Coapexpan, Mexico—May 5
The third and final leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping North America, Central America and Caribbean League in Langley, British Columbia, next month promises to be an absolute cracker after Mexico narrowed the gap on series leaders USA with a superb victory, for the second year in a row, on home ground in Coapexpan.
Antonio Maurer (Galileo de Laubry), Patricio Pasqual (Babel), Federico Fernandez (Landpeter Do Feroleto) and Antonio Chedraui (Ninloubet) put America’s Peter Lutz (Robin de Ponthual), Quentin Judge (HH Conrad), Adrienne Sternlicht (Cristalline) and Alison Robitaille (Ace) into runner-up spot by a single-fault margin. But the gap could have been even wider because anchorman Chedraui didn’t even need to compete in the second round because the result was already decided.
Antonio Chedraui and Ninloubet anchored the Mexican team to a win in the FEI Nations Cup at Coapexpan. Photo by Anwar Esquivel
“Coapexpan is a lucky venue for us, it’s a magical place, and it’s so great to win in front of the home crowd!” said Chedraui.
Chedraui has a particular affinity with the Coapexpan Equestrian Club in Xalapa because his father created the elegant venue in 1996, and Antonio has served as president there. The 51-year-old 2008 Olympian produced one of just three clear rounds in the competition over the course designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge.
It was the winning Mexico 1 foursome, who had been nominated by Chef d’Equipe Juan Manuel Cossio to challenge for qualifying points for the FEI Nations Cup™ 2017 Final, who already held the advantage at the halfway stage with just 6 faults on the board. Team USA was close behind with 9 faults going into the second round, but the second Mexican side was already well adrift on 20 and Team Canada couldn’t recover from a first-round scoreline of 25.
So it came down to a duel between Mexico 1 and USA and, despite a brilliant second-round clear from American anchors Robitaille and Ace, her side had to add the 4 faults collected by both Judge and Sternlicht when Lutz produced the drop score of 12 at his second attempt for a team total of 17. Mexico’s Maurer picked up just a single time fault in each round, and when Pasquel had a single fence down second time out and Fernandez collected 5 faults, Mexico 1’s total of 16 faults couldn’t be bettered.
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Alison Robitaille on Ace. Photo by Anwar Esquivel
Although the Hermès U.S. Show Jumping team had to settle for second on the day, they picked up 90 points to keep the United States on top of the North American standings heading into division final at CSIO4* Langley.
“It’s great to still be in the lead. Ultimately, that’s our first priority. Naturally, we’re always trying to get the biggest gap we can, and there is not much of a gap, so Langley becomes quite important to us since we are only 10 points ahead,” said U.S. Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland. “We were up against a very strong home team, and we knew that coming in, and we did what we could to knock them off the pedestal. We came close, but we ended up with the result that kept us in the lead so we are happy about that.”
While Mexico’s non-point team and Canada struggled throughout the first round, the U.S. team kept the competition close with Mexico’s designated point team. Pathfinding for the U.S., first-time Nations Cup competitor Lutz and Robin De Ponthual had a fault at the water. Judge followed second in the order with Double H Farm’s HH Conrad. He jumped a clear round but incurred 1 time fault. Rookie Nations Cup competitor Adrienne Sternlicht and Cristalline just missed a clear Round 1 with a rail at fence 11. Their three consistent rounds made it possible to drop anchor combination Robitaille and Ace’s eight-fault round.
Quentin Judge on HH Conrad. Photo by Anwar Esquivel
The U.S. trailed Mexico’s designated point team by 3 faults heading into the second round. With little room for error, the U.S. needed fault-free rounds to stay in contention for gold. Unfortunately Lutz and Robin De Ponthual got off to a rocky start with 12 faults. Judge and HH Conrad and Sternlicht and Cristalline followed, each accumulating 4 faults. Mexico’s designated point team added 10 faults through the first three combinations. Although Robitaille jumped clear, the U.S. team could not make up the margin, and Mexico’s designated point team did not have to jump their anchor combination.
“They had a good day today. For some it was their first experience in a team competition, which is always different from individual competition. I thought we came out with some valuable experience,” said Ridland. “Alison, a veteran rider, has been away from this level of the sport internationally for some time, so she got her feet wet in the first round, then came up with a beautiful clean round in the second round, so that was great to see. Overall, it was a good result.”
See full results of the FEI Nations Cup Coapexpan.
