The U.S. team of Georgina Bloomberg, Schuyler Riley, Beezie Madden and Laura Kraut scored a significant victory today, May 6, in the first Samsung Super League Nations Cup of the season. At the La Baule CSIO (France), the four women topped teams from Great Britain, France and Germany.

Riley, aboard her veteran Ilian, turned in crucial double-clear rounds to lead the team to victory. Bloomberg, with Riviera, led off the effort with a clear first round and then followed up with an eight-fault second round. Madden was the drop score for the team’s first round with 8 faults on Judgement, but she turned in an important four-fault second round. Kraut rode Miss Independent to a four-fault first round but then retired in the second round. Their performances gave the team a total of 16 faults for the two rounds, putting them a rail ahead of Great Britain.

The British team—Nick Skelton on Russel, Ellen Whitaker on AK Locarno, William Funnell on Cortaflex Mondriaan, and John Whitaker on Exploit de Roulard—were buoyed by a double-clear performance by Ellen Whitaker, but when John Whitaker felled two rails in the second round, their total left them second.

The French held their ground on their home turf with a team that they admitted wasn’t their strongest. The Super League victors in the inaugural year of the series—2003—and again last year, they suffered when Eric Navet lost the ride on Dollar du Maurier. Plus, Bruno Brucqsault’s 2004 World Cup Final winner Dileme de Cephe has been out of action since suffering an injury at the Athens Olympics. Eugenie Angot’s talented mare Cigale de Tailis has piroplasmosis, and Reynald Angot’s stallion Tlaloc M is recovering from colic surgery. Still, the French looked strong after round 1, tied with the U.S. team for first with 4 faults.

But none of their team—Laurent Goffinet on Flipper ”Elle, Christian Hermon on Ephebe for Ever La Silla, Jean Marc Nicolas on JCP Modesto Equifoam, and Herve Godignon on Obelix—could put a clean round on the board in round 2, and they finished in third.

Superstars Otto Becker on Dobel’s Cento and Marco Kutscher on Montender anchored the German team. They were joined by two women—a first for Germany—Pia-Louise Aufrecht and Mylene Diederichsmeier. Diederichsmeier, on Countess G, had the best German score, with zero- and four-fault rounds. Montender dropped two rails in the first round and three in the second. Becker and Cento redeemed themselves after an eight-fault first round to jump a clean second round. The German tally of 28 faults put them fourth.

 Full results can be found at http://www.labaule-cheval.com/labaule2005/pages/progr_prog_fr.htm.