As expected, the team riders from eight nations have significantly reshuffled the top of the leaderboard on the second day of dressage at Military Boekelo-Enschede. The ‘woman of the moment’ the 2025 European Champion Laura Collett now leads the standings after the first phase riding Alex van Tuyll’s Count Onyx with a score of 26.9.
New Zealand team member Jesse Campbell currently holds second place riding Speedwell (27.1), Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy sits third with MGH Zabaione (27.4) and Thursday’s leader, individual rider Pia Leuwer riding Jard is now fourth.
Bill Levett is the best placed Australian rider, in 30th place (30.9) riding Sligo Candy Cane, with his teammates Bella English riding Cil Dara Bombay S in 52nd (34.0), Olivia Barton riding APH Sodoku in 60th (34.8) and Ema Klugman riding Chiraz in 74th place (37.1). Riding as individuals, Kevin McNab is in 41st place riding Wilfred Lancer and Katja Weimann riding Tullibards You Make Me Feel is in 73rd place.
Gert Jan Heinen, who competed individually on Thursday with Goliath, remains on top of the Dutch National Championship in 38th overall (31.9) with Sterre van Houte in second with Crossborder Radar Love (34.4), and Tijn de Blaauw, at just twenty years old the youngest competitor in the Boekelo field, is third with The Joker (37.4).
FEI Eventing Nations Cup leaderboard
In the FEI Eventing Nations Cup team competition, Great Britain currently tops the leaderboard with 87.1 penalty points, but it is very tight at the top with Ireland in second (87.7) and New Zealand third (88.9). Australia is currently in seventh place but not far off the pace with 99.7 penalties.
89 competitors will start the cross-country phase on Saturday with New Zealand’s Daniel Jocelyn the first out on course at 9:30 a.m. riding Blackthorn Cruise. Leader Laura Collett follows shortly after as the third rider, at 9:46 am and, unlike the dressage phase, all team riders will take to the field first on Saturday.
Ideal cross-country conditions
Course designer Adrian Ditcham, who has been responsible for the Boekelo course since 2019, was fortunate with excellent weather conditions in the lead-up. “They’ve been perfect—honestly, the best since I started here,” he said. This was helped by the organisation’s decision to limit heavy vehicle traffic on participant and spectator routes as much as possible.
The course, which this year features 26 obstacles across the varied terrain at Boekelo, provides challenges for both the riders and the designer.
As the course designer, Ditcham must find the right balance between challenges for experienced combinations and accessibility for newcomers. “And everyone in between,” he adds. “That’s why I always discuss the rider list with the organisers in advance. The challenge is always greatest when the event follows an international championship, like the recent Europeans. The horses are technically very well-trained, but we have to be mindful not to make the fences, for example, too narrow.”
Ditcham says he has developed a special bond with this Twente classic over the years. “Of all the events I work on, this might be the most beautiful. The atmosphere here, the connection between riders and spectators—you just don’t see that anywhere else. They’re true fans of this event. I always come here with great pleasure.”
