Lara de Liedekerke-Meier sits on top of both the 6-Year-Old and 7-Year-Old Championship leaderboards after cross country day at the Mondial du Lion Crédit Mutuel in France.
Tara Van Het Leliehof on top of 6-Year-Old
As the riders said after dressage, “With 6-year-olds, you never know” and, while the Pierre Michelet designed cross country course proved generally within the reach of the age group, with roughly half of the competitors clear, it still caught some out.
The leader after dressage, Julia Krajewski riding Ajana had a late elimination on course, just fences from home, allowing Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier riding Tara Van Het Leliehof, in second place after the dressage, to move into the lead on a score of 25.1.
Britain’s Melissa Joannides riding Graf Leopold and France’s Thomas Carlile riding Juste Unétoile, also had two perfect rounds to finish the day in second (27.5) and third places (27.9).
Australia’s Natasha Moody riding Bay To Breakers had a good ride, coming home to finish the day on her dressage score of 29.8 and Sophie Bragge also moved up the rankings, now in 22nd place on board Argentinus Roulette, also with a double clear.
2025 Mondial du Lion 7-Year-Old Cross-Country
Lara also retains the lead in the provisional standings of the 7-Year-Old Championship riding Helios, adding nothing to her dressage score to hold the top spot on 28.3.
Tom McEwen (GBR) riding Brookfield Danny de Muze, tied for third yesterday, added just 0.4 time penalties for second place (29.6) and Australia’s Kevin McNab moved up to third (30.5) with Newmarket Amy. Kevin’s second ride on RF Chanel was slower, incurring time faults to drop to 22nd place from sixth.
Nearly half of the 70 starters produced clear jumping rounds and nine of them achieved the ideal time; Frenchman Benjamin Massié proved to be very strong, climbing from 60th place to 15th with Irland des Chomies and from 40th to 8th with Indigogrey Savigny AA thanks to two "maxi" finishes. Thailand's Korntawat Samran riding Iwi Du Cellier LA also climbed from seventeenth to fifth place (31.8).
Australia’s Sammi Birch riding Rosa’s Party also moved up the leaderboard, now in 20th place after adding just four-time penalties but sadly it wasn’t Ellie Fredericks’ day on cross country with the elimination of Upper Class Brit after three problems on course.
The top five riders are within a single pole of each other, which promises an exciting finish to the Sunday afternoon’s show jumping.
