FEI Report

Britain's William Fox-Pitt secured a superb victory with Macchiato in the CCI 4-Star at Luhmuehlen this afternoon and subsequently soared to the top of the HSBC FEI Classics™ standings.

The German fixture is the third in the series that links the 4-Star events at Kentucky, Badminton, Luhmuehlen, Burghley and Pau and, adding the points he earned for his third-place finish with Ballinacoola at Badminton to today's result, the 39 year old British star now leads the rankings by a significant margin.

Australia's Andrew Hoy held the lead after a great cross-country performance yesterday, but the final show jumping phase proved pivotal when his Irish thoroughbred Moonfleet left four show jumping poles on the floor and also added three time penalties to drop them to fourth place. Like the eventual winner, Germany's Frank Osholt held firm with a clear round from Little Paint to finish second and Australia's Stuart Tinney also kept a clean sheet with Vettori to slot into third. The result of the 2008 CCI 4-Star at Luhmuehlen was most definitely not decided on dressage marks - the top-three finishers improving from 9th, 10th and 11th spots respectively after the opening phase, while just 14 of the initial 24 starters completed.

This morning's final horse inspection saw Australia's Emily Anker (Balmoral Cavalier) and Italy's Luisa Palli (Axia) removed from the start-list, but numbers were already depleted following the withdrawal of the dressage leaders, Australia's Lucinda Fredericks and Headley Britannia, before cross-country yesterday and then five retirements and two eliminations on course.

TOUGH TEST....
As it turned out the show jumping test was not going to be a walk in the park either. The first two into the ring, Britain's Julie Tew (Look Out) and Julie Lawson (Howecote Pssamite) both had four fences down along with time penalties and although Belgium's Karin Donckers (SS Jett) stemmed the tide with just a single error the next of the British, Jeanette Brakewell (Chill Out Bob) picked up a massive 31 faults.

However British-based Irish rider Sacha Pemble then showed them how it should be done with a great round from the little dun mare I've Been Dun before Germany's Simone Deitermann followed suit with Flambeau to also hold her ground.

Kai-Steffen Meier was lying eighth going into the final phase but slipped a little when Karascada left a fence on the floor and fellow-German Dirk Schrade had an unhappier time when his 13 year old Adm. v. Schneider picked up 17 faults to sink them well down the order.

Julie Tew came back again, this time with Sir Roselier who double-faulted, but as it happened they still held onto sixth place while the pressure was piled on Hoy at the top of the order following clears from fourth-placed Ostholt and from Fox-Pitt who was lurking dangerously in third. A total of 13 faults saw French rider Didier Dhennin lose his grip on runner-up spot with Ismene du Temple but that only served to leave Hoy with an even more comfortable margin as he set off with his 17 year old gelding. His dressage mark of 39.30 had been good enough to earn him third place on the opening day and his copybook clear over the fixed fences yesterday left him with an 11-point advantage over Fox-Pitt but that dwindled into insignificance when Moonfleet collected 19 show jumping penalties. It was a costly tour of the track, although the rider had still achieved one of his main goals when coming to Luhmuehlen - Olympic qualification.

LOOKING GOOD...
Fox-Pitt now looks to be in a strong position to pick up the top prize of US$150,000 (€97,500 or £77,000stg) as series champion at the end of this inaugural HSBC FEI Classics™ season. One of the most incredibly successful competitors on the international eventing circuit, his record at the formidable Burghley Horse Trials includes wins there in 2005 and 2007 so the next leg of the series will be right up his street but of course he first has the Olympic Games in Hong Kong to tackle before that.....

Speaking after today's prize-giving he described the last three days of competition as "really tough, but Lucinda Fredericks pulled out even though she was leading after dressage and then Andrew Hoy had show jumping fences down - it just went my way really" he said modestly. However he expressed his great delight that Macchiato took everything in his stride during his first 4-Star - "he was very good, in all three phases" the rider pointed out.

Fox-Pitt has had the 10 year old gelding, which he owns jointly with the Keir family, since the horse was a four year old. "He came originally from Argentina via Australia - I got him through Sharon Ridgeway who also produced Navigator and Dumbledore" he explained. Macchiato has won at 3-Star level at Blair and, most recently, at Bramham "and he is consistent, an incredible performer who always does his best - he's a real tryer" the rider said. And he admitted that his victory today was something of a surprise - "I wasn't expecting it to be honest!" he quipped, "but Macchiato has a way of pulling it out of the bag!".

