German clean sweep at Chatsworth

The Chatsworth Ssangyong International Horse Trials spoke German this year, after Bettina Hoy, Ingrid Klimke and Frank Ostholt performed a one-two-three which left the home riders well behind.

With fantastic weather, Mike Etherington-Smith’s excellent cross-country course and the striking new sculpture fence sitting proudly atop a hill, Chatsworth looked like a recipe for eventing bliss. But British hopes were soon to be quashed under an irresistible German wave.

William Fox-Pitt, riding Moon Man, had initially looked well poised to challenge Hoy for first place. He had finished fourth in the dressage behind Hoy, Klimke and Matt Ryan. A powerfully-paced cross-country round brought him in to second place, just 1.2 points behind Hoy. But Moon Man slipped in the show jumping, knocking two fences, and this was their undoing. The pair slid back from second to fourth place, making the podium an all-German affair.

Klimke and Sleep Late were competing at only their second ever event in Britain, but they did not let that affect them. The German combination had done well in the dressage, ending in second place. Like Hoy and Fox-Pitt, their dressage score was to prove influential in the end. They slipped down one place to third after the cross-country and had one fence down in the show jumping arena, but it was good enough to secure them second spot.

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