ALLTECH FEI WEG 2014 Normandy: Germany favourites despite absence of La Biosthetique Sam

The German eventing legend’s leading light was withdrawn from the World Equestrian Games only a week before the start of the three-day event due to inflammation in a front hoof and instead the rider will partner FischerRocana FST, a nine-year-old mare who Jung admits is not a worldbeater when it comes to the dressage phase.

Joining Jung, and hoping to stand alongside him on the top step of the team podium again 12 months after Malmo, is individual European silver medallist Ingrid Klimke with FRH Escada JS. She could be a challenger for Jung’s crown, as could Sandra Auffarth, one of his closest adversaries (and also his teammate) at the London Olympics.

Auffarth now has Opgun Louvo, one of the world’s greatest all-round event horses, back on the road after an injury forced him onto the sidelines during Malmo.

Kiwis seek gold 

New Zealand is another on-form squad with those evergreens Andrew Nicholson (Nereo) and Mark Todd (Leonidas II) leading the charge for a medal they hope will be gold.

Individual gold here for Nicholson would be just reward for a long and illustrious career whose success rate has been hiked in recent years by better horsepower. However, a major championship title has always eluded him.

Jock Paget is back in action after being cleared of all charges in the Burghley doping case, but will he be too short of match practice to be effective? A protracted investigation saw his WEG ride Clifton Promise on the sidelines for nine months, with the bay gelding having had just three cross-country runs in the UK prior to his arrival in Normandy.

Tim and Jonelle Price are the sole married duo in this contest. Could they become the first husband and wife partnership since David and Karen O’Connor in 1998 to grace an eventing WEG podium?

The all-male Australian squad will be hoping that WEG 2014 is more fruitful than four years ago when their squad crashed out in dramatic fashion.

Things can only get better for this nation of gutsy riders and their charge is led by Badminton winning duo Sam Griffiths and the mare Paulank Brockagh. Paul Tapner and Kilronan finished fourth at that event and they compete in Normandy alongside the seasoned Bill Levett, who is making his championship debut, Christopher Burton and his winning Adelaide CCI**** catch ride TS Jamaimo, together with Southern Hemisphere-based Stuart Tinney (Pluto Mio) and Shane Rose (CP Qualified).

France will be gunning for glory on home ground and are fielding a range of youth and experience. There is a gulf of 33 years between their oldest rider — former World Champion Jean Teulere, who is 60 years young — and their youngest, 27-year-old Maxime Livio, winner of the Saumur CCI*** earlier in the season.

Late call-ups

Soundness issues have prompted Great Britain’s entries to change fairly dramatically with Harry Meade (Wild Lone) and Nicola Wilson (Annie Clover) both receiving late squad call-ups.

Meade, who a year ago was bed bound after he shattered and dislocated both of his elbows in a rotational fall, will need to take home gold if he is to emulate or better his father Richard’s impressive World Championship record. Meade senior was a two-times individual silver medallist (1966/1970), plus he has two team golds (1970/1982) and a team silver in his medal cabinet at home.

British number one William Fox-Pitt’s quest for a major title has been lengthy and he will be hoping to go one better here than four years ago in Kentucky when he secured individual silver, along with team gold, aboard Cool Mountain.

Fox-Pitt’s ride this time, the stallion Chilli Morning, can be brilliant — as when winning European bronze in Malmo for example — but on occasions he can throw in the towel, such as when refusing across country at the 2013 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** while in pole position.

With Ireland’s squad constantly improving, the Swedes a strong force in Malmo and the Americans fielding a few aces in their pack — Sinead Halpin and Manoir De Carneville, the nearly winners of Burghley in 2012, are unbeatable in the dressage arena on a good day as well as demons across country — the eventing at WEG 2014 promises to be a thrilling contest from flagfall to finish.  

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Source: ALLTECH FEI WEG