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They came to the Longines FEI European Championships 2019 to defend their title claimed in Gothenburg two years ago, and in Wednesday’s opening round in Rotterdam Peder Fredricson (SWE) and H&M All In (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Andiamo Z) delivered. Looking to be in dangerously good form, Fredricson – currently ranked 2nd in the world – and his tiny 13-year-old gelding were nearly a second faster than their closest competitors in today’s opening round, taking the lead as the action got underway. “He is an unbelievable horse,” Fredricson said of H&M All In – who he also claimed individual silver with at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. “The plan today was not to win, but to be quick enough so that if I had a fence down I would still be in the competition. He has the ability to lengthen and shorten the stride, so I can easily take out a stride – I just have to make sure not to open him up too much. If I take out a stride, I have to open him up the first couple of strides so that I can keep him a bit together the last stride to jump round,” Fredricson explained about his riding.
Set as a 1.50m Table C, the first round of the European Championships was always going to be a fast affair with the riders taking risk. Thirteen fences, including a wall, open water and three combinations waited for the riders. Plenty came in trouble on the final line, with poles in the penultimate combination falling frequently as the riders struggled to keep their horses in balance in the turn. “I think it was a really nice course,” Fredricson commented on Louis Konickx’s track. “You had to get going straight away, from one to two you had to decide if you wanted to do seven or eight strides and that set the pace a bit for the rest of the course I thought.”
Coming in as start no. 56, with 14 left to go after them, Fredricson and H&M All In delivered a picture-perfect round in 70.25 seconds. Just three riders earlier, Max Kühner (AUT) and Chardonnay 79 (Clarimo x Corrado I) had delivered a blistering fast round in 71.06 seconds – shaving off a breath-taking 1.57 seconds on the leading time at that stage – but Fredricson did the seemingly impossible and brought the time below the 71-seconds beam.
Kühner, who sustained a shoulder injury back in May and worked hard to achieve a quick recovery after surgery, was pleased with today’s performance: “I’m very happy, because the speed class was always a bit difficult for us but we improved together and got a bit faster with age!” he said.
None of those to come could catch up with the reigning European Champions, who lead the way into Thursday’s second round. Ben Maher (GBR) and the powerhouse Explosion W (Chacco-Blue x Baloubet du Rouet) gave it a very good go but slotted into third in a time of 71.49 seconds.
“I’m very happy to get the first day out of the way, it’s always hard to wait until the very end,” Maher said after being second last to go. “Explosion is a naturally fast horse and also very excited to be here, he was fresher than normal yesterday. I just could not take a big risk today on the line with the Longines wall, that is where these guys were better than me. Explosion has won a lot, but he is still young and he’s been a little bit careful sometimes on these jumps. But, he feels in great shape and I’m very happy with him!”
Maher was followed by Christian Ahlmann (GER) on Clintrexo Z (Clintissimo Z x Rex Z) in fourth, and Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Albführen's Bianca (Balou du Rouet x Cardento) in fifth. With only 1.31 penalty points separating Guerdat from the leading position, it’s tight in the top five after the first round in Rotterdam.
Ahead of Thursday’s round, that counts as the second qualifying competition and round one of the team final, Germany is ahead on 4.22 penalty points, with France following on 5.39, Sweden on 6.81, Great Britain on 9.41 and Switzerland on 9.83. With France and Great Britain among the ten teams hunting Olympic qualification, a lot is at stake the two next days with only three tickets available for Tokyo.
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