For most riders, standing on the medal podium as the newly crowned World Champion would produce unequivocal joy, but for Zara Phillips of Great Britain, the situation embodied a mixture of emotions.

The week before her first FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, the daughter of international eventers Princess Anne and Capt. Mark Phillips lost a close friend, Sharelle Duke, to a fall at the Brockenhurst Horse Trials (England).

“I’ve had quite a hard week,” she said, fighting back tears. “I wanted to get the gold medal for [Duke], to dedicate it to her. I’m relieved I could do it for her.”

Even at the age of 25, Zara displayed an enviable cool as she and Toytown, a 13-year-old, chestnut gelding, took to the tense atmosphere of the main arena at Aachen with the overnight lead, the gold medal hers to win or lose over 13 show jumping fences.

Perhaps growing up as royalty has numbed her to the cameras and TV crews following her endeavors, but even when she missed hearing the starting bell and began her course a few seconds late, she never panicked and rode the round she needed (just one rail and 1 time penalty) to send Clayton Fredericks of Australia home with the silver medal and Amy Tryon of the United States with the bronze. She also led the British to a team silver.

“It’s amazing to be able to jump in that arena,” said Zara. “In eventing, we’ve never been in anything quite like it. He loves the crowds and thinks they’re all there to watch him.”

Zara, the first British World Champion in 20 years, bought Toytown, a horse of unknown pedigree that they believe to be Irish, in 1999 and has brought him up from the novice level. The pair finished second at the Burghley CCI**** (England) in 2003, but when Toytown suffered an injury that winter, he missed the 2004 Olympics. Still, the young pair have earned plenty of accolades, including the 2005 European team and individual championships.

“It’s been quite depressing to [teammate] Mary [King] and myself how young she is; she’s been on the team two years and already has two gold medals and silver,” said her teammate William Fox-Pitt with a laugh.

Zara’s father, himself a team World and Olympic Champion and now the U.S. chef d’equipe, was also proud of her com-posure, although he acknowledged that she got a bit lucky on the cross-country, at the first water complex. “I think she rode pretty cool,” he said of her show jumping. “When she realized she was behind the clock, she kept her head.”

A day earlier, Zara said she didn’t quite get Toytown back enough at the first water to get up the bank well. “He’ll get a bag of carrots for that,” she said. “He was really good through the last water. I thought the course was fantastic–no areas to let up. You had to keep riding all the way. People all the way around were cheering, and it was really nice to hear them.”

While Zara ended the British drought in individual titles, Clayton Fredericks secured Australia’s first World Championship eventing medals since the 1986 World Championships, with the individual silver and team bronze. He’s had Ben Along Time since the horse was 4, and in 2005 the pair won the FEI World Cup Final, followed this year by wins at the Saumur CCI*** (France) and the Gatcombe CIC*** (England). He’s based in Wiltshire, England, with his wife Lucinda, also an international eventer.

Ben Along Time’s prospects surely helped Fredericks, 38, get through the loss of top horse Bundaberg in 2003, after a road accident in which the horse broke a leg. “I thought [Ben Along Time] would be an appropriate name because I just had a gut feeling that this horse would be the one to take me all the way,” he said.

Coming into show jumping in fourth place, he hadn’t given much thought to his medal potential. “You don’t think of the medals and placings,” said Fredericks. “I was just focused on my job and giving my horse the best preparation I could.”

A Title Of Her Own For Tryon
Although she was riding hard for the team bronze, Tryon never anticipated that she might move up four places in show jumping to be standing on the podium as an individual.

“My goal was to be a good pathfinder for the U.S. team,” she said. “I never considered this horse an individual medal horse. I was first and foremost here for the team; I didn’t even think of an individual placing. It was kind of lonely up there [on the podium] without my friends.”

Poggio and Tryon competed on a U.S. team for the first time in 1999 at the Pan Am Games, helping to secure the team gold medal. They returned to the team in 2002, picking up another team gold at the WEG that year, and came back for the 2004 Olympics, where his two clear rounds in show jumping helped clinch the bronze medal for the U.S. team.

“He’s stepped out of his class a little,” said Tryon of the ex-race horse and former pack horse. “I’ve had him many years, and I’m lucky to sit on him.”

Poggio won the Radnor CCI** (Pa.) as a 6-year-old, and Capt. Mark Phillips told Tryon then, “You’ve got to get him broke.” They competed at Rolex Kentucky in 2000, but he fractured his hind leg there.

“I had to learn to be happy with not totally being in control, or sell him,” said Tryon.

As the first team rider, Tryon rode her dressage early Thursday morning, in a drenching rain, and scored a 50.7, which put her 24th after that phase. “It’s hard to be one of the first in the ring in dressage,” she said. “I was happy with the way he was in his mind in the ring.”

Although Poggio has always been known as an extremely talented but highly unconventional horse, he showed his maturity in Aachen, in all phases. And while he would never be a horse for the average rider, he has progressed.

