Germany's Stephanie Bohe moves into third place in the CCI2*
Britain’s Izzy Taylor and New Zealand’s James Avery held onto their leads in the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses in Le Lion on Friday and are the ones to beat on Pierre Michelet’s cross country course tomorrow
Australia's Paul Tapner maintains second place on Bob Chaplin in the CCI1* 6YO
Ireland’s Esib Power joined the top three in the CCI1* 6YO riding DSL The Entertainer (ISH), a bay gelding by Omar (BWP) out of Cloverhill Girl (ISH), by Clover Hill (ID), and Jonty Evans also flew the Irish flag on board John the Bull to finish the dressage in tenth place (45.6).
Esib is tied with Britain’s Sarah Bullimore riding Corouet on a score of 41 and France’s Tom Carlile is now in fifth place on board Birmane
Tom is based at the Haras National at l‘Isle de Briand in Le Lion d’Angers where the event is taking place but, as he says in the interview below, it isn’t necessarily an advantage for the six year old mare who is a bit surprised to find her normal environment bustling with horses and activity!
Tom and Birmane (by Vargas De Ste Hermelle and Royce De Kresiker by Diamant De Semilly) had a little error in the canter which brought 4’s from the British and French judge but soon were back on track – without it they may have been a little closer to the top.
Jesse Campbell and I Spye (above) and Rebecca-Juana Gerken on Days of Glory (below)
But as it is, the top 10, which now includes Merel Blom (NED) on Great Prospect BB sixth place (42.6), Mathieu Lemoine on Better Win (FRA) in seventh (43), Jesse Campbell riding I Spye in eighth (43.4) and Rebecca-Juana Gerken (GER) on Days of Glory in ninth (43.9), are fairly tightly packed
Izzy’s Monkeying Around hasn’t had a cross country fault in his two international competitions so far and no cross country jumping faults at national competitions in 2017 so this pair must be the hot favourite to stay in the lead tomorrow (no pressure, Izzy!).
Monkeying Around has had a three day start at Ballindenisk where he finished second and Izzy told us about her preparation for this event on him at Osberton (view the full interview here)
James Avery, pictured with partner Jess, goes in to the CCI2* cross country in the lead
In the CCI2* 7YO class New Zealand’s James Avery also held onto his lead on a score of 42 but France and Germany moved into second and third places with Jean-Luc Bigot riding Aktion De Belhelme (by Lauterbach and Raison De Blondel by Jericho Pierrevill) in second place (44) and Stephanie Bohe riding Classic Royetta (by Royal Classic and Feine by Florestan I) in third (44.2)
Chris Burton couldn’t quite get his sub-40 score from Haras Le Pin but is in strong contention in fourth place with a score of 44 on Lawtown Boy, moving Mary King to fifth and the French boys, Astier Nicolas and Tom Carlile, this time on ATO Barbotiere into equal sixth (44.6)
Chris Burton and Lawtown Boy
Mary isn’t the only British rider in the top ten with Izzy in ninth place on Direct Cassino (45.5) and 2015 winner Laura Collett on Sir Papillon in tenth (46.2)
It is so close! Pierre Michelet always builds an interesting track for these young horses – you can view all fences on course here – and the live stream will be covering the cross country day here
In the meantime, for those of you who speak French, here is an interesting round up from L’Eperon and for those who don’t (for heaven’s sake, why not?!), enjoy the bits of dressage footage!
