Run as a nations cup event, the second round was the same as the first with riders from the top 10 teams from the first round, going in for a second round, which would see a final result and medals awarded.

Round two saw 6 team clears coming from Ireland (Darragh Kerins), France (Kevin Staut), Italy (Natale Chiaudani), Netherlands (Albert Zoer) and two from the Swiss (Daniel Etter and Steve Guerdat).

We also saw a clear round from Belgium's Philippe Le Jeune, giving us a total of 7 clears for the second round, competing individually.

Many riders in both rounds had a splash around in the 4.2m open water and the line from the palisade at 6 was followed by a very tight left turn which caused many troubles - from the water there was either a 7 or 8 stride run to 8A which was a triple bar on a bend. If you have kicked for the water there is a need to take a hold for 8A but many horses were taking a huge jump to it and leaving themselves short for 8B seeing it fall.

The Swiss Team went about their business quietly and without fanfare on their amazing team of horses who are scopey, rideable and so well produced, something the Swiss have been well known for.

First to go for Switzerland was Pius Schwizer and he was the drop score in both rounds when he collected 12 faults each time around the dance floor in the saddle of his 12 year old gelding Ulysse - pictured below left - by Nonstop out of a Jus de Pomme mare.

Second was Daniel Etter who produced a four fault first round and a clear round on his second trip from start to finish flags. Peu a Peu - pictured below right - was an amazing young horse and has developed into a top level International Championship horse - he is a 13 year old gelding by Polydor out of a Fruhlingsball mare and is a registered westphalian horse who continues to impress everytime he enters an arena and today was no exception.

Third to go for Switzerland was 31 year old Clarissa Crotta and the 10 year old Baloubet du Rouet gelding West Side v. Meerputhoeve - pictured below left - and they jumped a 4 fault first round and an eight fault second round.

And in the gun seat, with all the pressure on him was Steve Guerdat - and no better man to take on the challenge with the tough and talented mare Jalisca Solier - pictured below right - there was no better combination for the job. In the first round they lowered the very flimsy All Tech fence, which needed only a breath at times to lower it and then they also brought down 12B - but in round two they produced a foot perfect round with not a rail dropping and the time perfect to produce a second clear for the Swiss.

The Swiss were definitely not short odds with the bookies for the Gold medal but you wouldn't have found a brighter and happier team than the jubilant Swiss who proudly wore their Gold medals for Team competition.

Definitely the suprise of the Championships have been the Italians - they have had a shocking season for 2009 with very bad performances in the Meydan FEI Nations Cup League which saw them coming into the final round as relegated, no matter what they did - even a win would not save them - and nobody in their wildest dreams believed they could even win a leg of this very prestigious and tough competition.

The Italian Federation have employed recently retired Swiss rider Marcus Fuchs as the new Italian Trainer/Chef d'Equip and his first duty competition was the Aga Khan Cup at Dublin Horse Show and the flambouyant and good looking ITalian team stunned the bookies when they won! They were running at 100/1 odds so hopefully plenty made good money on their win!

So they came to Windsor Castle with a dream of perhaps being somewhere near the medals - suddenly as they came to the second round they were looking very much like they might be taking home Team Gold medals.

The team sent very experienced Juan Carlos Garcia and Hamilton de Perhet - pictured below left over the open water - and they produced an 8 fault first round and were the drop score in round two with their 12 fault round.

Pictured above right - Giuseppe D'Onofrio and Landzeu, a 14 year old Landadel/Zeus gelding over the garden hedge gate palisade fence.

Pictured below left - Third out for Italy was the flambouyant Natale Chiaudani and Snai Seldana di campalto, a 10 year old mare by Emillion out of an Alme Star mare. This combination produced the only double clear round of the competition and there is no question he was delighted with the performance.

Natale became known through this week for throwing his helmet into the crowd after jumping a clear round - no doubt he hopes to lose many helmets in the coming years!

Natale was definitely the talk of the showgrounds as he sauntered around with sunglases, pipe and crocodile skin riding boots, with long hair flowing - definiteoly the image of an Italian movie star!

And nobody could have been more proud of Natale than his daughter Lucrezia - pictured with her dad below