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‘He is an amazing horse’: Michael Jung reflects on his Pratoni cross-country round and voices strong opinions on the course

Gemma Redrup Gemma Redrup

    • Michael Jung has maintained his overnight lead with FischerChipmunk FRH after his eventing World Championships cross-country round in Pratoni Del Vivaro, Italy.

    “FischerChipmunk is an amazing horse – yesterday in the dressage and today on the cross-country – he is a machine,” said Michael. “He was so motivated in the warm-up and playing around. It’s just an amazing feeling for the rider when you have such a powerful machine and he was still super-galloping at the end.”

    Michael and FischerChipmunk completed their Eventing World Championships cross-country round comfortably within the optimum time, stopping the clock with nine seconds to spare. This means that they remain on their impressive 18.8 dressage score and have 4.4 penalties in hand over second-placed Yasmin Ingham, who is riding as an individual for Britain.

    “I always stay a little bit with my foot on the brake as he is so powerful and today I just tried to keep him relaxed at the beginning of the course because we had a few more minutes left to go,” explained Michael. “It’s amazing how big he is, with such a big stride, but then also in some difficult situations how quickly he can think and how quickly he can react.”

    Opinion on eventing World Championships cross-country course

    Michael voiced some strong opinions on the cross-country course yesterday and he said that his view on the track hadn’t changed today.

    “Sadly the ground wasn’t perfect and I said before this course is not great for a championship with all the turn left, turn right, go forward, collect, go up the hill, down the hill, jump on an angle – this is very difficult for the horses with the speed and gallop they have to travel at and still be so quick in their reaction and concentrate and keep their brain,“ he said after his round today.

    “The end the course is tricky, the beginning is nice with a nice open gallop, but then the middle part is very, very tricky.”

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    Gemma Redrup
    Gemma Redrup

    H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor
    Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
    Gemma Redrup

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