Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir (29.3) took the CCI4*-S win at Luhmuhlen, while Tom McEwen and JL Dublin (29.6) finished in runner-up position, and Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH (30.9) dropped to third place but won German Championship title.
It was her weekend: Yasmin Ingham already placed third in the LONGINES CCI5*-L, before taking the win in the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy with a beautiful clear round in today’s influential show-jumping course. The British rider was delighted with her horse’s performance: “It means the world to me. This weekend he’s excelled in all three phases. He was absolutely fantastic yesterday in the cross-country, on all his lines with pricked ears, looking for the flags. In today’s show-jumping he was also pretty perfect and felt brilliant. He’s the perfect athlete because he has ability in every phase: very elegant with a lot of presence in the dressage, brave and fast in the cross-country phase and agile in the show-jumping. So he has the ability to come out on top in all three phases. I feel very lucky that I’m able to ride him.”
Fellow Brit Tom McEwen, was also full of praise for his horse: “Dubs has been absolutely fantastic, he can go a lot better on the flat but he was really smooth across country and the show-jumping was beautiful. I’m delighted with him.”
Michael Jung was in the lead until fischerChipmunk had a rail in today’s show-jumping, dropping the pair into third place. He still managed to secure the title of German champion and didn’t show any disappointment, focusing instead on everything that went well: “It’s been a fantastic week. I want to thank my whole team and the crowd here in Luhmühlen. Thank you for cheering us on, it means a lot. I’m very proud of my horse. Sadly, we had one fence down, but he gave me a very good feeling in the warm-up and also in the course, I was just a bit unlucky in the last combination.”
CCI5*-L
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier (BEL) and Hooney d’Arville won the LONGINES CCI5*-L, while Tom McEwen with CHF Cooliser, and Yasmin Inham with Rehy DJ, took second and third place respectively. Lara won the hearts of the Luhmühlen crowd with her obvious love for her home-bred horse. Having steadily moved up the leaderboard from sixth after dressage to third after cross-country, the pair went clear in the final show-jumping.
Happy, but not expecting to take the win, she retired to the warm-up for a quiet moment with Hooney. When the news hit that she’d won the first five-star of her career, the first hug was reserved for her horse: “It’s hard to take in. My horse is an incredible athlete. I never thought there would be a chance to win the five-star today. I just knew I had a good horse and wanted to jump the best round that I could. Today was our day. I just managed to put everything together. Thanks to my team and thank you Luhmühlen for organising a show of this caliber – all the public was amazing.”
Tom McEwen: “I’m absolutely delighted with Cooliser. She was brilliant yesterday and today. She’s very game and in the arena, I remembered why it’s much easier to do things her way. I wasn’t expecting to move up the ranks. Ros is probably the best rider in the world and Izilot is one of the best jumpers, so I absolutely wasn’t expecting this.”
Yasmin Ingham, who climbed from 28th to third, finishing on her dressage score was delighted: “That’s the story of eventing, it’s never over until we have finished on the final day. I was a little disappointed after the dressage because we lost some points there but I know what to work on now. I know he’s a phenomenal cross-country horse and jumper, so I was really looking forward to Saturday and today. He was just amazing, careful, rhythmical and fast, making my job so easy. He doesn’t look fast but he just eats up the ground and is just so ridable and adjustable, I don’t have to set him up much before the fences. We know each other inside out, because our partnership has developed over such a long time. I’ve had him for so long now and we’ve worked our way up the ranks from novice.”
Result lists: www.luhmuehlen.de
Release supplied by event. Images courtesy of TGL/Annette Dölger
