Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ La Baule / FRA: The French won at home!
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ La Baule / FRA
The French won at home!
The last French victory at home in a Nations Cup dates back to 2010. This Friday afternoon, the French won in front of full stands. For this second leg of the European Division 1 of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup circuit in La Baule, national coach Philippe Guerdat trusted this same team as in the opening leg in Lummen (Belgium), two weeks earlier: Pénélope Leprevost/Dame Blanche van Arenberg, Aymeric de Ponnat/Armitages Boy, Jérôme Hurel/Quartz Rouge and Kévin Staut/Rêveur de Hurtebise*HDC.
Pénélope Leprevost / Dame Blanche van Arenberg (FRA) © PSV Jean Morel
From the first round Pénélope Leprevost and Aymeric de Ponnat stood firm and cleared the round designed by Frédéric Cottier. Jérôme Hurel couldn’t stop Quartz Rouge from making a fault on the river. Kevin Staut and Rêveur de Hurtebise*HDC didn’t start very well with 8 penalty points from the beginning.
In the second round, Pénélope Leprevost and Aymeric de Ponnat were also clear, same for Jérôme Hurel who this time controlled the strides towards the river. For Kevin Staut, after his team’s beautiful performance he could leave Rêveur to rest. Leader after the first round, Belgium was less dominant in the second, even with young Olivier Philippaerts and Cabrio van de Heffinck clear round and from Grégory Wathelet and Sea Coast Forlap Dc. After Jos Verlooy and Domino’s under performance (0/8 points), Belgium couldn’t do better than 2nd place. Ireland and Great Britain share the 3rd place.
Victoiry of France in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup © PSV Jean Morel
THE NEW FORMULA VOTED IN
A year ago, the Fédération Equestre Internationale launched the new formula of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup circuit, bringing a global dimension to an essentially European competition. Now, 40 countries are competing in order to grab one of the 18 places in the final in Barcelona (Spain), held from 9th to 12th October 2014. napportant une dimension mondiale à une compétition au rayonnement jusque là européen.
These new rules convinced and gained the coaches enthousiam, starting by Marco Fuste (SPA) : „We haven’t got as many riders and horses than the other „big“ nations. With this system, we can concentrate of the 4 legs where we can gain points and preserve our best couples for the final and the championships. This formula is fair for nations like ours.“
Aymeric de Ponnat / Armitages Boy (FRA) © PSV Jean Morel
Rob Hoekstra (GBR) is also satisfied: „I really like this new format. It gives us the opportunity to test young horses and young riders.. It avoids asking too much of our best horses.“
A view shared by Philippe Guerdat (FRA) and Robert Splaine (IRL). „It’s my first year in this position, so I don’t have the same experience as my colleagues, but when I see Pius (Schwizer) and Steve’s (Guerdat) motivation in competing, it shosw that they lke this format“ says Andy Kilstler (SUI).
Ranking
1. France (4 points)
2. Belgium (8 points)
3rd Ireland and Great Britain (12 points)
European Division 1 ranking
1. France
2. Belgium
3. Switzerland
4. Spain
5. Ireland
6. Sweden
THEY SAID
Philippe Guerdat (French coach): „I congratulate my riders, because they had a lot of pressure. It isn’t easy when you’re competing at home. It’s a real team victory and I’m proud of them.“
Jérôme Hurel (FRA) : „I’m glad with my horse because he jumped very well in the two rounds. This fault on the river wasn’t like him. He did it because I wanted to take out a stride ; I didn’t do the same mistake in the second round.“
Pénélope Leprevost (FRA): „I’m happy this my mare’s improvement. She jumped very well in the two rounds.“
Kévin Staut (FRA): „I had a problem with Rêveur Thursday in the test event before the Nations Cup. It was in the double that became a triple in the Cup. So I came in aggressively and it cost us 8 points. Fortunately I could count on my team mates !“
Aymeric de Ponnat (FRA): „Armitages was more relax in the second round than in the first. He did two clear rounds like in Lummen, a real satisfaction.“
Accreditations, information, and program on: www.labaule-cheval.com
Quelle: Pressemitteilung