“He’s growing up now. In Winnipeg [at the 1999 Pan Am Games], he was totally out of control in all three phases,” she said with a laugh. “He’s a very rewarding horse to watch develop. It’s a credit to Mark [Phillips] and the system we have in the United States. As he understands his job better, he gets better, because he doesn’t do [his quirky behavior] to be bad. It’s just in his desire to please. It’s my goal one day to ride him in a snaffle.”

Although she’s not quite at that point yet, Tryon did manage to guide him perfectly over a cross-country course that caught most of the world’s best horses and riders. “It rode very much like it walked,” said Tryon. “I’m happy all the lines worked out for my particular horse and that he went as well as he did.”

For Tryon–who had a hard fall from Poggio at the 2002 WEG–losing the team bronze in Aachen was a disappointment, which she took in stride as part of the sport. “You can’t be disappointed, because everyone did their best,” she said. “I’ve been in that position before, and worse.”

Poggio may still be in contention in two years for a second Olympics, but Tryon also has a new international horse with Le Samurai, who competed at the Blenheim CCI*** (England) the weekend after the eventing in Aachen. Still, “Pogi” will always hold a special place for her.

“To me, this is a bit of a fairytale. I just enjoy going out to the barn every day, whether I’m teaching a 4-year-old to jump or riding Pogi,” she said.

And with a new horse in the works, it seemed the perfect time for Tryon to quit her job as a firefighter near her home in Duvall, Wash. “[My husband] Greg was just promoted to chief and was going to be my boss,” she said with a laugh. “Greg supports me seven days a week and never complains when I’m in the barn until 10 at night. I’m a very lucky person.”

With 15 students, plus horses in training, Tryon will be looking for new mounts now–with Capt. Mark Phillips’ strong approval.

“We need to build a better team of horses–that’s what we need in this country right now,” he said. “If you look at Lexington [WEG] in 2010 and London [Olympics in 2012], when you see the horses we have at the moment and the standard of horses here [at the WEG], you realize we have to go shopping big time if we’re not going to be disappointed in Lexington.”

Hometown Favorites
The German team had quality horses in abundance–everyone knew they were the team to beat this year. Surrounded by cheering fans in their own land, the Germans proved that their near miss at the 2004 Olympics wasn’t a fluke, winning the team gold by 24 points over Great Britain.

And they didn’t just do it in the dressage ring. With two clear cross-country rounds inside the time from Frank Ostholt and Hinrich Romeike and just 7.2 time penalties added by Bettina Hoy, they simply widened their lead after the cross-country. Only Ingrid Klimke’s surprising stops on cross-country with Sleep Late, who finished second at the Badminton CCI**** (England) this spring, marred the first three days of competition for them.

“We knew the Germans were the team to beat, but we just weren’t good enough,” said Fox-Pitt.

If there was any place the Germans faltered, it was on the final day. The pressure seemed to affect Hoy, who had been standing in second place overnight on Ringwood Cockatoo. She rode an overly cautious round, with the controversy of the 2004 Olympics–where she lost the team and individual gold with a premature circle through the show jumping start flags–surely still nagging.

“Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed, because he’s jumped really well this year,” she said. “But I’m proud of Zara, and she deserved to win.”

Bettina and Andrew Hoy (a member of the bronze-medal Australian team) are based at Gatcombe (England), home of Zara Phillips, and Japanese rider Yoshiaki Oiwa, who finished in 18th place and had a perfect cross-country round, exactly on the optimum time of 11:12.

Ostholt, who had entered show jumping in third place with Air Jordan 2, dropped a notch to fourth with a rail. “When I dropped the fence I was sad, but sitting here with a team gold is a wonderful feeling,” he said.

Despite their experience at the last WEG, where the Germans didn’t even finish a team, this year they soundly trounced the silver-medal British team and the bronze-medal Australians, who kept the medal out of U.S. hands by just .8 penalties in show jumping. The U.S. team’s fourth-placed finish did, however, qualify them for the 2008 Olympics.

“That .8 [penalties] was really hard to swallow,” said Karen O’Connor, who competed as an individual for the United States. “But everyone gave all they had, and when the scores come up, the scores come up.”

U.S. fortunes took a turn for the worse when Olympic silver medalists Kim Severson and Winsome Adante ran by the second of two severely angled brushes at fences 4-5.

“I just wasn’t on the ball when I came to Fence 4,” said Severson, who would have gone into the individual lead with one of her trademark clean, fast rounds. “I took the first [distance] I saw, and it was the worst thing to do. It disheartened me a lot, but I knew I had to keep going for the team.”

Things picked up from there for Severson, who had been third after dressage and finished 17th individually. “He was brilliant everywhere else. It was one of the best rides I’ve had on him,” she said. “I’m really pleased with him. I think it was one of the best courses I’ve ever done.

“Being the anchor rider is hard,” she added. “We all do the best we can, and we all make mistakes.”

Ready For More
Half of the members of the U.S. squad were riding in their first World Championships, and the experience just whet their palate for more.

“I came away from this as a huge learning experience,” said Jan Byyny, who finished 45th individually after some difficulties on cross-country. “I would have liked to go clean, but now I’m more hungry for the next time.”

