The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead (www.hickstead.co.uk) hosts the sixth leg of the 2004 Samsung Super League series on Friday next and, with just one further round remaining before the Final in Barcelona in September, the pressure is intensifying at the lower end of the league table.
The Italians had a disastrous outing in Aachen last week and now lie four points behind the Irish in bottom position. The question is, can Chef d’Equipe Duccio Bartalucci once more find the inspirational drive that rescued his side from relegation at the end of the 2003 series? It seems like a tall order but Italian courage in the face of adversity should never be under-estimated.
The French are back in control at the head of affairs but less than two points separate them from Germany in second place while The Netherlands is next in line almost four points further behind.
Belgium lies fourth on the leaderboard going into the British fixture, hotly pursued by the Americans who are just over one point further adrift in fifth spot while the home side, winners at Hickstead in the inaugural 2003 Samsung Super League season last summer, are stalking them with again just a single-point difference at this stage in the league series.
It is the Irish and Italians who are presently in the danger zone. Carrying 12.5 points to date, the Irish are 5.5 points behind the British and cannot afford a bad result either this week or at their home fixture in Dublin in just over two weeks time.
Their record at Hickstead is normally good so they will be hoping that their squad of Kevin Babington, Billy Twomey, Captain Shane Carey, Marion Hughes and Marie Burke will stand their ground on Friday and if they repeat their joint-runner-up result achieved in 2003 Chef d’Equipe Colonel Ned Campion will be well-pleased.
The French were joint-second last year and send Laurent Goffinet, Robert Breul, Patrice Deleveau and Jean-Marc Nicolas to do battle this time around. The Dutch line-up includes Wout Jan van der Schans, Roelof Bril, Mathijs van Asten, Peter Geerink and Emile Tacken while the Germans, who finished equal-fifth alongside the ill-fated Swedes in 2003, have selected Eva Bitter, Heinrich-Hermann Engemann, Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst, Rene Tebbel and Florian Meyer zu Hartum.
Eliminations for both Dirk Demeersman and Jean Claude Vangeenberghe at last year’s Hickstead event finished for Belgium’s chances and this time around Lucien Somer’s squad of Stanny van Paesschen, Philippe Lejeune, Maurice van Roosbroeck, Koen Vereecke and Bert Prouve will be determined to do better than that. On current form however the Belgians are much stronger this season although Hickstead’s big derby-style fences are often the cause of alarm for even the most experienced of horse-and-rider partnerships.
The Americans may be in for a bit of a surprise. They have been solidly campaigning throughout the series to date but Lauren Hough, Sheila Burke, Judy Garofalo, Molly Ashe and John French may find the course material and building techniques at Hickstead a little different to anything they have come across so far in their first Super League season.
Italy’s Arnaldo Bologni, Roberto Cristofoletti, Emilio Bicocchi, Andrea Bracci and Francesco Corsi know that they have a big job to do. If the Irish pull further ahead of them again then the gap may just become too great to close and they could be staring relegation in the face. A last-place finishing position is simply not an option – they need to pick up a significant number of points and the only way to do that is to complete much further up the line.
The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead was created by Douglas Bunn back in 1960 and has long established itself as the home of international show jumping in Great Britain. It was the venue for the World Championships in 1974 and the European Championships in both 1983 and 1999.
In 1997 Hickstead looked to be under threat following the loss of sponsorship for the Derby event which had been supported by Silk Cut for over 14 years and it was only the last-minute intervention of Paul Schockemohle that saved the day. The German businessman, rider and three-time Hickstead Derby-winner stepped in to underwrite the costs for the 1997 season and that has now been formalised into a long-term arrangement, thus securing the future of Britain’s much-treasured equestrian venue.
The British are rightly proud of Hickstead and they will be hoping to make it two victories in a row when they ride into the ring on Friday afternoon. Mark Armstrong, Richard Davenport, Robert Whitaker and the two Olympic individuals Nick Skelton and Robert Smith will be flying the Union Jack and as the 2004 Samsung Super League series draws towards its climax every round from every rider counts for a great deal. Mistakes at this stage in the league will be heavily punished and, for Italy in particular, it’s getting right down to the wire. Bartalucci’s boys really need to get it right this time…..
Please note: SOME ALTERATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE LEAGUE STANDINGS ISSUED AFTER AACHEN - SEE LEAGUE TABLE BELOW.
Dublin Horse Show – the seventh leg of the series takes place in Dublin on Friday August 6th (www.dublinhorseshow.com).
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 LEADERBOARD (AFTER ROUND 5 IN AACHEN):
- France – 30.3
- Germany – 28.8
- The Netherlands – 25.0
- Belgium – 20.3
- USA – 19
- Great Britain – 18
- Ireland – 12.5
- Italy – 8.5.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE 2004 CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
ROUND 1, La Baule (Fra) 6-9 May; ROUND 2, Rome (Ita) 27-30 May; ROUND 3, Lucerne (Sui) 3-6 June: ROUND 4, Rotterdam (Ned) 17-20 June; ROUND 5, Aachen (Ger) 13-18 July; ROUND 6, Hickstead (GBR) 21-25 July; ROUND 7, Dublin (Irl) 4-8 August; ROUND 8 and FINAL, Barcelona (Esp) 16-19 September.
YOU CAN SEE IT ON TV:
The MBPtv schedule for Hickstead is:
British Eurosport - 23 July 22.15hrs
RAI (Italy) - Live/Delayed Live
RTE (Ireland) - 27 July
TVE Teledeporte - Live/Delayed Live
(Spain)
Equidia (France) - 23 July 18.00 hrs, 25 July 22.00
VRT - Live/Delayed Live
Eurosport (Pan Europe)- 28 July 20.00 hrs, 29 July 09.00 hrs.
Finnish Sport TV - 2 August 19.00 hrs
Sport TV Portugal - Highlights
XXP (Germany) - 1 August 19.00 hrs
CNBC Europe - 7 August 15.00 hrs
Fox World - 19 August 22.00 hrs
(Middle East)
Horse TV (USA) - 15 August 17.00 hrs, 21 August 17.00 hrs
CNBC Asia - 15 August 15.00 hrs
ESPN Star Sports - 4 August 18.00 hrs, 5 August 07.00 & 10.00 hrs, 6 August 16.30 hrs, 7 August 07.00 hrs.
M-Net (Pan Africa) - 13 August 23.30 hrs.
SAMSUNG SUPER LEAGUE – NATIONAL PRIDE, INTERNATIONAL PASSION!
