Reviews

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57 combinations set out to win this year’s first 4 star event at the Kentucky Horse Park and as usual there was a strong overseas entry headed by the Land Rover Burghley 2011 winner William Fox-Pitt and Catherine Witt’s 12 yr ex New Zealand racehorse Parklane Hawk.

USA’s Allison Springer led the way after dressage being the only competitor to break the 40 penalty barrier but Fox-Pitt was well in touch and Derek Di Grazia’s cross country course brought out the very best in the British ace as he and Parklane Hawk flew round without penalty. A few time faults dropped Alison Springer below Fox -Pitt and that’s how it stayed after the showjumping as each of the first two lowered one pole. This was Fox – Pitt’s third major win in a row following Burghley and Pau in 2011 and the second leg of the Rolex Grand Slam. However, with the cancellation of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials he will have to wait until Badminton 2013 to see if he can pick up the $250,000 prize on offer from Rolex. Approx 52mins duration.

Celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary the centre piece of this year’s Autumn Classic of Eventing was undoubtedly the retro styled Cross Country track designed by Captain Mark Phillips with the spectacular new lake crossing at it’s heart .

Presented by Clare Balding and Commentary by David Goldstrom and Matt Ryan. Approx 102 mins duration. More...

Germany scooped team gold for the seventh time in the history of the FEI European Jumping Championships with a superb final day performance at the Club de Campo in Madrid, Spain. As the overnight leaders from The Netherlands faltered, the Germans produced three great clear rounds to snatch the title, while France moved up to seize silver and the British claimed bronze.

Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and the brilliant little Ninja la Silla swept to victory in the closing stages of the individual title-decipher to edge out Carsten-Otto Nagal with Corradina (silver) and Nick Skelton with Carlo(bronze).

Commentators Stephen Hadley and Cian O'Connor. Duration Approx 100mins

The Great Britain team of Carl Hester, Laura Bechtolsheimer, Emile Faurie and Charlotte Dujardin took these championships by storm to win their first ever European Team Gold medal. Led magnificently by Carl Hester and his 10 yr old sensation Uthopia, jointly owned by Sasha Stewart, the British were worthy winners as they dominated the leaderboard from the outset. Equally impressive was British rookie Charlotte Dujardin with her 9 yr old ride Valegro – she was undoubtedly the talk of these Championships. More details...

The top 30 riders from the Grand Prix qualified for the Special and there was drama all the way as reigning European Champion Adelinde Cornelissen (NED) and Jerich Parzival retained their title despite going wrong with the eighth movement and hearing the dreaded judge’s bell. However she recovered her composure brilliantly and racked up the marks in the second half of her test to edge out the find of these Championships Carl Hester (GB) and the 10 yr old Uthopia who probably lost this title when it all went wrong in the two Tempi changes. Britain’s Laura Bechtolsheimer and the 16 yr old Mistral Hojris produced a much better performance than in the Grand Prix to claim the Bronze. More details...

With the top 15 scores from the Special qualifying for the grand finale of these Championships the capacity crowd was treated to some sensational dressage and they were not disappointed as each of the medal winners achieved personal bests.

However Gold medal winner Adelinde Cornelissen (NED) and Jerich Parzival were in a class of their own and this time there were no mistakes as she posted a score of 88.839%. More details...

A thrilling Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping Final was fought out in Liepzig, Germany and the home nation saw a victory by Christian Ahlmann and the 11 year old Taloubet Z. Olympic Champion, Eric Lamaze, and his brilliant Hickstead, were 2nd and Holland's Jeroen Dubbeldam was 3rd on BMC van Grunsven Simon. Extensive highlights of this great event with commentary by Philip Ghazala and Steve Hadley. Approx 104 minutes duration.

This DVD is split equally between the team and individual competition.

TEAM – After the first round of the Nations Cup style team competition any three of six Nations could realistically win medals but in the second round the Germans jumped 3 immaculate clears to win the title.

INDIVIDUAL – There was a dramatic shoot out to the 4 rider final but only Belgium’s Phillippe Le Jeune could jump clear on all 4 horses to win.

Commentary by Philip Ghazala and Steve Hadley.

Approx. 100 mins.

British based driver Boyd Exell won Australia’s only gold at these Games, leading from start to finish in the four in hand driving competition, having set a world record in the dressage phase to set him on the path to gold

Chasing hard all the way was the Dutch ace Ijsbrand Chardon who put great pressure on the Australian who only had a second to spare at the end of the cones.

Chardon would however, would win gold in the team competition with The Netherlands having three drivers in the top six out of a total of twenty five four in hand teams that competed.

Comprehensive coverage of the marathon is sandwiched between highlights of the dressage and cones.

Approx 100 mins.

One hundred riders set out on the 160 km ride across the Kentucky countryside the morning after the opening ceremony and riders from the United Arab Emirates team would dominate the team competition with three of them finishing in the first 8 home.

However, nobody could live with Maria Mercedes Alvarez Ponton and her hugely durable 15yr old French bred gelding Nobby who led from the third vetgate and steadily increased their lead through the rest of the ride to finish over a minute in front of HE Sheikh Mohammed .

Commentary by Ian Williams.

Approx 52 mins.

The odds on favourite for this annual World title, Edward Gal and the astonishing Moorlands Totilas, headed a Dutch 1-2-3 in front of an ecstatic home crowd at ‘S-Hertogenbosch with a brilliant score of 89.8%. Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival took second, with Imke Schellekens-Bartels and Hunter Douglas Sunrise completing the ‘orange wash’ in third. All the top tests are shown in full as usual. Approx. 90 mins duration. EVProduction DVD.