German show jumpers confident in the Nations Cup in Sharjah
Two double zeros lead Germany to Nations Cup victory in Sharjah
from Dominique Wehrmann 
David Will and Xixo Borgia were the best pair of the German team at the CSIO4* in Sharjah with two clear rounds and a fast one at that. Photo: Archive Sportfotos-lafrentz.de It all started with David Will and his eleven-year-old OS stallion Xixo Borgia. The Big Star son, bred by Gestüt Lewitz and owned by Ramzy Al Duhami, one of the Arabian show jumpers trained by Will, was clear in both rounds and fast to boot.
This obviously spurred on their colleagues. Next up was Maximilian Lill and Casallco’s George PS. The eleven-year-old son of Casallco, who could have grown up with Xixo Borgia in a herd in Lewitz, also jumped clear in round one. Sophie Hinners and her KWPN gelding Lommers by Carrera VDL followed suit. The final pair were Christian Ahlmann and the eleven-year-old Zangersheide gelding Vivario Jl Z by Vigo d’Arsouilles. They also left all the poles in the arena, but had one time fault.
Nevertheless, the result after the first round: zero faults for Germany. The Irish were the closest with one knockdown. Then it was on to the second round. This time, Will and Borgia’s confident performance failed to have an effect, at least on Lill and Casallco’s George. The pair came out of the course with ten faults, two knockdowns and two time penalties. But that didn’t matter, as Sophie Hinners and Lommers once again finished with a clean sheet.
Since Germany, as the leading team, was allowed to enter the course last in the second round, Christian Ahlmann did not have to compete at all. Even with Lill’s ten faults, the team, led by David Will as team manager, was still the winner.
The winners
Things did not go as well for the Irish in the second round as they did in the first. In the end, they finished third with 20 faults behind the United Arab Emirates, who finished with twelve faults.
Riding for the hosts under the aegis of Britain’s William Funnell were Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi on Enjoy de la Mure (0/4), Humaid Abdulla Khalifa Al Muhairi in the saddle on Foncetti van de Heffinck (8/0), Shk. Ali Jmal Nasr Al Nuami on Cobalt vd Bisschop Z (8/5) and Abdullah Mohd Al Marri on BBS McGregor (0/0).
For the Irish, Shane Breen was the team leader and, as the final rider, the team’s best representative. He was in the saddle on the ten-year-old A Pikachu de Muze son BP Arctic Blue, was clear in round one and had one knockdown in the second round. His colleagues were David Simpson on Billy Fern (4/4), Trevor Breen with Kannoon Blue (4/13) and Michael Pender in the saddle on HHS Orchidee (0/8).
You can find all the results here.
