GERMANY scored a clean-sweep of the gold medals at the Longines FEI European eventing championships at Blair Castle in Scotland, taking the team title by 50 penalties, while the relentless Michael Jung captured the fifth individual title of his career.
Ireland finished with two riders inside the top-20, however they failed to finish the team event following the elimination of three riders cross-country.
Best performance
Ireland’s best performance of the championships came from Carlow’s Sam Watson with the Irish Sport Horse Horseware Lukeswell, who produced a clear show jumping round to finish in 12th place overall, on a total of 59.30 penalties.
Watson had added 15.20 time penalties cross-country to his dressage score of 44.10.
Cork’s Michael Ryan and the Irish Sport Horse Ballylynch Adventure, began with a dressage score of 51.90 and added just 9.20 time penalties cross-country before also jumping a clear show jumping round, finishing on a score of 61.10, in 14th position overall.
Camilla Speirs and Portersize Just a Jiff (ISH), completed on a score of 79.50, to leave her in 29th place. The Kildare rider added 21.60 cross-country time penalties and four show jumping faults to her dressage score of 53.90.
A tough cross country course at Blair Castle led to a total of 19 combinations suffering retirement or elimination, including three of the Irish team.
Joseph Murphy and Sportsfield Othello (ISH) were eliminated at fence 22, before Padraig McCarthy with the gelding Simon Porloe also saw their competition end at fence 16b. Ireland’s final team member, Austin O’Connor on Balham Houdini (ISH), suffered the same fate at fence 19a.
MEDALS
All four German team members – Jung, Sandra Auffarth, (who also took individual silver), Ingrid Klimke and Dirk Schrade – went clear in the jumping phase to give Germany a fifth successive team title. Their winning run began in 2011 at Luhmühlen in Germany and has included three European titles plus Olympic and world team golds.
Jung confirmed his place in Eventing history as one of the world’s greats when he equaled former HSI high performance manager Ginny Elliot’s record, set in the 1980’s, of three European titles on three different horses.
He has also now beaten her record of six consecutive individual medals – this is his seventh since his senior championship debut in 2009.
This third European title was perhaps the hardest fought, as it came on an inexperienced eight-year-old horse Fischertakinou (by Jaguar Mail out of a Sardana Pierre) and after a cross-country run in the most testing of weather.
“Now I can say I have a champion for the future,” said a visibly thrilled Jung, in a warning to the rest of the world that he is not planning to give anyone else a chance just yet.
“Fischertakinou is a really good horse and I think he has the quality for the next championships.”
Britain took the team silver despite the cross-country elimination of William Fox-Pitt
Pippa Funnell, who finished eighth on the nine-year-old Sandman 7 and Kitty King (Persimmon) both produced clear rounds, with King only missing an individual medal by 0.1 penalty.
Competing as an individual, Britain’s Gemma Tattersall finished ninth with the Irish thoroughbred Artic Soul, who is by Luso out of a dam by ROI Danzig.
Olympic qualification
The French team took the team bronze medal and secured their Olympic qualification. The icing on the cake was an individual bronze medal for team newcomer Thibaut Vallette.
The remaining Olympic qualifying spot went to Sweden who finished in fifth place behind the Netherlands, who, along with Ireland, had booked their ticket to Rio last year in Normandy.