Team Germany won Sunday's CSIO4*-W Nations Cup in Rabat, at the second leg of the 2022-edition of the Morocco Royal Tour.
Led by Chef d'Equipe Dietmar Gugler, the Germans – Sophie Hinners on Churchill 48 (Cassito x Colman), Nicola Pohl on Exelero 2 (Chacco-Blue x Baloubet du Rouet), David Will on My Prins Van Dorperheide (Zilverstar T x Winningmood) and Rene Dittmer on Burlington Riverland (Mylord Carthago*HN x Dollar du Murrier) – took the win with a total of 13 penalties, ahead of Henk Nooren's French team – Jeanne Sadran on Dexter de Kerglenn (Mylord Carthago x Diamant de Semilly), Simon Delestre on Tinka's Hero Z (Tinka's Boy x Caretino), Olivier Perreau on GL Events Dorai d'Aiguilly (Kannan x Toulon) and Charles Henri Ferme on Bellini Dufaure de L (Mylord Carthago*HN x Tlaloc M) – that collected a total of 16 penalties.
"It shows that you should never give up and always believe in yourself," the German Chef d'Equipe Dietmar Gugler said in a press release from Morocco Royal Tour. "We were in third place after the first round and we never thought we could beat the French. Apart from Sophie's ride, the others were not that good in the first round. But they are great guys, they got back on track and they showed that you never give up. These riders are really the future of the German team... Sophie, David, Nicola, René... they are great people. But what a competition, we really had a lot of fun being here and we will come back".
The only double clear came from Sophie Hinners, who secured the German victory and was full of praise for the French course designer behind Sunday's courses, Gregory Bodo: "He did a very good job," Hinners said in a press release from Morocco Royal Tour. "In both rounds, the faults were well distributed. It was very pleasant to ride, but it was a course that you had to prepare well, you had to calculate the distances well because there were one or two in particular where you couldn't go wrong. It was very technical and thanks to this course, we had some good sport today. It's really a special feeling, especially with my stable mates David Will and Nicola Pohl and it's really great to have won here, especially with my horse Churchill 48 whose first Nations Cup it was and he started with a double clear round which brought a lot to the team. It was tense right to the end and the coin fell on the right side for us."
With a total of 23 penalties, Michel Sorg's Swiss squad – Elian Baumann on Little Lumpi E (Lordanos x Polydor), Edy Tanner on Bell Ragazzo (Balou du Rouet x Embassy I), Barbara Schnieper on Inook (Verdi TN x Mr Blue) and Niklaus Schurtenberger on Quincassi (Quintero x Cassini I) – placed third of the ten teams that took part.