They say it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s never over until the fat lady sings, and at tonight\u00e2\u0080\u0099s FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2017\/2018 Western European League qualifier at Olympia in London (GBR), when it seemed Sweden\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Patrick Kittel (41) already had it in the bag, along came the home side\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Emile Faurie (54) with a last-to-go ride that almost overtook the league leader.<\/p>\n
Scoring 80.405, the British rider took even himself by surprise when slotting into runner-up spot just 0.155 percentage points behind the super Swede who is now well on his way to the Final in Paris (FRA) next April. Kittel has had a great run, and with 75 points on the board is sitting pretty. But after tonight\u00e2\u0080\u0099s electrifying victory gallop during which he \u00e2\u0080\u009chigh-fived\u00e2\u0080\u009d loads of spectators on his tour of the iconic Grand Hall, he said, “\u00e2\u0080\u009cI take my hat off to the showjumpers, I don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know how they do it – I\u00e2\u0080\u0099ve done three shows in a row and now it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s ‘give me a glass of champagne and get me to bed’, because I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m totally exhausted!”<\/p>\n
This win means even more to him because his only other visit to the London venue was a disaster. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThe last time I was here was 13 years ago and I finished last. I went home in the lorry feeling really bad but my wife, Lyndal, said you have to go back, Olympia is an amazing show and you can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t leave it another 13 years!\u00e2\u0080\u009d <\/p>\n
British riders were holding the top three places after Richard Davison opened the second-half of tonight\u00e2\u0080\u0099s action, but, fourth-last to go, it was Edward Gal\u00e2\u0080\u0099s (47) score of 79.340 that Kittel was chasing when second-last into the ring. The Dutchman\u00e2\u0080\u0099s big moving stallion, Glock\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Zonik who topped yesterday\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Grand Prix, produced some breathtaking extensions and mesmerising trot-work, but the nine-year-old lost balance at times, and mistakes including a break in the one-tempi changes left them looking vulnerable. In total contrast Kittel and Delauney, the 11-year-old gelding with which he claimed individual 11th at this summer\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Longines FEI European Championships on home ground in Gothenburg, produced a flawless performance. Kittel insisted he didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t expect to win, \u00e2\u0080\u009cbut my horse is such a trier\u00e2\u0080\u009d, the Swedish star said.<\/p>\n
Faurie however threw down a powerful challenge with a sensational test from the fabulously handsome stallion Delatio and has, tonight, set British Dressage fans\u00e2\u0080\u0099 hearts fluttering with excitement all over again. The expression of near-disbelief on the face of the three-time Olympian and European team gold medallist when his score was announced said it all. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI\u00e2\u0080\u0099m in shock at the percentage score, not the performance, he was so great in the ring and I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m in love with this horse!\u00e2\u0080\u009d he said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI was hoping to go one better than yesterday (when they finished fourth). I don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know him that well yet because I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m only riding him a few months and I just wanted to do him justice\u00e2\u0080\u009d, he added.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u0080\u009cI had too many mistakes tonight, but I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m pleased with Zonic\u00e2\u0080\u009d Gal said. Like all the other riders he heaped praise on the London fixture. \u00e2\u0080\u009cYou don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have an atmosphere like this anywhere else\u00e2\u0080\u009d he pointed out. \u00e2\u0080\u009cThere was one woman screaming so loud I was wondering what\u00e2\u0080\u0099s happening here, do we need to call an ambulance or something?!\u00e2\u0080\u009d<\/p>\n
Kittel meanwhile is already planning ahead. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll take my other horse, Deja, to Amsterdam<\/strong> because he\u00e2\u0080\u0099s the one I want to ride at the Final\u00e2\u0080\u009d he explained. The Dutch city will host the next leg of the series when the action resumes at the end of January. <\/p>\n Source: FEI (by Louise Parkes)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They say it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s never over until the fat lady sings, and at tonight\u00e2\u0080\u0099s FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2017\/2018 Western European League qualifier at Olympia in London (GBR), when it seemed Sweden\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Patrick Kittel (41) already had it in the bag, along came the home side\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Emile Faurie (54) with a last-to-go ride that almost overtook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10287,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions\/10287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}