The U.S. team wore gold on Aug. 26, claiming victory in the Samsung Super League Nations Cup, at the Aachen CHIOin Germany. And they did it in truly authoritative fashion, finishing 8 faults ahead of the French and Dutch teams, which tied for second.

This was just the fourth time the U.S. team took victory in Aachen’s Nations Cup, with previous wins in 1962, 1985 and 1987. The U.S. team now leads the Samsung Super League season standings (43 points) with just the final competition remaining in Barcelona (Spain), Sept. 14-18, ahead of Germany (39) and Great Britain (37).

The home team of Germany, in front of a crowd of 48,000, had a dismal day, beating only Ireland and taking seventh place.

McLain Ward, still nursing a broken collarbone suffered at the Hickstead CSIO (England) the last week of July, pulled off one of the day’s two double-clear performances on his Olympic mount, Sapphire. Beezie Madden and Authentic–Ward’s teammates in Athens for team silver–had a zero and 4 faults as the team’s anchor, clinching the victory.

Jeffery Welles, on Armani, put in four- and five- fault perform-ances, while Laura Kraut on Miss Independent was the drop score in each round, with four- and 12-fault trips.

Ward was only able to ride for two days before Aachen. “I was certainly optimistic, but I didn’t know what to expect,” he said of his injury.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be 100 percent.”

He said the week didn’t go very well, and on Thursday night at dinner, he was thinking maybe he’d been too ambitious. “But then on Friday it kind of all came together. You just never know, I guess.

“She jumped amazingly,” added Ward of Sapphire. “The first round was a nice course–not crazy big. She jumped really well. They made the second round considerably bigger, but she jumped great. I basically just tried to stay out of her way–she was doing all the work.”

After the first round, the U.S. riders were tied for first with the Netherlands, on 4 faults. Great Britain, winners at Dublin (Ireland) three weeks ago, stood third with just 5 faults. Switzerland (6 faults) lurked in fourth, and Ireland and France were tied for fifth with 8 faults. Germany’s team–not their strongest possible–had accumulated 9 faults.

High Hopes

The mood was very optimistic going into the second round. “Everyone was very close,” said Ward. “There were two teams with 4, two with 5, and two with 8. So, it was tight. When they raised the fences in the second round, it really separated things.”

Great Britain fell out of contention when Ellen Whitaker and AK Locarno Z picked up a disastrous 12 faults. With William Funnell’s 13 faults as the drop score, that put the pressure on Michael Whitaker on Portofino. But their 5 faults left Great Britain tied for fourth.

France’s Eugenie Angot and Cigale du Tailis could have put real pressure on Madden by jumping a clear round, but when she finished with a lowered rail, a foot in the water, and a time fault, she’d left France with 21 faults.

Gerco Schroeder of the Netherlands had ridden Eurocommerce Monaco to the other double-clear performance, putting the Dutch final score even with the French.

With the U.S. team holding just 9 faults, Madden had an 11-fault cushion. But she and Authentic didn’t need it. The athletic Dutch-bred caught just one rail–the vertical leading into the final triple combination line–to finish with 4 faults.

The TV cameras showed teammate Kraut covering her eyes until the final jump, and then celebrating ecstatically with Ward after Madden finished.

When asked if the pressure had been high for her in the second round, Madden said, “No, because the others had done a good job for me. The pressure in the first round was higher, since it depended on my ride if we would be in the top together with the Netherlands or not after the first round.”

Ward added, “The team had a great tour, but in the Nations Cups, it seemed like things hadn’t really come together. There was a pretty good feeling that we really needed to get it together, and everyone rose to the occasion on the day.

“To win the Nations Cup and have a great show [at Aachen], personally, is a huge victory. For me to win there is more important than anywhere,” he noted.

Germany’s loss on home soil followed their crushing team defeat by the Netherlands in the dressage Nations Cup. The show jumping team didn’t have all their A-listers, since Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum chose to ride Checkmate because Shutterfly–her FEI Budweiser World Cup Final winner–is coming back from a minor injury.

And Ludger Beerbaum was riding a younger horse–L’Espoir. But European Champions Marco Kutscher and Montender had a bad day, with eight- and 12-fault rounds, the drop scores in both rounds. “He was still fit on the warm-up before the competition, but already in the first round he appeared quite tired,” said Kutscher.

And Marcus Ehning and Gitania couldn’t repeat a clean first go, collecting 8 faults in the second round.

Redemption

Just two days after the disappointing performance by the German team, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum triumphed in the $283,553 Aachen M?er Grand Prix of Aachen. Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly jumped two faultless rounds, finishing the jump-off in 41.31 seconds.

Winning the Aachen Grand Prix, in front of her home crowd of 50,000, was redemption of sorts for Michaels-Beerbaum. Last year at Aachen she was a member of the winning German Nation’s Cup team and looked as if she’d secured herself a spot on the German Olympic team. But she was left off the team due to a doping case concerning Shutterfly at the 2004 World Cup Final, from which she was later exonerated. This was the first time a woman has won the Aachen Grand Prix since Anne Kursinski of the United States did it in 1991.

Michaels-Beerbaum set the mark to beat as the first starter in the four-horse jump-off aboard the 12-year-old Hanoverian. The gelding had been hurt at the time of the European Show Jumping Championships at the end of July and had a two-month break. Over the week of Aachen, Michaels-Beerbaum built him up again.

“It was like after the winter break, Shutterfly needs some time to get used to the spectators and the whole atmosphere again,” she said. “On Sunday he did a perfect job. He deserves to stand in the winner’s list on the wall of Aachen’s judge tower.”

As second starter in the jump-off, Ward and Sapphire were fast and clear until the last fence. There they left long and Sapphire had the front pole of the oxer down with her hind legs. But had they been clear, their time of 42.04 seconds wouldn’t have been fast enough. They placed fourth.

“She really performed well–the first round felt really solid,” said Ward. “There was a double of liverpools, which I was a little concerned about, but she jumped them very well. In the second round, I really felt like she was going to make it to the jump-off. She jumped just incredibly. I took a shot in the jump-off. Shutterfly is a great horse and very fast. Unfortunately, Sapphire is not super-fast. We had the rail at the last fence, but it was still a nice finish.”

The two Belgian riders, Jos Lansink aboard the Holsteiner stallion Cavalor Cumano, and Dirk Demeersman aboard the Holsteiner stallion Clinton, had clear rounds. But both took their horses back before the last fence and didn’t match the time of Michaels-Beerbaum.

Demeersman placed second in 41.85 seconds, while Lansink was third in 42.39 seconds.

Madden and Authentic collected sixth place for a clear second round and the fastest four-fault score in the first round. Welles was 18th on Armani with a rail in each round, and Laura Kraut was 25th on Anthem.

On Saturday Ward also won the Miele & Cie. KG class on Goldika over Bernardo Alves of Brazil on Corino.