The third and final leg of the FEI Nations Cup in the North America, Central America and Caribbean League in Langley, Canada next month promises to be an absolute cracker after Mexico narrowed the gap on series leaders USA with a superb victory, for the second year in a row, on home ground in Coapexpan yesterday. 

Antonio Maurer on Galileo de Laubry (Cardento I x Askan de Lauzelle), Patricio Pasqual on Babel (Billy du Lys x High Flyer), Federico Fernandez on Landpeter Do Feroleto (Landritter x Wangmix) and Antonio Chedraui on Ninloubet (Nintender x Galoubet) pinned America’s Peter Lutz on Robin de Ponthual (Elf d'Or x Calypso de Herbiers), Quentin Judge on HH Conrad (Con Air x Locato), Adrienne Sternlicht on Cristaline (Cristallo I x Caretello B) and Alison Robitaille on Ace (Berlin x Irco Polo) into runner-up spot by a single-fault margin. But the gap could have been even wider because anchorman Chedraui didn’t even need to compete in the second round because the result was already decided.

"Coapexpan is a lucky venue for us, it’s a magical place, and it’s so great to win in front of the home crowd!" said Mexico's Antonio Chedraui. 

Chedraui has a particular affinity with the Coapexpan Equestrian Club in Xalapa because his father created the elegant venue in 1996 and Antonio has served as President there. The 51-year-old Beijing Olympian produced one of just three clear rounds in yesterday’s competition over the course designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge. 

It was the winning Mexico 1 foursome, who had been nominated by Chef d’Equipe Juan Manuel Cossio to challenge for qualifying points for the FEI Nations Cup Final, who already held the advantage at the halfway stage with just six faults on the board. Team USA was close behind with nine faults going into the second round, but the second Mexican side was already well adrift on 20 and Team Canada couldn’t recover from a first-round scoreline of 25.

So it came down to a duel between Mexico 1 and USA and, despite a brilliant second-round clear from American anchors Alison Robitaille and Ace, her side had to add the four faults collected by both Judge and Sternlicht when Lutz produced the drop-score of 12 at his second attempt for a team total of 17. Mexico’s Maurer picked up just a single time fault in each round, and when Pasquel had a single fence down second time out and Fernandez collected five faults, Mexico 1’s total of 16 faults couldn’t be bettered.

“We defended the title we won here at home last year with two new riders on our team and I’m really happy with our success. Hopefully we will make it three-in-a-row next year, but first we are really looking forward to the last qualifier in Langley in a few weeks time,” commented Mexico's Chef d’Equipe Juan Manuel Cossio.