AHLMANN WINS AS GERMAN RIDERS DOMINATE OPENING ROLEX LEG AT OSLO by Louise Parkes

Christian Ahlmann won the opening leg of the 2010/2011 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League series at Oslo in
Norway this afternoon where German riders scooped the top three places.  And
Ahlmann's victory was all-the-more creditable for the fact that the 36 year old
rider suffered the tragic loss of one of his top horses, the nine year old
stallion Calvados Z, earlier in the day.

"For sure today it wasn't easy for me to ride and to concentrate on my job", Ahlmann said after completing his
victory gallop with his 10 year old stallion Taloubet Z, "but Taloubet really
did his very best for me."  It was the German master, Ludger Beerbaum, who
slotted into second place ahead of Lars Nieberg in third. The first non-German
in the line-up was fourth-placed Frenchman Kevin Staut, who headed Holland's
Leon Thijssen in fifth place. 

CLEAR
Just seven of the 40 starters jumped clear over the first-round track created by Norwegian
course-designer Terje Olsen Nalum.  Described by many of the riders as "not
over-big" it proved plenty tough enough, with the lines from fences four to six
and from fences nine to 11 both claiming a large number of victims.  However the
real surprise was the number of top riders who faulted at the very last oxer
having completed an otherwise faultless tour of the 13-fence
challenge.

Ireland's Jessica Kuerten, currently lying 10th on the Rolex World Rankings, was amongst these.  Partnering the 10 year old chestnut mare
Castle Forbes Cosma, she looked set for a fault-free first effort but, like many
before her, she met the last on a very long stride and although Cosma did her
best to clear the back rail it fell to keep the Irish combination out of the
deciding round. 

AGAINST THE CLOCK
Italy's Emanuele Gaudiano was pathfinder against the clock with the fizzy chestnut gelding
Chicago which had been first to find the key in the opening round.  The jump-off
track included fences one to four followed by the second two elements of the
former triple combination at fence seven, the triple bar which was previously
fence nine and finally the oxer at fence 11.  There was a long run to this,
inviting error all the way, but it was the oxer at fence three which left
Gaudiano carrying four faults in the time of 45.82 seconds after the Italian
approached it at an angle and paid the price.

Sweden's Malin Baryard-Johnsson suffered exactly the same fate at the same spot with the
stallion H&M Tornesch and then added four more faults when catching the
left-hand wing at the second element of the former combination, so Holland's
Leon Thijssen shot straight to the top of the leaderboard when third to go.  His
10 year old stallion, Tyson, who jumped like a cat on his first visit to the
arena, produced another breath-taking clear in 47.99 seconds, but although this
was always going to ensure a prominent finishing spot, the time looked
vulnerable.

World No 1, Kevin Staut, immediately shaved more than four seconds off that target despite some cheeky bucking from his Quidam de Revel
gelding Le Prestige de Hus, so Lars Nieberg was chasing the time of 43.79 as he
set off with Levito.  And the German rider reset the parameters with the coolest
of clears in 43.33 seconds to put it up to the remaining two contenders.


NEW PLAN
His fellow-countrymen had a new plan however, and second-last to go, Ludger Beerbaum cut even more time off the clock
when crossing the arena to approach the remaining two elements of fence seven on
the left-rein rather than the right. Breaking the beam in 42.12 seconds with his
11 year old stallion Chaman he now held a handsome lead, but it didn't last
long.  The last two German riders had been discussing this new route-option
prior to the jump-off and once he had seen Beerbaum make it work then Ahlmann
was confident.  "Ludger and I talked about this new line but neither of us were
100% sure if it was better - but when I saw him go I knew it was good", Ahlmann
said afterwards. 

Setting off with determination he knew exactly what he had to do and drove home his advantage with an extra-tight turn to fence seven
which brought him home in 41.40 seconds for a clear victory.

