Mark Leone, the U.S. chef d’equipe at the Samsung Super League Nations Cup, held May 7 at the La Baule CSI (France), believes that while they didn’t win, they walked away with confidence and valuable experience.
“This was the first Super League show, and we were up against a lot of Olympic hopefuls for all of the squads. So, going into it, we knew that the competition would be extremely tough and the course would be difficult,” said Leone after the team finished fifth with 32 faults.
Perpetual powerhouse Germany won, with just 4 faults (Markus Ehning/Anka, 0+8, Marco Kutscher/Montender, 0+0, Christian Ahlmann/Coster, 0+4, and Ludger Beerbaum/Goldfever, VW-0). France, who won the Super League series last year, claimed second with 12 faults (Michel Robert/Galet d/Auzay, 0+12, Christian Hermon/Ephebe Forever, 2+4, Florian Angot/First de Launay, 0+8 & Michel Hecart/Quilano de Kalvarie, 0+0). And Belgium took third with 22 faults. Great Britain was fourth.
After the first round, the U.S. team was thrilled to be sitting in third place. Germany and France were tied for the lead with 0 faults, while the U.S. had collected 8. But things didn’t go as well in the second round.
“[Course designer] Olaf Peterson did raise five of the fences for the second round,” said Leone. “As a whole, the whole second round was pretty poor.”
Peter Wylde, who had jumped a four-fault first round on Lauriston, led the U.S. effort off with a 16-fault performance. “Peter had been concentrating on indoors with that horse, and in the second round he gave the horse a very good ride, but the horse looked a bit empty and tired,” Leone said.
Judy Garofalo, riding in her first Nations Cup, had put up an eight-fault first round score, then had 12 faults. “The way the second round was unfolding, a 12-fault round was a decent score,” Leone said.
Kim Frey and Marlou brightened the American hopes by jumping a brilliant second-round clear, after just 4 faults in the first round. “Kim rode well beyond her experience and jumped a phenomenal clear round,” Leone said.
Laura Kraut, the anchor rider, had jumped a clear first round on Anthem, but in the second round. “Anthem was going clear over the first nine jumps, and then he hit the tape at the water. I think that got Laura a little rattled, and she had the vertical after the water down. So, that was a quick 8 faults. There were only two jumps left, and she had the last jump down and finished with 12,” Leone said.
He added, “It was a big course, and big crowd, against the Olympic hopefuls of Europe, and they did very well. I think they can really look forward with a little bit of eager anticipation and have a level of confidence going to [the next Super League show] Rome [Italy, May 27-30]. They can say, ‘We were right there; we can do this.'”
After Rome, the Super League series continues in Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 3-6 and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, June 17-20.
Frey continued her excellent performances on May 9 in the Grand Prix de la Ville de La Baule, taking 10th with Marlou (0-4/45.97).
Carling King and Kevin Babington of Ireland, (0-0/41.60) won the Grand Prix de la Ville de la Baule over Galet d’Auzay (Robert, 0-0/41.95) and Eurocommerce Berlin (Wim Schroeder of the Netherlands, 0-0/42.54).
