Canada's Jill Henselwood - pictured below left - led the charge into the opening round of the final leg of the World Cup event to find the 2006 World Cup champion - and she and Special Ed, the 12 year old bay gelding by Argentinus out of a Grannus mare, who began his life as a dressage horse - he seems happy to be a jumper and today acquitted himself very well coming through the finish flags with two fences down for 8 faults giving them a total for the 3 competitions of 30 faults.

Joie Gatlin for the USA had a difficult round with fences falling everywhere to finish with an added 24 jumping faults plus 4 time faults to give them a final total of 50 points.

Geir Gulliksen and Cattani 17 just had two down for 8 faults and a final total of 29 faults which would not see them back for round two.

Quatro and Abdullah Al Sharbatly had a very respectable 3 down giving them a final total of 32.

Although Abdullah - pictured right over the tall rustic fence 3 - did not make it through to the final round, it must be remembered that these riders have all qualified to get this final through the various Leagues around the world and then those riding on this final day have had to qualify over the previous 2 days of competition - so it is no mean feat getting this far.

Jean-Marc Nicolas for France jumped super well in this round adding just one fence and one time

penalty for the best round so far. They lowered the rustic fence 3 which was a 1.55m vertical. They finished round one with 22 penalties and would be back for Round two.

Ljubov Kochetova for Russia also put in a another excellent round, lowering just two fences, the double at 10, to add 8 faults to their previous score and they finished on 27 which saw them just out of the thresh hold for a return visit in round two.

Richard Spooner for the USA lowered fences 6 and 7 to add 8 to his score of 16 and finished with 24 points which was good enough to see him return for round two.

Beezie Madden, also for the USA was next to go - it has been interesting watching this horse jump this week as he has seemed to lack the sheer brilliance of previous shows and perhaps the travel did not agree with him - he was called to report back to the Vet this morning for final clearance and was given it! After a day off on Saturday the horse jumped much more like himself today and returned just 8 faults when 5C fell and then the final fence was added to their total. With the final score of 24 they were another combination to return for round two.

Laura Kraut's Anthem, for the USA had the crowd roaring again when they returned a four fault round having just the one fence at 5A and they were coming back for round two.

Alison Firestone, for the USA again seemed to be having a number of on-course arguments with Secret Love and they returned a 12 fault round when fences 3, 7 and 8 fell - but they return for round two with their total at this stage of 26.

Pia-Luise Aufrecht is definitely the newest star on the German horizon - she has ridden brilliantly to qualify to come to Malaysia and has been on fire throughout the show with Hofgut Liederbach's Abrisca - pictured below left - and this round was no exception - the recorded the first clear round on this very tough track which was sorting out those who can, and those who can't - Pia-Luise definitely CAN and does and goes through to the second round carrying just 13 points.
The legendary Michael Whitaker thrilled the Malaysian crowd just by him being there judging by the cheers as he rode into the arena - Michael was second to Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum in Vegas last year and was looking to improve this year - but he was bringing 10 points forward into this final class and so he knew what he and Portofino - pictured below - had to do - and they did it in style - a clear round which brought the house down!

USA's Margie Engle and Quervo Gold, a 13 year old gelding son of Jus De Pomme were next to try and elevate the American standing at this competition - but things just did not fall into place for this combination today when fences 6 and 10B added 8 faults to their score seeing them finish on 18, which was still good enough to bring them back for round two.

Riding for the Netherlands, Gerco Schroder - pictured below - has been the high flyer for Stahl Eurocommerce and today he rode a super round lowering just one fence at 6 to finish this round with a score of 13 which guaranteed a return visit in round two today.

Philippe Leoni for France came into this round carrying 8 points and after an excellent round where on fence 7 fell, they were back for round two.

Gunnar Klettenberg who won two of the Central European qualifiers to get here has been riding like a superstar in both the Grand Prix Tour and the World Cup classes - he came into this round carrying 7 points and with an added 8 faults today when fences 3 and 12 fell he was also to come back for round two.

Just eight combinations to go as we make our way to the highest seeded combinations in the class - and Heinrich Hermann Engemann comes forward next - carrying 6 points he and Aboyeur W have just the one fence when 5A tumbles, so adding four penalties and staying alive for round two.

Juan Carlos Garcia for Italy with his own 18 year old Loro Piana Albin III - pictured below right - bring forward 6 points and when they come through the finish flags, the crowd roars their approval as they have left everything standing and collected no points to add - definitely returning for round two!
Alois Pollman-Schweckhorst and Candy 195 came into this round with 5 penalties and everything was looking good for the German, but perhaps it all just got a bit too much for this super 14 year old Corial mare and after fences 8,9 and 10A tumbled Alois made the right decision to retire her from the class.

Alois and Marcus Ehning - pictured right - pose for a photographer on course prior to the start of play

Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengsston and MacKinley 3 put in a super effort adding just four to their previous four, when fence 10B fell and so they go into round two with 8 points.

And now we are getting to the nitty gritty of this competition with the final four to go - reigning World Cup Champion, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Checkmate enter the arena and suddenly there is a momentary hush which has not been the case with the enthusiastic spectators at this show - Meredith rides superbly and Checkmate does his job with brilliance - they clock up a clear to stay with 4 points.
Three to go and the atmosphere in the huge Putra Stadium is electric - Jessica Kurten rides in on Castle Forbes Libertina, a mare who at 10 years of age is green at this level and has pleased her rider getting this far. They head off over the first fence after Libertina has a slight spook at the people sitting right at the fence, but Jessica has already recognised this could be an issue and rode brilliantly to avoid an argument and from here on the horse and rider are totally focussed on the course - this horse was never close enough to the rails to rattle one and they came through the finish flags thrilling the crowd with a spectacular clear round to go through to round two with just the one point.

Jessica - pictured left - is always quick to give huge pats to this lovely mare when they come through the finish flags!

Two to go - Beat Mandli - pictured below - for Switzerland is next out and he brings forward zero points and as is to be expected he also jumps clear to remain on zero points - the crowd are now getting even more excited.
Last to go - and both rider and horse are the talk of the show - Marcus Ehning and Sandro Boy - this horse has been jumping into the lights all week - and he is a most handsome stallion as well - by Sandro out of a Grannus mare this stallion is awesome and with the world's number one rider on his back it surprised nobody when they returned a clear round.

So round one is over and 18 combinations return for round two - 5 for the USA. 2 for France, 1 for Estonia, 1 for Nederlands, 1 for Great Britain, 4 for Germany, 1 for Switzerland, 1 for Sweden, 1 for Italy and 1 for Ireland.

Coming into round two there is one rail between 4th and 1st - this was to be a nail biting finish to a great week.
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