"The course was big enough but fair, quite a few horses had just one fence down and the
jump-off track was clever and quick", Ahlmann pointed out. He admitted that it
had been a tough day despite his success however.  His stallion, Calvados, died
suddenly in his stable earlier in the day - "it was really, really sad" he said,
adding that the horse was subsequently taken to the veterinary hospital at the
University of Oslo for post mortem examination. 

BIGGEST WIN
He was pleased with Taloubet's result - "this is his biggest win although he has competed well this season and placed during the Global Champions
Tour", he explained.  Beerbaum described the jump-off as "very fast" but
believed he "could have gone faster!"  And Ahlmann admitted that he reaped the
benefit of seeing his fellow-countryman go ahead of him. "I was very positive
about the jump-off and I was lucky to have a more experienced rider like Ludger
going in front of me to show me the way", he said. 

Nieberg placed third and when Gaudiano was disqualified, because blood was visible on his horse's
flanks, Staut then slotted into fourth, Thijssen was fifth, Baryard-Johnsson was
sixth and Belgium's Ludo Phlippaerts claimed seventh place with the fastest four
faults from Nobel de Virton.

The 2010/2011 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping series now moves on to Helsinki, Finland next Sunday, 24 October, with Ahlmann
now top of the leaderboard having collected the maximum 20 qualifying points on
his way to the final in Leipzig, Germany next April. 

For information on the next leg go to www.helsinkihorseshow.fi or contact Press Officer
Kati Hurme-Leikkonen, Email kati.l.hurme@kolumbus.fi, Mobile +358 40 514
4753.

Website: www.oslohorseshow.com

Result:
1, Taloubet (Christian Ahlmann) GER 0/0 41.40; 2, Chaman (Ludger Beerbaum) GER 0/0
42.12; 3, Levito (Lars Nieberg) GER 0/0 43.33; 4, Le Prestige de Hus (Kevin
Staut) FRA 0/0 43.79; 5, Tyson (Leon Thijssen) NED 0/0 47.99; 6, H&M
Tornesch (Malin Baryard-Johnsson) SWE 0/8 47.97; 7, Nobel de Virton (Ludo
Philippaerts) BEL 4/ 72.38; 8, Cash (Marco Kutscher) GER 4/73.20; 9, Castle
Forbes Cosma (Jessica Kuerten) IRL 4/75.31; 10, Souvenir (Philipp Weishaupt) GER
4/75.36.                     
Full Results at http://www.scg-nl.nl/

Facts and Figures:
Today's competition at Oslo, Norway was the first of 13 qualifying rounds in the 2010/2011 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League series
There were 13 fences on the course.
Just 7 of the 40 starters jumped clear in the first round.
The lines from fences 4 to 6 and 9 to 11 created plenty of problems but many top
horse-and-rider combinations went clear only to lower the very last in the first
round, the oxer at fence 13.
German riders took the top three places in today's competition.
The youngest horses in the competition were the 8 year old chestnut gelding Chicago, ridden by Italy's Emanuele Gaudiano, and the 8
year old mare Ciske Van Overis ridden by Australia's Edwina Alexander.
The oldest horse was the 16 year old stallion Godsend du Reverdy ridden by Thomas
Velin.

ROLEX FEI WORLD CUP™ JUMPING 2010/2011
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR WESTERN EUROPEAN LEAGUE: 1, Oslo (Norway) 14-17 October; 2,
Helsinki (Finland) 21-24 October; 3, Lyon (FRA) 27 Oct-1 November; 4, Verona
(Italy) 4-7 November; 5, Stuttgart (Germany) 17-21 November; 6, Geneva
(Switzerland) 9-12 December; 7, London-Olympia (Great Britain) 14-20 December;
8, Mechelen (Belgium) 26-30 December; 9, Zurich (SUI) 28-30 January; 10,
Bordeaux (France) 4-6 February; 11, Vigo (Spain) 10-13 February; 12, Gothenburg
(Sweden) 24-27 February; 13, s'Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) 24-27 March;
FINAL -. Leipzig (Germany) 27 April-1 May.