August 30, 2006

Beezie Madden Does It Again, Retains Lead in Show Jumping at 2006 WEG
Jeannie Putney for USEF

The Team on Course

Chef d’equipe George Morris was candid about his team’s work over the course.

“From our perspective, we really had three faults that were just blips, little mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes,” he said. “We really could have, or should have, had four clears. I’m going to insist on that tomorrow [Thursday night, round two of the Nations’ Cup under the lights].

First up for the Americans was yesterday’s lowest-placed American rider, Margie Engle and Hidden Creek’s Quervo Gold. Anyone that knows Engle can agree that posting 16 faults is uncharacteristic. She proved to have a much more satisfying round during the first of the two-day Nations’ Cup downing only one rail.

“It was my rail, and not his,” she said of the four-point penalty the pair picked up at an oxer (obstacle 10). “He felt great, but I got worried about the time. He almost got across it, but he got sprawled out.”

She admitted that speed is not Quervo Gold’s forte, rather the horse’s scope and ability at clearing water jumps are his strong points.

“He’s really not a speed horse,” she continued. “But, he’s one of the best water jumpers I’ve had. If I can get him into a rhythm, I could jump all day long,” she said.

That downed rail left Engle with an adjusted score of 16.07 to seat her at 57th place going into day-two of the Nations’ Cup.

Second for the Americans were Laura Kraut and Miss Independent, who downed a rail at 9c for four faults ending the day’s work at 42nd place on an adjusted score of 9.98.

“She felt super, and I felt her hold her legs up and she was just squeezing every inch out of it,” said Kraut regarding the downed rail and her mare’s efforts on the triple combination at obstacle 9c. “She jumped in so big at A, she made the two strides very short, and so again, she jumped high over B and it was almost extra long in the one [stride to fence C]. I heard the crowd say, “Aww!” but I didn’t even hear her really hit it.”

Kraut slowed up just a bit after the ditch, knowing she was well ahead of her mark on course. She wanted to make certain that she downed no further rails, acknowledging the importance of every single point at this stage in the game.

“OK, it’s the World Championships, the verticals are very big” she said, “I mean, the last plank is as big as I am! It’s big.” When told exactly how high the jump was (1.62 meters), Kraut said jokingly, “I’m glad I found that out now!”

In the end, she said she couldn’t have been more pleased with her horse’s round and heads into Thursday’s round two of the Nations’ Cup, which takes place at night (from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. German time). In fact, Kraut took her horse to San Patrigiano just a month ago where both nights of the competition were under lights to get a feeling of how she would react.

“I’m really glad I did,” said Kraut. “She was really good, so I have a lot of confidence going in to tomorrow night.”

Up third and ready to duplicate the beautiful round from yesterday was McLain Ward and Sapphire. In fact, chef d’equipe George Morris gave Ward a glowing review for his initial efforts. Today, Ward downed his first WEG rail and accumulated four faults. At the end of the day, he moved down 10 places to finish his work on day one of the two-day Nations’ Cup at 14th place with an adjusted score of 4.87.