GERMANY’s Richard Vogel was crowned the European Champion at today’s Longines FEI European Championships in A Coruña, Spain after five flawless rounds with the remarkable 13-year-old stallion United Touch S, finishing on his opening day score of 0.01 – the lowest ever winning score.
He saw off Britain’s Scott Brash who won the silver medal with the 10-year-old championship debutante Hello Folie (1.08) while Belgium’s Gilles Thomas added to his team gold medal when taking individual bronze aboard Ermitage Kalone (1.37).
Kilkenny’s Seamus Hughes Kennedy jumped five remarkable rounds, with just one time fault in today’s first round, to finish in fifth place with the Irish Sport Horse ESI Rocky (Stakkato Gold x For Pleasure) on 2.16, just ahead of teammate Darragh Kenny from Offaly who was double clear today aboard Eddy Blue to finish seventh.
With the gold medal around his neck, and a bronze in the cabinet from the team final, Vogel said: “I think everyone knows United Touch and how amazing he is. We're a partnership for a few years and when we first started, his enormous stride and enormous scope was a big strength of his, but also a weakness because in those technical courses there is always some lines where we have to shorten our strides and where he needs to slow down.
“And for him, that's certainly not easy, but I am just so happy how he managed it here and he jumped amazing and performed better than I could wish for.”
Seamus Hughes Kennedy and ESI Rocky finished fifth \ Tomas Holcbecher
Clear rounds
There were nine double clear rounds from the 25 starters in today’s final – and 10 if you include Seamus Hughes Kennedy jumping clear over the fences just to add a time fault.
Commenting on the number of clear rounds, Vogel said: “I think it just shows how much the sport has grown. Santiago, from day to day, was trying to separate us a little more and a little more. And every day we probably we walked the course and said it's going to be proper and even still, we had a lot of clear rounds.
“I don't think he did anything wrong, not at all. I think it was very challenging rounds but the facility is spectacular, the surface is in top shape and we just had the best environment for our horses and they kept jumping clear rounds.”
How it played out
Seamus Hughes Kennedy and ESI Rocky started the day in seventh place on their first day score of 2.16 and looked like they were home and hosed over Santiago Varela’s first round only to just exceed the time allowed of 76 seconds and pick up a single time fault. It would move them one spot behind Britain’s Ben Maher on 3.16 but keep them well in the hunt for a medal. At the end of the round, they remained in fifth place and still within a fence of the gold.
Likewise, going into the final round, Darragh Kenny was also within four faults of the leader on a score of 3.91 and produced his third clear of the week with Carol Sollak’s 13-year-old gelding Eddy Blue. “He jumped great, he has been for the last two days. He is coping really well and I am very happy with him this week,” Kenny said.
Asked about the course and number of clear rounds, he added:
“The jumps are quite big. I think there is a lot of very good horses in very good form and they are jumping it really easy and that just seemed to have happened this week.”
Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue \ Tomas Holcbecher
The top two remained the same after the first round. Germany’s Richard Vogel and his wonder horse United Touch S produced their fourth clear of the week to remain on 0.01, ahead of Britain’s Scott Brash in second with with Hello Folie (1.08), despite a big rattle at fence five.
Defending champion Steve Guerdat moved down from third to 12th place when he knocked the final fence with Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte. Benefiting and moving up a place was Belgium’s Gilles Thomas with Ermitage Kalone (1.37).
Final round
The top 12 went through to the final round over a 10-fence track and some 10 of those combinations jumped clear. The only faults came from Guerdat (8 faults) and Jessica Mendoza (4 faults). The top eight remained the same; Darragh Kenny again jumped a phenomenal round with Eddy Blue to cement their seventh place – their only fault came in Wednesday’s first round when the horse stumbled slightly and had a tricky distance to a vertical.
Hughes Kennedy rode like an athlete far beyond his 22 years and again, despite getting deep to the oxer at fence four, guided ESI Rocky home clear to finish on 3.16 in fifth place. Hughes Kennedy was understandably disappointed to have missed out on a medal after keeping the poles up for all five rounds during the week, but was proud of his 10-year-old gelding who has gained huge fandom from around the world with his performances in A Coruña.
Irish chef d'equipe Michael Blake was impressed with his riders in today’s final. Speaking about Hughes Kennedy, he said: “Imagine to leave all the poles standing five times and get nothing on the team or get nothing in the individual. It's hard for him, but this sport is what it is. He has a great future ahead. It just shows how good Seamie is, how good his horse is, how good the system he and Ger O’Neill have together and the trust they have in each other.”
On Darragh Kenny, he added: “The first day things didn’t go his way, he got a little stumble, but every round after that was foot perfect, better he was getting.”
See next Saturday’s The Irish Field for extensive coverage, quotes and comments from the Championships.