The third and final leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping North America, Central America and Caribbean League in Langley, Canada next month promises to be an absolute cracker after Mexico narrowed the gap on series leaders USA with a superb victory, for the second year in a row, on home ground in Coapexpan yesterday.
Antonio Maurer (Galileo de Laubry), Patricio Pasqual (Babel), Federico Fernandez (Landpeter Do Feroleto) and Antonio Chedraui (Ninloubet) pinned America’s Peter Lutz (Robin de Ponthual), Quentin Judge (HH Conrad), Adrienne Sternlicht (Cristaline) and Alison Robitaille (Ace) into runner-up spot by a single-fault margin. But the gap could have been even wider because anchorman Chedraui didn’t even need to compete in the second round because the result was already decided.
Juan Manuel Cossio, Team Mexico Chef d’Equipe:
Talking about his team’s result:
“We defended the title we won here at home last year with two new riders on our team and I’m really happy with our success. Hopefully we will make it three-in-a-row next year, but first we are really looking forward to the last qualifier in Langley in a few weeks time”
“Coapexpan is a lucky venue for us, it’s a magical place, and it’s so great to win in front of the home crowd!” – Antonio Chedraui MEX
Chedraui has a particular affinity with the Coapexpan Equestrian Club in Xalapa because his father created the elegant venue in 1996 and Antonio has served as President there. The 51-year-old Beijing Olympian produced one of just three clear rounds in yesterday’s competition over the course designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge.
Antonio Maurer, Mexico 1:
“I had time faults in each round but I wasn’t really worried about the time although it was a factor, mostly I was trying to be sure to stay clear.”
It was the winning Mexico 1 foursome, who had been nominated by Chef d’Equipe Juan Manuel Cossio to challenge for qualifying points for the FEI Nations Cup™ 2017 Final, who already held the advantage at the halfway stage with just six faults on the board. Team USA was close behind with nine faults going into the second round, but the second Mexican side was already well adrift on 20 and Team Canada couldn’t recover from a first-round scoreline of 25.
So it came down to a duel between Mexico 1 and USA and, despite a brilliant second-round clear from American anchors Alison Robitaille and Ace, her side had to add the four faults collected by both Judge and Sternlicht when Lutz produced the drop-score of 12 at his second attempt for a team total of 17. Mexico’s Maurer picked up just a single time fault in each round, and when Pasquel had a single fence down second time out and Fernandez collected five faults, Mexico 1’s total of 16 faults couldn’t be bettered.
Facts and Figures:
The Coapexpan Equestrian Club in Xalapa, Mexico staged the second round of the three-leg FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2017 North America, Central America and Caribbean League qualifying yesterday.
Two teams from this League will qualify for the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Final in Barcelona, Spain in September.
Only 3 horse-and-rider combinations jumped clear rounds – Mexico 1 anchors Antonio Chedraui and Ninloubet, American anchors Alison Robitaille and Ace and Canadian last-line partnership Keean White and For Freedom Z.
The third and last leg of this series will take place in Langley, Canada on 2 June.
Team USA has a narrow 10-point lead over Mexico going into the final leg of this qualifying series.
Team Result - Coapexpan:
| 1. Mexico Team 1 – 16 faults |
| 2. USA – 17 faults |
| 3. Canada – 34 faults |