Wednesday, September 27, 2000
News Online

British horses struggle in wet

One could only feel sorry for Britain’s dressage riders today. Bolstered by the funds received from the National Lottery, which enabled them to have regular training from the German rider Conrad Schumacher, they had come to Sydney with high hopes of reaching at least the top five in the Olympic team dressage event.

But while the formidable Germany team overcame the appalling squelchy conditions today, to see off their Dutch rivals and gather a fifth successive gold medal, the British four finished a lowly eighth - out of nine. Only the stylish Emile Faurie produced his best performance - as he has done at the past four championships - finishing eighteenth on the inexperienced Rascher Hopes to qualify for the first part of the individual contest, the Grand Prix Special, on Friday.

Germany’s Nadine Capellmann rides her horse Farbenfroh during the team dressage competition. © AP

Kirsty Mepham, 31, making her eagerly awaited Olympic debut, had a nightmare of a round when her former carriage-driving horse Dikkiloo, bogged down in the wet arena, produced his worst test of the year, finishing with 64.80 per cent. “He lost confidence as soon as he went into the arena,” Mepham said. “I thought he would be able to cope with the going but, when he felt his feet moving underneath him, he backed off.”

Hopes that Richard Davison, the fourth rider, would compensate for Mepham’s poor score were dashed when he, too, failed to get his usual tune out of the Dutch-bred Askari. “He found the going really hard work,” Davison said. “I’ve never experienced that before. He was trying to take support from my hands and if I used my leg too much, his head shot up.” Davison was disappointed with his score of 64.08 per cent, knowing he was capable of doing much better. With Carl Hester, on a reluctant Argentile Gulli, below his best yesterday, the announcement of Davison’s score completed Britain’s despair.

Although the going was a mitigating factor - Mepham, competing soon after the ferocious thunderstorms, had the worst of it - Faurie felt the reasons for Britain’s poor performance were more deep-rooted. “We need better horses," he said. "You can spend all the money you want to on inferior horses but it won’t win you medals. If we, as a nation, could afford to buy four promising six-year-olds now with a view to Athens then we might have a chance of medals.”

Britain’s four horses could not begin to match the athleticism shown by the horses of the well-funded German and Dutch teams, who filled the top eight places.

Holland’s Coby van Baalen, on Ferro, who gave the best performance yesterday to move into the overnight bronze-medal position behind Germany’s Isabell Werth (Gigolo) and Holland’s Annky van Grunsven (Bonfire), produced a superb degree of elevation in the passage - one of the most difficult movements of the Grand Prix test. Nadine Capellmann’s magnificent Westphalian gelding, Farbenfroh, also lost none of his lightness of movement during his excellent test - which lifted them to fourth place - boosting Germany’s lead.

In a competition where the outcome of the gold and silver medals was never in doubt, the only tense moment came at the end of the day as the United States and Denmark fought out the bronze. Denmark, seeking their first Olympic team medal, had their hopes raised with an outstanding performance from their fourth rider Lone Jorgensen (Kennedy), but when the US rider, Christine Traurig, replied with her best performance to date on Etienne, the United States’ third successive bronze medal was secure.

Tomorrow, Germany, the reigning Olympic, European and world champions, start favourites for the Olympic team showjumping - a two-round Nations Cup style of competition. Britain, represented by John Whitaker (Calvaro), Michale Whitaker (Prince of Wales), Carl Edwards (Bit More Candy) and Geoff Billington (It’s Otto) are leading medal contenders also.

Jenny MacArthur
The Times