Marcus Ehning has Olympic team gold and a 2003 World Cup Final win under his belt, and now he’s poised to claim another major title. In the first leg of the FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final—the speed leg–Ehning jumped his way to the top with a marvelously efficient round aboard Sandro Boy in just 60.06 seconds. The competition kicked off the Final, held for the first time outside of Europe and North America, in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur.
“Right from the beginning, I felt like he had a great rhythm, and was very confident, and the rest came quite easily,” said Ehning of his round on Sandro Boy, a 13-year-old Oldenburg stallion by Sandro. Going 30th in the order, they shaved almost a quarter of a second off Beat Mandli’s time. Mandli is in second now on Ideo du Thot, But stalking them in third is the defending World Cup champion, Meredith Micheals-Beerbaum, just fractions of a second slower aboard Checkmate with a clear round in 60.62 seconds.
The American camp didn’t fare so well, but they’re mostly lying in the middle of the pack. Margie Engle rode to a clear, if mildly conservative, round with Quervo Gold to lie in sixth place, with no faults added to their 61.86-second time. But keep in mind that four of the last five World Cup winners have placed sixth in the first leg.
Then, it’s down to 15th, where Alison Firestone sits after an efficient 8-fault round on Secret Love. The bay mare punched out the front rail of a Swedish oxer at Fence 5, and then caught the top rail of a skinny vertical. With that eight added to her time, Firestone finished with a time of 66.18 seconds..
Laura Kraut and Anthem are just behind them in 17th after they put in a solid, but slightly slow round. When Anthem kicked out the front rail of a Swedish oxer, the resultant four faults put their time up to 67.06 seconds.
Eight faults was the score for Beezie Madden and Judgement. Madden looked to be on the pace to challenge for the lead, but Judgement toppled the top rail of a vertical out of the triple combination, and then caught the same skinny vertical rail as Firestone. Their time before the rails (59.09) would have been good enough to win, but with the eight seconds added on for the rails, they’re in 18th.
Right behind them is Richard Spooner on Camaron Hills Shanroe, with an efficient round. Spooner, who has been riding the black gelding for just a few weeks, guided him smoothly over the course, but Shanroe just barely trailed a hind toe over the same skinny vertical that had caught Firestone and Madden. With the four faults added, their time stood at 68.11 for 19th. Spooner was the leading World Cup qualifier from the West Coast League, but felt that his mounts were too green. Molly Talla, who rides Camaron Hills Shanroe for owner Tim Calandra, generously offered him to Spooner for the Final, since she didn’t qualify.
World Cup first-timer Kent Farrington and Madison had a quick time, but when the speed caught up to them when Madison pulled three rails at different oxers at the end of the course, including the final line of two big square oxers. With the 12 faults added, they’re in 21st with a time of 71.67 seconds. Joie Gatlin, on Suncal’s King, rounds out the American contingent in 23rd, with 12 faults and a final time of 75.81.
ADVERTISEMENT
Only nine of the 35 starters jumped clear rounds over Frank Rothenberger’s course. And for the first 20 horses to go, it was a relatively uninspiring speed class. Rothenberger gave the riders some opportunities for inside turns, and left-out strides, but it wasn’t a class they could really run in.
Even Ehning couldn’t quite tell where he’d won the class. He made an outside turn to the last line of oxers, and then left a stride out in that line. That had been the choice of all the riders until Mandli went in the 25th spot. “I wanted to do the six strides to the last fence. I don’t think [making the inside turn] I made that much time up doing it,” said Mandli.
Even though it wasn’t glaringly obvious what made Ehning those fractions of a second faster, Sandro Boy is a round ball of ability. A compact horse who oozes athleticism, he springs off the ground and seems to hover in the air over a fence. Ehning claims that Sandro Boy’s enthusiasm has been tempered over time. “Two years ago, he would have lost even more time over the fences,” he said. “But he’s gotten more experienced, and he’s calming down.”
One rider who lost quite a bit of time today was Ireland’s Jessica Kurten. On a winning streak lately, she’s pipped as one of the favorites. And when she set out on Castle Forbes Libertina, she looked to be going for the win. But a miscommunication upon landing from the vertical-vertical combination at the fourth fence caused Libertina to hesitate. Kurten was going for the inside turn to the next oxer, but didn’t quite get the message to Libertina.
“I wasn’t concentrating enough, and I took the turn kind of half-hearted,” she said. “I lost a second there, but in the end, it was a good thing because it made me concentrate and think for the rest of the course.” But despite the bobble, Kurten sits in fourth, and very much in contention.
While the crowd gathered in the Putra Stadium, just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was thrilled to see top show jumpers performing for them, they were also wholeheartedly behind their hometown favorite. Syed Omar Abu Baker Almohdzar had the daunting task of being the first to tackle to course today, and he did an admirable job, having just eight faults, but a slow time, to lie in 31st.
While today’s competition was intense, it’s only the precursor of what’s to come. Tomorrow’s second leg is in a grand prix format, with the clear rounds jumping off. And then, after a rest day on Saturday, Apr. 29, they’ll jump two grueling rounds to decide the new World Cup Champion. Check in each day for all the action.
