WEG campaign begins for Aussie Jumpers
Week two of the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) 2014 brought with it the start of the jumping competition and with 153 horse and rider combinations on the startlist there was plenty of action for the droves of Australian supporters who packed the stands of Caen’s D’Ornano Stadium.
The Australian team of Edwina Tops-Alexander (Ego Van Orti), Jamie Kermond (Quite Cassini), Amy Graham (Bella Baloubet) and James Paterson-Robinson (Boris III) is among 33 nations entered in the team’s event and today’s speed class was their first test in front of the enthusiastic and vocal crowd.
At the end of the first day of competition and with two rounds still to contest the Australians are currently ranked 19th.
Jamie Kermond was first to go for the Australians and despite having the first rail down he went on to produce a strong round completing the remainder of the course without fault. His final score for the day was 89.69.
“The horse is still a little young and this atmosphere was a little distracting for him at the start and he had the first fence down. And then he was a little worried and over jumping but towards the end of the course he settled down and he jumped quite well.
“He hasn’t been in a stadium like that (before), it’s very loud and the rider before us jumped clean and his heart started beating a little faster with all the crowd noise.
“We’ll make a couple of changes for tomorrow and hopefully he can put in a good day,” Kermond said.
Australian team debutant Amy Graham produced a clear round and stopped the clock in 86.49 seconds which gave her the highest ranking of the Aussies.
“It was spooky for my horse today, but that’s normal for him. On the first day he gets a little bit looky, he’s always paying attention. Normally he gets smoother as the competition goes on.
“I’m really happy with today. It’s a great start but it’s a long road ahead. We’ll see what happens in the next two days,” Graham said.
Four time World Equestrian Games representative and Australian team Captain Edwina Tops-Alexander was next into the arena and the two-time Global Champions Tour series Champion entered to a huge applause. She jumped clean stopping the clock at 87.87.
James Paterson-Robinson was last to go of the Australians and the 2010 WEG representative was unfortunate to have two rails and a stop at the second rail of the double combination. His final score was 101.10.
The WEG Jumping championships take place over six days. For each fence down in today’s round, riders will be awarded a four second penalty, after which rider’s results are calculated into penalties. These penalties are carried into another two rounds of jumping over a further two days before the team medals will be awarded and the five nations that will be heading for Rio 2016 is confirmed. The second and third rounds of the team’s event also count towards individual classification.
Following a rest day, the top-30 riders then go through to the qualifier for the Individual top-four Final which brings the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 to a close the following afternoon.
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