Nine into the jump-off in Verona. Then 33 seconds
Sunday's Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in Verona went to a jump-off of nine. Uliano Vezzani (ITA) set 13 obstacles and 16 efforts. Richard Vogel and Gangster Montdesir came home clear in 33.02 seconds. Tom Schewe and Congress Blue PS were second in 36.87. Simon Delestre and Gatsby du Tillard held third in 39.83.
We had the timetable last week in Verona next week. Copy the numbers that actually went in the hall.
Thirteen fences, then they moved the clock
World of Showjumping printed the first-round shape. Double at 5ab, liverpool at six, triple at 9abc, a green plank at ten, a KASK oxer with Vezzani's bushes as filler, a red wavy plank at twelve. Ben Maher and Enjeu de Grisien posted the first clear as pair six.
The time allowed started at 76 seconds. After the first three combinations it moved to 79. The first three told him the clock was tight. He added three seconds rather than leaving time faults on the sheet.
Daniel Deusser and Otello de Guldenboom, last year's winners in this hall, went clear as pair eight. Max Kühner on Vivo de Muze PS, Eoin McMahon on Eleven, Vogel, Henrik von Eckermann on Minute Man, and Delestre on Gatsby du Tillard followed. Schewe cleared as starter 38. Ricardo Benzinho Karle Da Costa and Kirocco were last in and still found the answers. Nine.
Catie Staszak's FEI report had four of the world's top ten in the book: Vogel, Steve Guerdat (4), Ben Maher (7), Deusser (9). Guerdat did not make the nine. Maher did the first-round work. The jump-off times we have are Vogel, Schewe, Delestre, then von Eckermann fourth and Kühner fifth.
Nine again, after Oslo
Oslo, first WEL indoor, was nine of 40 over Fredrik Malm's 13 fences and 16 efforts. Verona, third leg, was nine again, same fence and effort count, different designer. Lyon in between was Santiago Varela at 14 fences and 17 efforts, fourteen of 40 into the jump-off, then 0.03 seconds.
A club indoor this winter can take that ratio without copying 1.60 m. Nine through on a 13-and-16 first round is what Oslo and Verona actually produced. Lyon let fourteen through, then the short course had to do the selecting.
Kühner was first to go clear in the short course, in 43.11 seconds. Vogel took more than ten seconds off that with two inside turns. Schewe still finished more than three seconds slower than the winner. The first round still had to be jumpable. The jump-off then left a line a careful round could complete, and a fast one could cut.
Gangster Montdesir is ten. FEI says five Grand Prix wins already at the top level. Delestre's Gatsby is also ten, first year of five-star grands prix, podium in both World Cup starts.
Vogel now leads the Western European League on 37 points. Kühner has 32. Julien Epaillard, who won Lyon, sits third on 25. An athlete's best seven from 13 venues count. Three legs in. London-ExCeL is still December.
Stuttgart on Sunday
The league moves to Stuttgart this week. FEI puts the next qualifier on 15 November. The approved CSI schedule (v3, 28 August) names Christa Jung (GER) as course designer, with Ralf Hollenbach, Louis Konickx and Phil Schmauder as assistants. Equnews, 9 November has the fourth-leg start list: Guerdat, Epaillard, Scott Brash and Robert Whitaker among them, plus a German home group.
Watch how many Jung lets through on Sunday. Count fences and efforts, then count clears. Sketch Vezzani's first-round list in the designer at your own hall length: thirteen obstacles, sixteen efforts, a liverpool after a double, a triple later, a plank that reads, a clock you are willing to move after three. Then put Stuttgart on in the afternoon and see whether the ratio holds.