Julia Krajewski on Ero de Cantraie and the German team lead after the cross-country stage in the Nations Cup eventing competition in Boekelo

Of the 93 riders who started in the CCIO4*-NC-L in Boekelo, 79 completed the cross-country course. Three had already withdrawn beforehand. Five gave up, and seven were eliminated. But 22 managed to finish clear of faults and within the time limit. Consequently, a strong foundation in the dressage was crucial, and time penalties were all the more costly as a result.

Julia Krajewski Remains in the Lead

Women’s Team World Championship Runner-Up Julia Krajewski had already taken the lead in dressage with her 2023 German Champion, the Selle Français gelding Ero de Cantraie. The 12-year-old son of Querlybet Hero had scored 76.11 percent in the dressage arena, equivalent to 23.9 penalty points. Today’s program featured a 5,700-kilometer cross-country course with 26 obstacles and 45 jumps, which had to be completed in exactly 10 minutes. Ero crossed the finish line in 10:01 minutes—with 0.4 penalty points, bringing his total to 24.3 penalty points heading into tomorrow’s final jumping competition. The time penalties didn’t really make a difference. The pair wouldn’t have been able to afford a single knockdown even if they had carried their dressage score through to the finish.

Seven other pairs have managed to do just that and are hot on the heels of Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie. The chasing pack is led by Britain’s Gemma Stevens on Chilli Morning IV, the clone of William Fox-Pitt’s unforgettable Brandenburg stallion, who was the 2024 World Champion for young eventing horses. “CM—the Younger” already demonstrated just how much he has in common with his genetic counterpart in the dressage test, where he scored 25.4 penalty points, and today he crossed the finish line with ease in 09:47 minutes.

There was no change in third place either: 2022 World Champion Yasmin Ingham and her British Diarado son, Kinda Corvette, lived up to his name with a time of 09:51 minutes and maintained his dressage score of 26 penalty points, securing third place.

Two more team riders in the top ten

Among the riders who were able to move up significantly thanks to clear cross-country rounds were Christoph Wahler on his promising young horse, the 10-year-old French gelding Gainsbourg de Bedon (by Mylord Carthago) and Arne Bergendahl with his Road2LA candidate Bronco NRW.

Wahler and his gray horse—owned by Hendrik von Paepcke, a new member of the Pferdesport Deutschland executive board—had once again delivered a very solid dressage performance, scoring 72.46 percent and 27.5 penalty points, respectively. In the field at Boekelo, however, that result was only good enough for twelfth place. But thanks to their clear round today in the cross-country, they were able to work their way up to fifth place.

Bergendahl and Bronco pulled off a similar comeback—climbing from 15th place with 27.7 penalty points to seventh place.

And Brandon Schäfer-Gehrau galloped and jumped with his horse Very Special, moving up from 28th place to 11th in 09:54 minutes (29.8).

It was also these three Germans who catapulted the team from second place after the dressage—behind the British—to the top. But the margin is incredibly narrow: Germany has 79.5 penalty points, while the British have 80.4. The third-place U.S. riders have 91.8 penalty points. So tomorrow’s jumping competition is going to be incredibly exciting!

Other German results

The team was rounded out by Pauline Knorr riding Aevolet M-A-F, a daughter of Abke by Hannoveraner. The pair were among those with very few time penalties (10:08). Nevertheless, they were able to improve their ranking—from 34th place after the dressage (30.6) to 27th (33.8).

Antonia Baumgart and her 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding Ris de Talm by Adagio de Talma managed to squeeze in among the team riders. A 3.2-second time penalty in the cross-country event caused them to drop four places after the dressage (27.5), and they are currently in 17th place.

Ingrid Klimke and Kallista, her great hope for the future, had set a personal best in dressage: 26.9 penalty points, placing eighth. They finished today without any jumping faults, but the 8.8 time penalties proved costly. They are now in 31st place.

Ann-Catrin Bierlein and Sir Scotty didn’t have the best start in the dressage arena (36.4), but they made up for it in the cross-country: no faults, and they climbed from 82nd place after dressage to 34th place before the jumping.

Nadine Marzahl and Victoria, on the other hand, had a great dressage round (27.1, 10th place), but were a good half minute too slow and dropped back to 43rd place.

You can find all the results from Boekelo here.