel easy, to be honest. I’m very lucky to be able to ride such an amazing horse like him, he’s special.”
On the course, he added: “Denis opted to go for the six [strides] down the line to the combination and he had the plank down in the middle. I decided it would probably be better for me to do to seven and I think it was the right call that we made in the end.”
Third to go was Bertram Allen with the nine-year-old Ballywalter Farm-owned Qonquest de Rigo. Keen to improve on two four faults rounds from the previous days, unfortunately it was the same mistake as Lynch when the gelding knocked 9b in the middle of the triple combination. This meant Ireland had to count at least one four fault round.
“I thought he jumped very good today. I rode a bit better but he just went a little bit green in the combination and closed himself up. But he will have learned a lot this week, it just didn’t fall the way we planned,” Allen said afterwards.
The leaderboard had a shake up when both the third line riders for Britain (Donald Whitaker) and Germany (Christian Kukuk) had a fence down, promoting Belgium to the top spot with just one rider left to go.
Last for Ireland was Darragh Kenny aboard Carol A Sollak’s 13-year-old gelding Eddy Blue and, just as they did on Thursday, the combination produced a foot perfect clear round to ensure Ireland finished on 12.39 but it was a dreaded fourth-place finish, just missing out on the podium.
When Belgium’s Gilles Thomas and the wonderful 11-year-old stallion Ermitage Kalone produced a faultless round, the gold medal was secured for his team. Germany’s Richard Vogel knew he was on the podium but needed a clear to keep his individual hopes alive and again was foot perfect with United Touch S. Britain’s Scott Brash had all the pressure on his shoulders when last to go with Hello Folie – a fence down meant bronze but he again went clear and secured the silver medal for Di Lampard’s team.
Gilles Thomas commented: “Today I had a really good feeling. I knew we had a medal already so it took some pressure off. He started to jump in the ring and I knew that if I didn’t make a mistake he would leave the fences up.
"He [Ermitage Kalone] is so popular, a few weeks ago we won our first 5* Grand Prix, he deserved this medal. He is incredible, I am so lucky to have such a special horse in my career.”
Hughes Kennedy in seventh
Hughes Kennedy is yet to touch a pole and is best of the Irish on 2.16 penalties in seventh place and is focused on Sunday’s final.
Vogel leads the way with three clear rounds on 0.01, ahead of Brash in second (1.08), while defending champion Steve Guerdat from Switzerland is currently placed third with Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte (1.19). Darragh Kenny is 13th and the top 13 are all within a pole of the gold medal.
Seamus Hughes Kennedy (IRE): “It’s all eyes on Sunday’s final now. We’re within a fence of anybody now on 2.1 faults. If we can pull something special out the bag… we’ve been in this position before, in the young riders… and I think if I can keep everything steady enough Rocky has the heart to go and jump another two clear rounds.”
Sophie Hinners (GER): “I think the course is a little bit different than to the other days. There are more options today in the lines. It’s not an easy line to the triple combination; the six can get quite long. So it’s a tough course and you need to have a good plan before you go in there.”
Defending champion Steve Guerdat (SUI): “It doesn’t feel the same at all as Milan two years ago because Dynamix de Belheme is different, everytime I sit on her I think I will win. I’m already really happy with my horse [Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte] and we’ll see if we can still get something on Sunday.”
Course designer Santiago Varela: "It was, as expected, a challenge for the riders and interesting for the public. The last line caused less problems that expected. The arena was super today, much dried than yesterday, and the horses jumped very well."