WORLD champions Henrik von Eckermann showed his pure class once again to win last weekend’s fourth leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Western European League in Verona, Italy.

He was riding the same horse that carried him to the Olympic team gold 12 months ago and double gold in Herning earlier this year, the 12-year-old King Edward who was also the guest of honour at von Eckermann’s marriage to Swiss show jumper Janika Sprunger last month.

On a tough day at the office, when only seven of the 40 starters found the key to the 13-fence first-round track set by Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani, the Swedish duo returned a jump-off performance that was smooth as silk to clinch the victory.

Austria’s Gerfried Puck produced the only other double-clear of the competition when last to go with the nine-year-old Equitron Naxcel V to fill second place while young British star, Harry Charles, lined up in third with Romeo 88 who was quickest of all but left the final fence on the floor second time out.

Testing

The seven who made the cut into the deciding round were from seven different nations, and Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts was pathfinder with Katanga v/h Dingeshof and they finished with four faults at the first fence in a time of 42.36 for fourth place.

Harry Charles (23) was next; he scorched home in 39.95 seconds only to leave the door still open when kicking out the final oxer. Third to go, The Netherlands’ Jur Vrieling had two down with the 11-year-old Fiumicino van de Kalevallei who had been really impressive first time out before von Eckermann and King Edward set off to a gasp of excitement from the crowd.

The pair made it look relatively easy as they cruised home clear to take the lead in 40.55 seconds. As Von Eckermann explained afterwards, he’d seen those before him making mistakes and he wasn’t going to take any big risks.

It was the right decision when Ireland’s Mark McAuley had two down when next in with his promising nine-year-old stallion Django Ste Hermelle to end up in seventh, Mexico’s Fernando Martinez Sommer and High Five hit the second fence before stopping the clock on 43.99 seconds and last man in, Puck, opted for a careful clear to wrap it up.

Struggled

“We gave King Edward a bit of a break and we struggled to get back to the good form we had,” commented von Eckermann. “Verona was normally not in my plan but I felt he needed one more show because he did just four classes in three months and I have two big shows coming up. So I thought I’d take him here to get him going a little bit more and today he was fantastic again!

“In the jump-off I had a good opportunity, I saw the other ones before me had faults so I thought okay, I don’t need to overdo it. I’ll go a little bit on the safe side and he jumped fantastic. King is a genius horse, he proves it again and again,” he added.

This victory has rocketed him up to fourth place on the the Longines Western European League table behind first-round winner Bryan Balsiger from Switzerland in third, Jur Vrieling in second and Norway’s Victoria Gulliksen who continues to top the leaderboard going into the fifth of the 14 qualifying rounds at Stuttgart, Germany this weekend.

Tipperary’s Denis Lynch bagged €23,800 when winning Saturday’s big class, the 1.55m jump-off. riding Onyx Consulting Ltd’s 16-year-old gelding GC Chopin’s Bushi, he was one of 12 combinations clear over the first round.

Against the clock, just three managed to go clear a second time, with Lynch the fastest in 37.05 seconds. He beat The Netherlands’ Harrie Smolders and Uricas v/d Kattevennen into second place; their time was just fractions slower in 37.26 seconds. Steve Guerdat was the only other double clear in 37.58 with Double Jeu d’Honvault.

Lynch and GC Chopin’s Bushi also finished sixth in Friday’s 1.50m against the clock, clear in 66.48 seconds. Victory went to Frenchman Julien Anquetin with Cesus de Fougnard (0/ 62.48).