FEI Eventing World Cup Update: Melbourne (AUS)
Emma Armstrong (AUS) further strengthened Australia’s dominance
of the FEI Eventing World Cup Rankings as well as entering the history books when
she won the Horseland FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier at Melbourne (AUS). It
was the 50th anniversary of Eventing at the Werribee Equestrian Centre, which
makes it the second oldest three-day event in the world (after Badminton).
Armstrong,
22, was only fifth after Dressage on Voortrekker (57.9), who was tenth
at Australia’s earlier FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier at Warwick last month;
however, an eventful cross-country day significantly re-arranged the leaderboard
with only five clears from the 16 starters. Luke Jones (AUS) and
Soul, who were third from last after dressage (71.0), rose to second place
by finishing bang on the optimum time of 7min over the course designed by Australian
team coach and Chairman of the FEI Eventing Committee Wayne Roycroft with
Ewan Kellet; Jones, 32, was the only rider not to have time penalties. Olympic
rider Rebel Morrow (AUS) led the dressage phase on Mousetrap (42.7);
but, had two cross-country stops and withdrew before the final show jumping phase;
second-placed Craig Barrett (AUS) and Staccato (48.1) also
had a stop and dropped to sixth with a final score of 101.7; and third-placed
Heath Ryan (AUS) and Diablo, the Warwick runners-up, lay third after
dressage but also fell foul of the course and were eliminated. Robert
Palm (AUS), who was fourth at Warwick, went one better this time to finish
third (77.4); he is now 15th in the FEI World Cup Rankings on 70 points. Meanwhile,
Armstrong becomes the sixth Australian rider to enter the top 10 in the
FEI Eventing World Cup Rankings, slotting into eighth place with 112 points. After
12 of the 17 qualifiers, Philip Dutton still leads on 170, with fellow
Australians Clayton Fredericks third (152), Shane Rose sixth (118),
Andrew Hoy seventh (114) and Lucinda Fredericks 10th (103). The
only non-Australians are Karin Donckers (BEL), second (165) and Britons
Rodney Powell, fourth (142) and Matthew Wright, fifth (140). The
FEI Eventing World Cup series now moves to Eastern Europe for the first time this
year, to Strzegom (POL) on 22 – 25 June.
The Top Eleven, (Including
Ties) After Melbourne are, in Order:
1. Phillip Dutton (AUS) - 170
2.
Karin Donckers (BEL) - 165
3. Clayton Fredericks (AUS) - 152
4. Rodney Powell
(GBR) - 142
5. Matthew Wright (GBR) - 140
6. Shane Rose (AUS) - 118
7.
Andrew Hoy (AUS) - 114
8. Emma Armstrong (AUS) - 112
9. Darren Chiacchia
(USA) - 109
10. Lucinda
Fredericks (AUS) - 103
11T. William Fox-Pitt (GBR) - 100
11T. Matthew Grayling
(NZL) - 100
11T. Robyn Fisher (USA) - 100 | 