Task Force, on whom she won the Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.), in May, pulled a shoe at Fence 19 and then ran out at the corner at fence 25B. “I don’t think he even saw the second element at 25,” she said. “I felt confident; I could do every exercise by itself. After the mistake at [fence] 19 it was much harder to ride without his front shoe.”

For team members Heidi White and Will Faudree, the competition was also a great learning experience and another chapter in the excellent partnerships they’ve each had with Northern Spy and Antigua, respectively.

“I’ve grown up with that horse,” said Faudree, 24. “To be here is just part of the fairytale of the horse. You could take anyone off the street, and he would give them a path to a career. I owe a lot to this horse. I’ve learned from it; I’m hungry for it, and it makes me want to get home to ride the young horses.”

White, 41, enjoyed wearing her first red coat as a U.S. team member on Sunday morning after recording a clear, but slow round on Saturday. “You don’t sew thepatches on [your coat] until after the [final horse inspection],” she said. ” It sounds silly, but you don’t want to jinx yourself. So you don’t put it on until you’re about ready to get on. It feels great. I was very proud to do that for our country.”

Now she’s looking for another horse to compete at this level. “I think [being on a team] will change things,” she said in reference to her career. “We’re in the process of looking for some more horses. So is everybody else. Hopefully we’ll be back.

O’Connor may be a veteran of World Championships, but Upstage was making his first team appearance, under circumstances that weren’t ideal. He finished 42nd after run-outs at fences 15C and 25B.

“He had a shaky prep for this championship,” O’Connor said. “At the [selection] trials he glanced off a corner, and that’s the first time he’s ever had a technical error. It was a loss of my attention. I wasn’t able to really test it again until [the WEG]. He jumped the corner at 19B beautifully. There was a big change in terrain and it all happened too fast. Good riders and good horses have a glance off. That’s the sporting life.”

She still believes the New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred hasn’t shown his best yet. “Upstage could run all day long in the heat and would be great in Hong Kong,” she said. “I’ll take the winter and re-establish his confidence, and he’ll come out a champion next spring. He’s an extraordinary horse, a real competitor.”

And as the most experienced of the U.S. riders, she put the weekend into perspective for a somewhat disappointed group. “There wasn’t any one of the six people who didn’t give it their all,” she said. “There were 10 exercises [on cross-country] that had no margin of error. If you ran the competition tomorrow, there might be a different result. We’ll be working on the mistakes we made, and by the time we get to Kentucky [in 2010], with the spectators there, we’ll have the 35-point lead the Germans have here.”

A Modern Challenge
Riders agreed that this year’s championship cross-country course was one of the toughest yet–but in a slightly different way than in the past.

“I felt this was a serious cross-country, maybe more so than previous championships, like Athens [2004 Olympics] and Blenheim [2005 European Championships],” said William Fox-Pitt of the silver-medal British team. “They did a very good job of balancing the technical questions with bravery questions.”

“I knew from the first time I walked it that it was a strong course,” said Andrew Hoy of Australia’s bronze-medal team. “It was a real championship course.”

Riders and trainers seemed certain that this type of course–more twisting than galloping, composed of one serious technical question after another–is the wave of the future.

“Modern championship courses are more and more on a postage stamp: Malmo [World Cup Final in Sweden], Hong Kong [2008 Olympics],” said U.S. Chef d’Equipe Capt. Mark Phillips. “Kentucky in 2010 will be different, but London [2012 Olympics] will be a postage stamp again. The fences have been the same size since forever, so they have to get more and more technical.

“You have to be able to ride at speed, with accuracy,” he added. “There are increasingly more angles rather than narrows. If you got yourself in the wrong place on the track or made a move at the wrong time, you paid the price. It was a huge concentration exercise.”

Tryon followed the U.S. game plan perfectly, arriving 10 seconds down on her time at the four-minute mark so her horse didn’t go anaerobic too early, but getting back up on her time by the seven-minute marker. “Amy was within 2 or 3 seconds of the mark the whole time,” said Phillips. “Riders are still learning [the best way] to ride the short format.”

Although dressage and show jumping played an important role in this championship, cross-country definitely separated the field into contenders and also-rans.

“The major challenge should be cross-country, and it was,” said German team gold medalist Hinrich Romeike. “It’s good that show jumping doesn’t determine the World Champion in eventing.”

Riders were hoping that eventing might remain at Aachen, which has hosted international show jumping competitions since 1927, and that the sport might even be included in the CHIO, along with the dressage, show jumping and driving.

“We would be the first to be willing to continue [with the eventing here], but there are many steps to be taken,” said sports director Baron Wolf von Buchholz. “There is quite a positive outlook for this, and we will do our best in this regard.”

Cross-country course designer Ruediger Schwarz was pleased with how his course worked out in the verdant valley of Aachen, at the Soers farm, just across from the main stadium.

“A course like this should be a selective course and bring the good horses to the top. It’s a four-star event, and that should have everything you need in the education of the horse,” he said. “The beginning tested freshness, and the horse needed power and honesty all the way through.”