ON a great day for mares, the Westphalian grey ACSI Daisy Dynamite moved up from second to win the FEI WBFSH eventing world breeding championship for six-year-olds at Le Lion d’Angers last Sunday.
The Rolf Wilcken-owned and bred winner, who took time to settle before her final round, completed on her dressage score (29.4 penalties) under Ann-Catrin Bierlein, who was a member of Germany’s silver medal-winning team at the inaugural world under-25 championships at Millstreet back in July.
Bierlein knows the mare well as she was foaled on her grandparents’ farm. The new champion, who finished fourth on her two starts at CCI2*-S level (at Arville and Langenhagen), is by Diacontinus out of the Casall Ask mare Camilla, a half-sister to the Lord Z stallion SGW Lord Poldy (1.60m).
Despite being a second over the time on Sunday, Switzerland’s Robin Godel improved from fifth to second (31.3), with the Selle Francais gelding Kosmic D Elbe (by Contendro), the first of whose five previous international forays had been to Strzegom in April. A trio of Irish Sport Horse geldings filled the next three places.
Bronze for Kobe
With 0.4 of a show jumping time penalty for a total of 31.4, Australia’s Kevin McNab finished third on the Miguel Bravo-bred Monbeg Kobe (HHS Corner - HHS Black Beauty, by Clintord I); with a small number of time penalties in both jumping phases, New Zealand’s Caroline Powell was fourth on the same score with the Gwen Kinsella-bred WLS Ravencourt (by Cristo); and, two seconds over the time on Sunday, Britain’s Jack Pinney finished a close-up fifth (31.8) with the Thomas McNulty-bred Barrington Candy Kid (by Sligo Candy Boy).
With the addition of 0.4 of a show jumping time penalty, Britain’s Holly Woodhead finished eighth on the ISH mare Greannanstown Sarahs Lady (33.7), a daughter of Dodarde E Z, with Italy’s Enrico Zeppegno finishing 12th on his dressage score (36.6) with another son of Sligo Candy Boy, Kilcannon Candy Boy.
The highest-placed Irish rider was once again Ian Cassells, who placed 14th on Bridget and Camilla Speirs’s home-bred ISH gelding BT Just Special (by I’m Special de Muze), who lowered the first vertical element of the double at 10 for a total of 36.7.
The Netherlands’ Patrick Verbakel was last to enter the show jumping arena on Sunday on the home-bred Passoa, who went into the final phase on his winning dressage score of 28. However, having lowered the vertical at two, the vertical second element of the double at four and picking up 1.2 time penalties, the Dutch Warmblood gelding by VDL Liamant W disappointingly dropped to 16th (38).
Only six riders recorded clears inside the time on Sunday and they included Ireland’s Elizabeth Power and Sarah Ennis.
The former, who had been lying 42nd of the 45 starters after dressage, also beat the clock when clear over the Pierre Michelet-designed cross-country course on Saturday and so completed on her flat work mark (39.2) for 20th place with Richard Ames’s ISH mare Belline Kilbunny Virtue, a Quality Time grey bred by Richie O’Hara. A stop over the fixed fences and 14 time penalties resulted in Ennis finishing 37th on another ISH mare, Lady Sky M (69.5), a bay daughter of Cinsey, who is jointly-owned by Andrew Cox and her breeder Susanne Macken.
There was one retirement and four eliminations on the cross-country phase.