Antonio Chedraui Ninloubet for Team Mexico. PC: FEI/Anwar Esquivel
by Louise Parkes
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.
“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!” said Antonio Chedraui after their historic win.
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.
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.
Two teams from this League will qualify for the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Final in Barcelona, Spain in September. Their final chance to earn points comes in less than a month at the Langley Nations Cup in Canada on June 2.
Result:
1. Team Mexico 1 – 16 faults;
2. Team USA – 17 faults;
3. Team Canada – 34 faults;
4. Team Mexico 2 – 37 faults.
Standings in North America, Central America and Caribbean League after second round in Coapexpan:
1. USA – 180
2. Mexico – 170
3. Canada – 160
4. El Salvador – 55