Michael Jung has long been known for his impressive dressage tests but at the inaugural FEI Nations Cup at Fontainebleau he has really made an impact by not just coming first after dressage but by filling the top three places - all on sub 40 tests. It was fitting that his top horse La Biosthetique Sam, with whom he won the World Equestrian Games gold medal in 2010, took the top honors on a score of 35.6. Michael rode Leopin FST in to second on 37.4 while his third horse; Weidezaunprofi’s River was only just behind posting a score of 38.
“All my horses did great dressage tests,” said a happy Michael “so I am very pleased. These days a lot of tests take place on sand but here we worked on grass and the horses didn’t really expect that.”
Head of the ground jury, Pascal Laurencon, appeared a little disappointed with some of the tests but he put that down to horses just coming into the season or the spectacular setting of the Grand Parquet Stadium. “The huge stands which the public moved around in during the afternoon could have disrupted some of the horses. For me the top ten horses were all more ready for this event than some of the others and this showed by their impressive movement and suppleness. However this is a three day event … so there is still a lot to play for.”
With British rider Rodney Powell and Happy Go Lucky lying 4th the best placed Australian rider was Clayton Fredericks riding Bendigo, who had to be content with finishing 5th on a score of42.2. Pascal Laurencon really liked Clayton’s test and had him in 3rd place but the other two judges, Helemut Mett and Nathalie Carriere placed him 7th and 5th respectively, leaving him 5th overall. Claytons wife, Lucinda was riding Flying Finish, who enjoyed a good run up to this event finishing 2nd in an intermediate section at Tweesledown, Hampshire a few weeks ago and was 7th after dressage (44.6), which must have been pleasing. Then two places later in 9th (46.6) was Clayton again, this time riding Dunges Laurenrose.
Clayton Fredericks and Bendigo Photo: Pauline Chevalier
Wendy Schaeffer riding Koyuna Sun Dancer finished 19th after dressage. Although two judges had Wendy in 12th and 17th place the French judge Nathalie Carriere wasn’t so keen on the test and had Wendy as her 31st choice. Lying on a score of 51.2 you can be sure that Wendy will be keen to add nothing to that score over the next two days.
The cross country phase is expected to be tough enough with Michael Jung describing it as difficult and technical. “From the start the course is challenging with fences three and four in front of the stands on the Grand Parquet arena. The first water fence right afterwards is also quite tough,” he said.
The Germans are in the lead of the team competition with Australia second and The Netherlands third but with less than 20 penalties separating the top half of the field positions are likely to change considerably following cross country day.
