Fredericks on form at Fontainebleau CIC***

As the first international event for Team Fredericks for 2007, Fontainebleau CIC*** represented a good opportunity for Lucinda and Clayton to find out just where their winter training left them against the World’s best.

Eventually finding themselves in second and third spot respectively was therefore a spectacular result for an astonishingly large and classy entry met at the French event, with 70 competitors representing 10 countries coming forward.

 
Clayton had three rides, The Frog, who finished up last season with a fifth placing at Boekelo CCI***, British Open Champion, Nullarbor, and finally his World silver medallist, Ben Along Time.

Lucinda had hoped to take both Bally Leck Boy and her Burghley victor, Headley Britannia but a last minute knock to Bally meant he was sidelined.

However, Lucinda was busy enough with several pupils taking part including seven Dutch combinations in the CIC*** and two Britons in the CIC*.

Early to go, The Frog was slightly unsettled for his dressage test with Lucinda commenting, “The standard of the dressage was so high that if you didn’t have your horse between your leg and hand you didn’t get good marks”, however, Nullarbor produced such quality work that even with missing a flying change he finished in second place at this stage while Ben Along Time was in fourth and Lucinda and Headley Britannia just 0.2 penalties behind in fifth.

This was a phenomenal start to the proceedings, Olympic Gold medallist Nicolas Touzaint and his wonderful Galan de Sauvagere taking the top spot, former World Champion, Jean Teulere with Espoir de la Mare Ecoli separating the Fredericks finishing in third and Belgian, Karin Donckers in sixth.

However, the cross-country inevitably caused some commotion including Jean Teulere being knocked out of contention with a run out and of Nicolas Touzaint’s four rides, only two went clear.  Not so for Team Fredericks, all four horses jumping immaculate rounds although incurring some time faults.

 
Lucinda said, “I watched Clayton go round in 16time faults with The Frog and thought that it looked very fast so I was thrilled to only have 15.4time faults with Headley Britannia but the French do go frighteningly fast.”
 
So despite Lucinda and Clayton’s respectable time penalties then leaving Headley Britannia and Nullarbor in the top ten, the slower Ben Along Time and the dressage mark disadvantaged, The Frog, were some ten places further down the order.

Describing the big, square, technical show jumping course, Lucinda said, “it was ugly.  Every fence came down with triple bar fences to upright fences and every kind of combination to make you have a rail.”

Unsurprisingly further shake ups occurred and Ben Along Time was unlucky to lower a rail.

 
The Frog, Headley Britannia and Nullarbor jumped clean rounds however that saw them climb further up the order to finish in second and third spots respectively, sandwiched either side by Nicolas Touzaint’s top horses, Galan de Sauvagere and Hethi Bay.
 
Modestly, Lucinda said, “We were not expecting to come up that high but they performed great tests and jumped perfectly.  At this level you’ve got to do a brilliant test and jump a double clear but, because the standard is so high, you’ve also got to go very quick which we weren’t ready to do at this stage of the season.”
 
The French competitors thus had the advantage having started their season in February but top names were probably somewhat put out to be left out of the frame – Germany’s Frank Ostholt and his Luhmuhlen CCI**** winner, Air Jordan, finishing in eighth, Moonfleet and Bettina Hoy in 15th, and leading Belgian Karin Donckers’ Gormley in 27th place.

And, although out of the placings it was encouraging that Lucinda’s inexperienced Dutch squad achieved three cross-country clear rounds, helping the team towards qualifying for Beijing 2008.