Britain makes gains as Germany’s third rider is disappointed with his Blenheim European Championships dressage test

Germany has lost some ground in the fight at the top of the Agria Blenheim European Championships dressage leaderboard after fielding Jérôme Robiné in the third team rotation this morning.

Jérôme and Black Ice – who were seventh at the 2023 Europeans as individuals and make their team debut this week – put in a solid test, but their mark was pegged by small mistakes and areas of tension such as in the positioning of the first shoulder-in, a mid-test halt which wasn’t square and low marks in the first flying change.

“Unfortunately, he was bit tense, in a way which isn’t normal for him,” said Jérôme Robiné after his Blenheim European Championships dressage test.

“He’s normally very relaxed. We’ve been in Aachen, we’ve been at Badminton this year, which are both big stadiums. But this time he was a bit more tense. Sometimes it’s like this, sometimes it’s the other way and you don’t want to do too much so the horses feel tired. I’ve got a good system with him now. But it’s not the result we hoped for.”

Jérôme’s score of 30.4 puts him seventh as an individual at this stage. With Tom McEwen taking the lead shortly before Jérôme’s test, Britain is now 2.3 penalties ahead of Germany with both nations counting all three riders so far. But the best pairs for both countries – Michael Jung for Germany, Laura Collett for the home side – go this afternoon and each nation then discards its worst score, so there is still everything to play for as the dressage wraps up.

The French maintain the bronze position held overnight after Alexis Goury and the attractive grey Je’Vall scored 31.9 this morning (10th individually), their mark brought down by being late behind in the first flying change.

Belgium make gains in third rider rotation

Behind the three leading teams, Belgium have made gains and now sit level with Switzerland, with the two teams on equal scores to share fourth.

Belgian rider Wouter de Cleene scored 33.8 on Quintera this morning, while Switzerland’s Robin Godel contributed a mid-field 36.5 riding the championship first-timer Global DHI.

“I’m very happy with my horse today. We know that he can be a bit tense in the arena and today it was a bit like that, but he’s improving every time. We know that the dressage is not our best part, so we will try to be fast on the cross-country,” said Robin.

Meanwhile a score of 34.7 from Aoife Clark and her relatively new ride Full Monty De Lacense has helped Ireland, with that nation now just 0.7 behind Switzerland and Belgium.

“He’s quite a sensitive blood horse and just held his breath a little bit, so I felt I couldn’t quite ride him out as much as I wanted to,” said Aoife. “I just missed the first change, which is so irritating. I feel like I probably just left a few marks in there, which is a bit disappointing as a rider. But I’ve only been riding him since March, it’s a big atmosphere in there and he’s only 10 – and he really did try and held it all together.”

Aoife took over the ride on Full Monty De Lacense from New Zealand’s Jonelle Price.

The Irish rider explained: “He is a worrier and Jonelle felt, rightly so, he wasn’t as suited to a bigger yard, that he would be better with someone more one on one on a smaller yard, where I’d be the one who rides him every day. He’s always been a talented horse and it’s just getting all the pieces in place, mentally firm, just to relax into it.”

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