ROTTERDAM, Netherlands--The team of Karl Cook, Laura Kraut, Aaron Vale and Alessandra Volpi finished fifth in the League of Nations Nations Cup in Rotterdam, virtually ensuring that the U.S. is one of the eight teams that qualify to compete in the Final in Barcelona.
Alessandra Volpi on Gipsy Love at the World Cup (Photo by Kim MacMillan)"Our number one objective in Rotterdam was to be in a good position going into St. Tropez," said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland."We accomplished that."
Most U.S. riders will want to compete in the many top fall competitions rather than ship their horses to France.
So, with the difficulty of recruiting a top team for St. Tropez, the fourth and final qualifying Nations Cup in this year's League of Nations, Ridland had hoped to be already ensured of a berth in the Final.
The U.S. can finish 10th in St. Tropez and still qualify for the Final.
For the U.S. to miss qualifying for the Final, the U.S would have to have two of its four riders eliminated in the first round at St. Tropez, and Sweden would have to win, and it seems a very, very long shot for all that to happen.
It was a piece of very bad luck that probably prevented the U.S. from finishing second or third, but, as Ridland said, it still was mission accomplished.
Cook on Caracole de la Roque had eight faults in round one to be the drop score, while Volpi on Gipsy Love had a spectacular clean round, one of only five that were clear in the round.
"Alex was brilliant," said Ridland. "She rode a super round."
VALE ON Carissimo 25 had a rail and three time faults for seven faults, and Kraut on Bisquetta had four faults for the U.S. to go into round two in fourth with 11 faults.
Aaron Vale on Carissimo 25 at the 2024 League of Nations Final (Photo by DidiShots)In the League of Nations, only the top eight teams, each with only three riders, compete in round two, meaning there's no drop score.
Ridland selected Volpi, Vale and Kraut to compete in round two, and Volpi had almost completed her warm-up when Gypsy Love threw a shoe.
"It happened over the last fence of her warm-up," said Ridland. "And the blacksmith wasn't there, he was up by the ring. It would have saved 10 minutes if he'd been there."
"So Alex had almost 20 minutes of just standing by," he said. "She was ready to go and then had to just stand around waiting. Then she had to have another complete warm-up."
Both the horse and rider lose focus when that happens.
"And there's the fatigue factor," said Ridland. "This is a two round class, and now you add an extra warm-up. Plus, this was the first time Alex had been in a situation where there was no drop score."
When Volpi finally got to go, she had eight faults.
Had she repeated her first clean round, the U.S. would have finished second, and if she'd had only four faults, the team would have been third.
But congratulations to Volpi for holding it together to have only eight faults after such a long wait when other experienced riders, without any wait, also had eight faults, like Bertram Allen of Ireland and Kevin Staut of France, last to go, whose clean round would have won the class for France.
"Huge kudos to Alex," said Ridland.
With Volpi going out of turn because of the thrown shoe, she went only two in front of Vale.
"I didn't get to watch Aaron warm-up," said Ridland. "Then before he went, he tells me what he was going to do."
Vale had had three time faults in the first round and couldn't afford to do that again.
Strangely, a lot of people, like Vale, had time faults,10 in the first round and five in the second round.
"Aaron said to me, `Hey, boss, what if I go inside the grass island to go to the water."
"We hadn't walked that, and I didn't know if it was possible, but I said go ahead if you think you can do it," said Ridland. "At least it will entertain us."
"His ride over the whole course was magnificent," said Ridland, as Vale did indeed cut short into the water and then went clean over the whole course.
Kraut then also put in a clean round for the U.S. to finish with 19 faults in fifth.
The Dutch were very popular hometown winners, finishing with 10 faults.
France was second with 13 faults, Great Britain was third with 16 faults and Belgium was fourth with 18 faults.
Following the U.S., Ireland was sixth on 21 faults, Germany was seventh on 24 and Italy was eighth on 26.
Sweden and Switzerland placed ninth and 10th.
It was very strange to have so many with time faults, plus there were only two clean in both rounds, Maikel van der Vleuten of Netherlands on Beauville Z N.O.P., and Jeanne Sandran of France on Dexter de Kerglenn.
"I didn't think the time was all that hard to make, and then all those people had time faults," said Ridland. "But it all made for a very entertaining class."
