Bruno Broucqsault became the first Frenchman to claim the title when, thanks to sheer genius of his 13 year old gelding Dileme de Cephe, he snatched victory in a thrilling finish to the Sony Ericsson FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Milan last Sunday.
Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was second, denied a two-way jump off with the 45 year old French rider by what seemed like nothing short of massive injustice when, after a first-round effort that was nothing short of perfection, a slight second-round error cost her dearly.
Markus Fuchs picked up just four faults on this final day with Tinka's Boy to place third ahead of Eugenie Angot and the brilliant Cigale du Tallis from France who were the only partnership to match the winner's double-clear performance.
Just four horse-and-rider combinations completed the first track without penalty as big fences and tricky distances took their toll.
Second-last into the ring came Bruno with Dileme de Cephe and this extraordinary partnership was nothing if not determined. A father of two who runs a big riding centre near Lille in France, Bruno is a shy, private man but his relationship with his 13 year old gelding is something special.Helped by Eric Navet in recent years the rider has risen to the top of the sport in France, last year winning the Grand Prix classes at both Rome and Barcelona but it is the depth of understanding between himself and Dileme de Cephe which has brought him to the top.
Delighted but perhaps somewhat shell-shocked at finding himself the newly-crowned FEI World Cup Jumping Champion, Bruno is clearly not going to let this success go to his head. When asked how he felt about his historic victory he commented "I'm just still little Bruno, nothing changes. I am
very happy. When I came here I hoped to finish in the top five but I never expected to win so I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported me here".
Under the most extreme pressure Bruno and Dileme de Cephe never faltered in their absolute faith in one another and France has now found another super-hero to further boost the incredible run of French form on the international stage.
The Sony Ericsson FEI World Cup Jumping Final was a great success, particularly taking into account the fact that the Milan organisers agreed to stage it only eight months ago. John Roche, FEI Technical Manager for the World Cup series, is now Co-Ordinator for all matters in relation to the World Cup said "what Max has done for equestrian sport in developing the World Cup series is
immeasurable. He gave the indoor season a focus - a sense of purpose - and he directed and consolidated the sport in a way that was badly needed. He invested a wealth of creativity, dedication and enthusiasm and we are now reaping the benefits of that - we are greatly in his debt".
RESULT OF 26th WORLD CUP FINAL 2004 (after third final competition):1, Bruno
Broucqsault (Dileme de Cephe) Fra 0;
2, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Shutterfly) Ger 4;
3, Markus Fuchs (Tinka's Boy) Sui 8;
4, Eugenie Angot (Cigale du Tallis) Fra 9;
5, Marco Kutscher (Montender) Ger 13;
equal 6, Juan Carlos Garcia (Albin) Ita, Malin Baryard (H&M Butterfly Flip)
Swe 14;
8, Wim Schroder (Eurocommerce Montreal) Ned 16;
9, Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (MacKinley) Swe 18;
10, Thomas Velin (Equest Carnute) Den 19;
11, Ludo Philippaerts (Parco) Bel 23;
12, Richard Spooner (Hilton Flight) USA 25;
13, Marcus Ehning (Anka) Ger 26;
14, Eric Van der Vleuten (Audi's Jikke) Ned 27;
15, Michael Whitaker (Portofino/Handel) GB 29;
NEWS FROM THE USA
Kim Severson and Winsome Adante Claim Second Victory in Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI 4* Presented by Bayer. Kim Severson and Winsome Adante led the field from start to finish to claim
victory in the 2004 CCI 4* Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bayer, held April 22-25, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.
The winner in 2002, a broken leg prevented Severson from defending her title last year, but Eventing fans were thrilled to see the 30-year-old Virginia native return to the winner's circle. Severson took the early lead on Friday with a dressage performance that garnered a score of 37 penalty points from the international panel of judges. Throughout the next two phases, cross-country and stadium jumping, Severson and Winsome Adante were perfection personified, adding nothing to their opening score to claim their second Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event at the four-star level.
Phillip Dutton of Australia and Nova Top finished as the runner-ups. Dutton was one of seven riders to complete course designer Michael Etherington-Smith's without penalty, a feat he repeated on Sunday over the stadium jumping test set by Richard Jeffery to finish on his dressage score of 43 penalty points.
Abigail Lufkin enjoyed a successful return to the sport following a four-year hiatus while she completed her graduate studies in California. Like Severson and Dutton, Lufkin also added nothing to her dressage score of 45.8 penalty points riding Kildonan Tug, an 11-year-old Australian thoroughbred gelding to finish 3rd.
William Fox-Pitt finished fourth with a score of 47.4 riding Ballincolla, the same position as in 2002 when he made his Rolex Kentucky debut aboard Stunning although he did one better in 2003, finishing third aboard Moon Man. Rounding out the top five was Julie Richards of Douglas, GA, riding
Lufkin's former mount, Jacob Two Two.
Offering
$190,000 in prize money, the CCI 4* Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event was a qualifying
competition for the 2004 Olympic Games
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is one of only four CCI 4 stars events
held in the world. The three other events are the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton
Horse Trials and the Burghley Horse Trials in Great Britain and Adelaide in
Australia. The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is also part of the Rolex Grand
Slam of Eventing that awards $250,000 to any rider who can win Rolex Kentucky,
Badminton and Burghley in succession.
WORLD CUP DRIVING
Michael Freud wins third World Cup Title
At the last event of the World Cup Season, Sweden's Tomas Eriksson made the
impossible and beat World Cup Champion Michael Freud which had won every single
World Cup he participated in this season.
The best three drivers from the first round, Eriksson, Sandmann and Freund,
had qualified for the winning round.
FEI World Cup director Max Ammann mentioned that for next season, the same
World Cup events will participate in the World Cup Driving, as well as Hannover,
who will be part of the World Cup circuit for the first time. The drivers
can qualify at eleven outdoor international driving events; the best
four results will count.
IN MEMORIAM
Major Ronnie Dallas (GBR) who competed for Great Britain in two World
Jumping Championships died early April aged 81.
Major Dallas, as member of the British Army of the Rhine, took part in the
two World Championships with a final with exchange of horse, in a period when
the British Show Jumping Association did not look favourably at this new kind
of Championships. Riding Marmion, major Dallas placed 5th in 1954
in Madrid, thus narrowly missing the Final and finished 4th in 1955 in Aachen.
For many years, Major Dallas was the Duke of Beaufort hunt Secretary and the
voice of Badminton's trot-ups.
Adolf Ehrnvooth (FIN), who rode for Finland in the Three-Day Event
of the 1948 Olympic Games, died recently aged 99. He was seven years older
than his brother Lars, who rode in the Three Day event of the 1924 Olympic
Games at only 27.
Adolf Ehrnvooth was 43 when he rode at the 1948 Games. His third brother was
responsible for the equestrian competitions at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.
Louis "Ludi" Meyer (SUI), for many years the resident Course
Designer at CSIO Lucerne, recently passed away. He was a businessman from
Reiden (Lucerne) and began his international equestrian carrier in Eventing,competing
in the first FEI Eventing Championship ever in 1953 in Badminton.
