AACHEN, Germany--Ireland's Daniel Coyle on Farrel won the !50,000 Euro, CSI5* First Qualifier for the Rolex Grand Prix on Friday, May 22 at the Aachen spring show.
McLain Ward on Lestro VD Valckenborg winning at Old Salem (Photo by SEL Photography)With Aachen hosting the World Championships in August, this show does not include a Nations Cup and is only three days instead of the usual six.
But with 28 of the top 30 riders in World Rankings showing, the competition is intense.
Friday and Saturday classes are both qualifiers for the hugely important Rolex Grand Prix on Sunday.
So the goal for most on Friday was not so much to win as to gain important points towards qualifying for the Grand Prix.
Coyle finished clean in 70.99 to win over Luciana Diniiz of Brazil on Vertigo du Desert, 71.47 seconds, and Kevin Staut of France on Feline de Hus HDC, 71.57 seconds.
Six Americans received the coveted invitation to compete at Aachen, and three were among the 29 that went clean from the starting field of 49.
"NOBODY was trying to win today," said Robert Ridland of the Americans, and who, as chef d'equipe for the World Championships was in Aachen to watch this observation competition, "As a group,, I was pleased. In general, the horses went well. I wasn't too pleased with Karl's round,"
Karl Cook is the only American in trouble for qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix after Friday's qualifier.
"It was a good course," said Ridland. "It didn't look like it took too much out of the horses. It was a nice set-up for Sunday."
Forty will qualify for the Grand Prix, but the point total from the first two days will determine the starting order.
With only three days of competition and no rest days, some riders rode their grand prix horse, choosing to rest the horse on Saturday, and some rode their second horse, choosing to compete their grand prix horse in a lesser class in the morning just to get the horse in the ring.
McLain Ward on Lestro VD Valckenborg finished 10th in 73.15, will ride Lestro in Saturday's qualifier, and will ride Five Star Hero in the Grand Prix.
Lillie Keenan on Kick On finished 20th in 75.99 and will ride Kick On again on Saturday.
Kent Farrington on Greya, choosing to go slowly to save his great mare, finished 25th in 78.30, and he will ride Descartes SR on Saturday and Greya in the Grand Prix.
Laura Kraut on Bisquetta finished 31st with four faults in 72.84, will ride Una Mariposa Saturday and Bisquetta in the Grand Prix,
Aaron Vale on Carissimo 25 finished 35th with four faults in 75,94, will ride Gray's Inn on Saturday and Carissimo in the Grand Prix.
Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque finished 47th with an uncharacteristic 12 faults in 73.28, and will ride Foxy de la Roque Saturday.
Cook will have to finish well in Saturday's qualifier to make the Grand Prix.
