| This coverage is brought by Stal de Wiemselbach |
|
Hans Horn of the Wiemselbach stables is a specialist in breeding and training of showjumping horses. Famous horses from his stables are Libero H, Lux Z, Niveau, Numero uno, Cavalier,Nijinski and Iris. The Wiemselbach has worked with Pessoa, Jos Lansink and Jerry Smit. For more information, visit www.hanshorn.nl.
 |
| Kenneth Cheng (HK), 1st place Asian Classics Final |
The last day of the show featured three classes, the first of which was the Asian Classics Final presented by Celcom. Another competition with one jump-off, the starting order noted the height as 1.40m, but in reality the actual course stood more around the 1.25-1.30m mark - perhaps a wise move by course designer Frank Rothenberger, as he was able to produce an exciting five-horse jump-off. The track was testing enough, with some distances that forced both horse and rider to work - the tripled combination at fence seven, which went from a slightly long two to a much shorter two, claimed several victims and dashed the hopes of many looking for a spot in the jump-off, such as Alex Maurer and Nicole Pearson.
Alex and Chivas de Tlvt Z had another very smooth round, following up their excellent performance the day before, but just tapped the third element of the combination out; similarly, Nicole and Happy King, who have had an absolutely sensational show with the horse jumping better than ever under the tutelage of Australian Maree Hewitt, had the first element down after running in a little too deep. However, both riders have improved tenfold since last year's World Cup season, with all their rounds being extremely pleasing to the eye.
 |
| Syed Mohsin (MAS), 2nd place Asian Classics Final |
Only Akkara Konglapamnuay, Syed Mohsin Al-Mohdzar, Oliver Hausner, Kenneth Cheng and Isheau Wong were able to conquer the first round. Akkara and his phenomenal Celine were first out for Thailand; the extremely cute and athletic grey started out on a very quick and open stride and Akkara did some nice, tight turns to sail across the finish with an easy clear in 32.00 seconds. However, the new combination of Syed Mohsin and Linus were quick to dispel any of their hopes for a second victory by blazing around clear in 29.53 seconds. They are a relatively new combination, with the Mohsin only having ridden the horse since the Friday before the show began, but both displayed a great deal of confidence in each other's ability that allowed them to take some amazing angles - especially into the double a 7A-B - and absolutely gallop to the last vertical and leave it standing.
 |
| Oliver Hausner (GER), 3rd place Asian Classics Final |
Oliver Hausner on Melanie Chew's AH Pikadeur edged in just after Mohsin and Linus with a clear in 30.64 seconds. It was a very organized and controlled round that was much faster than it looked; they simple lost time in the air, as the horse has such an explosive jump and makes such a beautiful shape in the air. Mohsin's round looked like it would be near-impossible to beat but Kenneth came in on his Jaybee Schultz like they had fire on their heels to run home clean in the amazing time of 28.57 seconds. Kenneth made some excellent cuts to the fences, slicing as much as he could off the turns without being unrealistic and kept up a consistently quick rhythm from the very onset. He practically flew down to the last, galloping at top speed to the final, flimsy vertical and trusted the well-experienced Schultz's carefulness. A brave round, indeed worthy of first place.
Isheau Wong on the adorable Pik Papageno gave it a real go and would have just slotted into second place with a well-ridden round in 29.42 seconds, but at the expense of the last fence down. The horse simply got a little too flat over the fence after the long gallop.
The final results of this Asian Classic Final are: 1st- Kenneth Cheng (HK), 2nd - Syed Mohsin (MAS), 3rd - Oliver Hausner (GER), 4th - Akkara Konglapamnuay (THA) and 5th - Isheau Wong (TPE). It was a well-deserved victory for the stylish Kenneth and his Jaybee Schultz and a very exciting class to watch.
 |
| Tunku Nazroff and Mikael Forsten, 1st place International Team Trophy |
The second class of the day was the International Team Trophy presented by MINES Resort City. This is a novel class, a great deal of fun and very exciting to watch, where an international rider and Malaysian rider are paired up and have to each jump over the same track on the local rider's horse. Every rail down is four seconds added, thus the fastest time wins.
Geir Gulliksen and Syazna Leena Zulhasnan were first out on Helu du Codard. The lovely, big-striding bay was given a very sweet ride by Gulliksen and delivered an easy-looking clear, albeit slightly slow. Syazna tried for a quicker round, knowing the horse much better, but had an unfortunate rail at fence five. A calculated time of 101.08 seconds saw them finish 6th out of seven pairs.
The next out were crowd favorites Michelle Barrera and Qabil Ambak, who enter amidst some deafening cheers and some hooting from the very mischievous-feeling Filipino contingent in the audience. Michelle was the international rider in this combination and started out with the intent to win. She gave Opium Metodo a very good ride and guided the talented stallion home with a quick cleared. She flung Qabil on the horse and he galloped off; the second fence came down, but Qabil kept his foot firmly on the gas. They finished with a searing time of 96.39 seconds, good enough for 2nd.
Aku Nilforushan and Syed Mohsin had three rails down between them on the cute Oldenburger gelding Linus. They would have been very quick, were it not for the rails that caused them to finish at the bottom of the table.
 |
| Aku Nilforushan and Syed Mohsin |
Vladimir Beletskiy and Lea Tan jumped the only double clear of the class, but lost time due to Little Tin Can's very short stride - with Beletskiy, they put an easy three strides in a two-stride combination! With 99.06 seconds, they finished in 3rd.
 |
| Vladimir Beletskiy and Lea Tan |
Next to go, Leopold van Asten gave the beautiful Chivas de Tlvt Z a very sensitive ride, with the horse snapping up its front end and being very clean behind. An excellent clear, that was followed up with eight faults from Alex who rode a very, very fast round. A final time of 101.07 seconds saw them finish 5th.
 |
| Leopold van Asten on Chivas de Tlvt Z |
Noora Pentti took the ride on Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaludin's wonderful La Bonita 2. Both she and Hafiz rode blitzing rounds on the extremely careful little mare, but Pentti dropped two rails to add eight seconds to their time. 99.95 seconds was good enough for fourth place.
 |
| Noora Pentti and Ikhwan Hafiz Jamaludin |
Last out were Tunku Nazroff and Mikael Forsten. They used the natural instincts and tendencies of the newly-imported Australian thoroughbred Decadence to rip around with a real racehorse gallop. Brave stuff!
 |
| Tunku Nazroff and Mikael Forsten |
Both had a rail down, but with an amazing time, they won the class with 93.37 seconds. All in all, a truly exciting class that had the crowd raising the roof with their screams and urgings - talk about crowd interaction! It was good fun and wound the crowd up for the big one, the World Cup Final's last rounds, in the afternoon.
