Fabulous French Fly To The Top

Impressive France went top of the leaderboard as they gained their third consecutive win in the fifth leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ at Le Haras du Pin.

The French team of Maxime Livio, Donatien Schauly Adj, Astier Nicolas and Karim Florent Laghouag finished ahead of the Netherlands and Germany, with Great Britain dropping back on the final day. Their home win came after victories in Vairano and Strzegom earlier this season.

The French had headed into day three in charge, having maintained their dressage lead in day two's cross-country phase, adding only 0.8 penalties to finish on a score of 89.9.

Hot on their heels and eager to maintain their pole position after their win at The Plains last month, were Great Britain who had jumped from fourth to second place ahead of Sunday’s jumping stage, gaining a slight advantage over Germany.

Re-live the full third-day Jumping video below...

The final day in Normandy was set up to be a classic with the French and British at the top.

However, the withdrawal of two of Great Britain’s riders, Will Furlong and Collien P 2 and Tom Jackson’s Billy Cuckoo, before day three’s final trot up, coupled with the unfortunate cross-country elimination of Germany’s Pauline Knorr on Wilbert BO, gave France, in front of their home fans, a further advantage.

It was clear from the beginning of the jumping phase that the competition would become a battle for the middle placings. The narrow upright at fence No.4 and the water tray at 10 proved to be costly for many riders, with clear rounds few and far between.

With only three riders and lying in second place, the pressure was truly on 2017 champions Germany to go clear.

But it was the Dutch team who shone in the jumping arena, producing three out of four faultless rounds. Undercover, the mount of Elaine Pen, produced a significant clear round, tackling the 12-fence course with ease and increasing the pressure on Germany’s final rider, Andreas Ostholt.

With the Dutch finishing on an overall team score of 120.7 penalties and climbing from fifth to second place, the German team could do no better than third, despite a clear round from Ostholt and So Is Et. It was Spain who took fourth, with Sweden, Italy and Switzerland following.

As France had a clear lead in the Team event, attention turned to the Individual competition.

Home rider Livio and his 15-year-old bay gelding, Pica D’or, were in strong contention for the top spot.

Just three penalties separated the 31-year-old and Swedish rider Louise Svensson Jähde from the top. Having jumped clear, the combination were outright winners, maintaining an impressive three-day lead to finish on their dressage score of 26.4 penalties, adding nothing to the French team’s final score of 97.1. Great Britain's Laura Collett and Mr Bass finished third.

10 points now separate France and Great Britain ahead of the sixth leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ to be held in Millstreet, Ireland. Tune in to FEI TV from August 24-26 to see if the French can they make it four wins out of four at their next outing.

Text by Catherine Meenaghan

Images by Libby Law