Britain has been extraordinarily dominant since the inception of the European Eventing Championships, claiming 42 gold medals since 1953 – which sounds even more impressive when you realise Germany is second in the gold tally with 12. The squad of six superb Union Flag-wearing combinations will start as favourites among the European Eventing Championships riders. All the British pairs are either five-star winners or runners-up and they all have individual medal chances.
Five of the six – Ros Canter (Lordships Graffalo), Laura Collett (London 52), Yasmin Ingham (Banzai Du Loir), Kitty King (Vendredi Biats) and Tom McEwen (JL Dublin) – can challenge for the dressage lead. The non-British competition, in this phase and throughout, is likely to be led by German maestro Michael Jung and FischerChipmunk FRH, who narrowly bested Laura and Yasmin in the dressage at last year’s World Championships.
Tom Jackson, who makes his senior championship debut, will start out a little further back but his jumping record with Capels Hollow Drift is solid. He is likely to be one of Britain’s two individuals; it’s hard to pick who might be the other rider left out of the team, but my money is on Kitty or Tom McEwen taking the second individual berth.
Eventing is an unpredictable sport, as we were painfully reminded when Britain’s star-studded group failed to collect a team medal at last year’s World Championships, but the odds certainly look good for Team GB to retain European team gold and some of the individual medals won in Nicola Wilson, Piggy March and Sarah Bullimore’s clean sweep of the podium in 2021.
Nicola’s ride that time, JL Dublin, competes here with Tom McEwen, following Nicola’s serious injury in 2022 – another medal for “Dubs” would be an incredibly emotional story.
Aside from Michael and Sandra Auffarth, the German squad is less experienced than at most recent championships. Christoph Wahler (Carjatan S) – who made his team debut on the world gold quartet last year – and last year’s Blenheim winner Malin Hansen-Hotopp (Carlitos Quidditch K) will probably make up the team.
The French have a decent chance to get their noses ahead of Germany for the silver – Nicolas Touzaint (Absolut Gold HDC), Gireg Le Coz (Aisprit De La Loge) and Gaspard Maksud (Zaragoza) are potentially a formidable trio.
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Sweden – team bronze medallists in the final throes of the 2021 Europeans – and Switzerland (an achingly close fourth on that occasion) are the nations most likely to step into medal positions if any of the leading trio stumble.
European Eventing Championships riders: individual favourites
Riders listed in alphabetical order
Sandra Auffarth
Sandra was world champion for Germany at this venue in 2014 with another chestnut, Opgun Louvo, and twice landed European individual silver on the same horse. She won’t lead the dressage on Viamant Du Matz, but she finished on her first-phase score for fourth at Kentucky in April and could be a threat to the podium if she can repeat that and avoid the three down that blighted her World Championships last September.
Ros Canter
Ros is among the most experienced championship riders on this British squad, with two European team gold medals among her accolades, and has superb form with Lordships Graffalo, including winning Badminton this year and fourth individually at last year’s World Championships. “Walter” is still young and improving, particularly on the flat, so it will be exciting to see what he can do here.
Laura Collett
Laura and London 52 are triple five-star winners – Pau 2020, Badminton 2022 and Luhmühlen 2023 – as well as being Olympic team gold medallists. They had a run-out at last year’s World Championships, having been second after dressage, but looked robustly on form at Luhmühlen in June. Should be right up there from the first phase. Laura has ridden at three Europeans as an individual for Britain but is yet to be a team member or win a medal at this championship.
Yasmin Ingham
Britain’s breakout star from the World Championships last year, where she and Banzai Du Loir cruised through to individual gold. Although some were caught by surprise by such a performance from championship debutants, nothing they did there was out of turn with their form. They had a run-out at Kentucky in April, but returned to their best at Aachen and should be serious contenders.
Kitty King
Kitty and Vendredi Biats would be the stars of any national squad in the world except Britain, which has an extraordinary strength in depth at the moment. They have been in the top 10 at two Europeans individually and contributed to the 2021 team gold. They were unfortunate not to win Burghley last year – foiled by a frangible device – and then fell at Badminton, but went on to finish second at Luhmühlen in June.
Tom Jackson
Senior championship debutants for Britain, Tom and Capels Hollow Drift have impressed over the past two years, with second at Burghley and fifth at Badminton. They won’t be prominent after the first phase, but should be handily poised to move up in the jumping phases and could have individual chances if those disciplines are influential.
Michael Jung
The German superstar – a three-time European individual gold medallist – will line up alongside Laura Collett, Ros Canter and Yasmin Ingham as a top contender for the title. Michael and FischerChipmunk FRH were individual silver medallists at their first championship together, the 2019 Europeans, but things haven’t quite fallen into place to let them upgrade to gold, with a frangible penalty across country at the Olympics and two down at last year’s worlds. Double CCI4*-S winners this spring and second in Aachen, they’re on form and will be incredibly tough to beat.
Gaspard Maksud
Surrey-based Frenchman Gaspard made his championship debut at last year’s worlds, finishing sixth with the then nine-year-old mare Zaragoza. Gaspard broke a collarbone earlier in the season so missed out on a planned run at Bramham, but they have good CCI4*-S form and could spring a surprise if they can consolidate last year’s form.
Tom McEwen
Tom and JL Dublin – the 2021 European double gold medallist with Nicola Wilson – are still a new partnership, but excelled with second at Kentucky in April. The British pair then had a run-out at Aachen, but hopefully that will simply serve to give them more information about each other and make them all the stronger here.
Nicolas Touzaint
It’s hard to believe it’s 20 years since France’s ace was European champion on Galan De Sauvagère, a feat he repeated in 2007. He brings forward Absolut Gold HDC, an experienced championship campaigner who was 10th at the 2019 Europeans and an Olympic team bronze medallist in 2021 when he was sixth individually. The pair did part company at last year’s worlds, but they’ve had a couple of decent results since, including seventh at Chatsworth CCI4*-S.
Felix Vogg
Switzerland’s leading light was eighth at the last Europeans and 14th at the World Championships with Cartania. He’s also a five-star winner courtesy of his ride here, the 2022 Luhmühlen victor Colero, who was 19th at the Tokyo Olympics. He would need to be on his best form and step up a level to take on the established stars for a podium position, but could be waiting in the wings to challenge if things go wrong for them.
For Horse & Hound’s full preview of the European Eventing Championships, see 3 August edition of the magazine
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
