The Hoys dominated the placings at Luhmühlen at the weekend, with Andrew finishing in first and sixth, Bettina in fourth, and their visiting student Dirk Schrade in third.
Andrew Hoy achieved his first international victory on Mr Pracatan (pictured), who has proved his quality time and again in three- and four-star events, but has often been let down by minor mistakes in the show jumping.
This weekend however, the combination was one of only two (Dirk Schrade and Sindy were the other) to end with a clean sheet, moving up from eighth after the dressage. Their success gives Andrew yet another string to his Olympic bow – he now has Master Monarch, Moon Fleet and Mr Pracatan to choose from.
Meanwhile, Bettina rode her Olympic prospect Ringwood Cockatoo in her usual elegant style to clinch fourth place – just a few time penalties in the cross country course, which made victims of several riders, let down Germany’s leading eventer.
Linda Argotsson, last year’s World Cup champion finished in close second, just 0.4 penalties behind Andrew Hoy on Stand By Me. A pole down in the show jumping robbed her of the top spot, but the Swedish rider confirmed her international status with a quick round across the tricky cross-country.
Zara Phillips looked a very impressive contender on Springleaze Macaroo, improving on her Chatsworth performance (where she was 15th) to finish in seventh place. She and “Mac” produced a near-perfect dressage test and a fast and accurate cross-country round to move up to 2nd place at the end of Saturday.
But the 15-year-old gelding was unable to control the adrenaline in the final show jumping phase and rushed through the first half of the course, notching up 12 penalties in a performance reminiscent of Toytown’s here last year, without which she would have finished on a winning score.
The only other British representative in Germany was youngster Vicky Laing, who was competing her own Joli Figaro. The 22-year-old produced her best international result at this level to date, and her clear cross country bore testament to her having overcome any problems following a serious back injury two years ago.
Final results:
1. Mr Pracatan (Andrew Hoy AUS) 39.5
2. Stand By Me (Linda Algotsson SWE) 39.9
3. Sindy 43 (Dirk Schrade GER) 41.7
4. Ringwood Cockatoo (Bettina Hoy GER) 41.7
5. Flambeau H 3 (Simone Deitermann GER) 45.7
6. Yeoman’s Point (Andrew Hoy AUS) 48.0
7. Springleaze Macaroo (Zara Phillips GBR) 51.5
8. The Ghost of Hamish (Peter Thomsen GER) 51.5