Talking about the HSBC FEI Classics™ series William said "it is a terrific addition to our sport, a real boost, and everyone is very excited about it". He explained that riders cannot completely focus on winning a series of this kind "because we are lucky to have a horse ready for a 4-Star event so we cannot always be sure when we can compete in them". However he believes "this series acknowledges the rider who goes best at 4-Star level in any year, and it is extremely valued".

AND NOW?....
So what about the next two legs of the series? "Well Macchiato will have an easy summer now. Luhmuehlen comes quite late so he will have a break and maybe he will go to Burghley or Pau - I don't know just yet" said the man who leads the HSBC FEI Classics™ table by a big 10-point margin. Kentucky winner, America's Philip Dutton, lies second with Badminton winner Nicolas Touzaint in third but this weekend's runner-up placing for Frank Ostholt has moved him into sixth and, earlier in the week, he expressed an interest in visiting Burghley later this year. "I did Badminton for the first time last year but I've never done Burghley - I'd like to if I can" he said. With a handsome prize-pot up for grabs it might just be worth his while....

FINAL RESULT:
1, Macchiato (William Fox-Pitt) GBR 51.00; 2, Little Paint (Frank Ostholt) Ger 51.40; 3, Vettori (Stuart Tinney) Aus 52.20; 4, Moonfleet (Andrew Hoy) Aus 58.30; 5, Sir Roselier (Julie Tew) GBR 61.00; 6, Ismene du Temple (Didier Dhennin) Fra 61.20; 7, Flambeau Z (Simone Deitermann) Ger 74.60; 8, Karascada (Kai-Steffen Meier) Ger 75.10; 9, I've Been Dun (Sacha Pemble) Irl 79.80; 10, Adm. v. Schneider (Dirk Schrade) Ger 86.50; 11, Look Out (Julie Tew) GBR 90.30; 12, SS Jett (Karin Donckers) Bel 99.40; 13, Chill Out Bob (Jeanette Brakewell) GBR 120.90; 14, Howecote Psammite (Julie Lawson) GBR 153.40.

Withdrawn before show jumping - Balmoral Cavalier (Emily Anker) Aus, Axia (Luisa Palli) Ita.
Retired on Cross-Country - Comanche (James Robinson) GBR, Expo du Moulin (Arnaud Boiteau) Fra, Smart Approach (Fiona Hobby) GBR, Jakata (Julia Crowson) GBR, The Nightflight (Alberto Giugni) Ita.
Eliminated on Cross-Country - Kincluny (Sarah Wardell) Irl, Catherston Defender (Alberto Giugni) Ita.
Withdrawn before Cross-Country - Headly Britannia (Lucinda Fredericks) Aus.

THE TOP TEN ON THE HSBC FEI CLASSICS™ LEADERBOARD - (after 3 of 5 events):
1. William Fox-Pitt (GBR) - 25
2. Philip Dutton (USA) - 15
3. Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) - 15
4. Rebecca Holder (USA) - 12
5. Lucy Wiegersma (GBR) - 12
6. Frank Ostholt (GER) - 12
7. Stuart Tinney (AUS) - 10
8. Missy Ransehousen (USA) - 10
9. Caroline Powell (NZL) - 8
10. Stephen Bradley (USA) - 8


The HSBC FEI CLASSICS is a new FEI series linking the five 4-Star Eventing competitions currently on the international calendar.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2008:
1, Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event (USA) 24-27 April; 2, Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (GBR) 1-4 May; 3, Luhmuhlen CCI**** presented by EON (Ger) 12-15 June; 4, Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR) 4-7 September; 5, FINAL - Les Etoiles de Pau (FRA) 22-26 October.

POINTS SYSTEM:
Points will be awarded to the top ten riders at each event as follows:
1st: 15 points
2nd: 12 points
3rd: 10 points
4th: 8 points
5th: 6 points
6th : 5 points
7th: 4 points
8th: 3 points
9th: 2 points
10th: 1 point
Riders can only win points with their best horse/performance at one event and if the combination has obtained a qualifying result. Only the top ten riders will score points.
Tie-Break: In case of equality of ranking points, the best-placed rider is the competitor with the lowest total of penalty points at the specific event (=differentiating score).

PRIZE MONEY
HSBC will contribute US$1million to the series over the next three years. At the end of each season, the five riders with the greatest number of points will be awarded PRIZE-MONEY as follows:
Series Champion - US$ 150,000; 2nd - US$ 75,000; 3rd - US$ 50,000; 4th - US$ 33,333; 5th - US$ 25,000.
This represents the biggest prize pot on offer in the sport of eventing on an annual basis.

USEFUL INFORMATION
For further information on the third leg of the 2008 HSBC FEI Classics™ check out website www.luhmuehlen.de