Sandra Auffarth and Opgun Louvo pulled off the fastest cross-country clear to win the Aachen CICO*** earlier today (Saturday 19 July).
The duo spearheaded Germany’s convincing win in the Nations Cup while Great Britain held on to second place. France finished third.
Izzy Taylor was best of the British quartet in fourth with Orlando.
“He was super. It was very hot but he kept on going,” said Izzy.
William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning picked up 7.2 time faults to slot into ninth.
“It walked like a championship three-star course and it lived up to expectation,” said William.
Piggy French’s smooth round aboard Jakata earned them 13th place while Zara Phillips and High Kingdom made amends for yesterday’s below par performance with a confident clear marred only by 8 time faults. This left them outside the top 20 along with Harry Meade and Wild Lone who also jumped clear but were slow.
Just three riders achieved the 7min optimum time around Rudiger Schwarz’s twisty track and they were all German — Sandra, Ingrid Klimke (FRH Escada JS, second) and Michael Jung (La Biosthetique Sam FBW, third).
Three riders in the top five overnight disappeared from the reckoning. Tim Price, lying second, trotted Wesko off the course after clearing the SOCCX Stairs (14).
“The horse is fine but I’m saving him for WEG,” explained Tim.
France’s Thomas Carlile and Quiro Hoy, on target for fourth place, ran out at a skinny triple brush coming out of the second water (DHL Complex, 17) while American Clark Montgomery, lying fifth, retired one fence from home at the CHIO Pond (23/24) when Loughan Glen refused.
Belgium’s Karin Donckers brought Fletcha Van’t Verahof home 10sec adrift of the optimum, a feat that earned her a four-place rise through the leaderboard to fifth.
Don’t miss our full report from Aachen in Horse & Hound magazine (24 July, 2014)
