Richard Vogel, a member of Germany’s gold medal team at last month’s FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany, has taken over as world number one in the World Rankings for the first time in his career.
Richie Vogel on United Touch S (Photo by Benjamin Clark)The 29-year-old Vogel, who had been second behind Kent Farrington, had already earned enough points to overhaul Farrington with that team medal on home soil, but he made absolutely sure of it by winning the Brussels 5* Grand Prix with Gangster Montdesir on the final Sunday of August.
Vogel won individual gold and team bronze at last year’s European Championship in A Coruña, Spain. team gold in Aachen, and with the additional points from Brussels, Vogel has now turned around a 147-point deficit in the Rankings a month ago to a 73-point lead over Farrington.
“It still feels very surreal to hear that I am world number one”, Vogel said. “It is a huge achievement and makes me incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve together as a team. As a rider, I am certainly far from being the best in the world, but I believe this title is a pretty good indication that I have the very best team around me.
“BOTH THE people and, of course, the horses by my side have made this possible. There are countless people I am grateful to who have supported the young boy with big dreams and helped me get to where I am today. Every single one of you is part of this achievement.
“A very special thank you goes to the whole VW team, especially to my grooms, Felicia and Gigi. The passion, dedication and care you give our horses every single day is the foundation of everything we achieve.
“And the biggest thank you, of course, goes to our horses," Vogel said. "Having superstars like United, Cloudio and Gangster under my saddle is a true honour, but this achievement belongs just as much to the many other horses who stand slightly in their shadows, as well as those I have had in the past who taught me so much along the way. They are what drive and motivate us every single day.”
Until this week he had spent an uninterrupted 28 months in the Rankings top-10.
He is the sixth German to top the rankings since 2000, following in the footsteps of Christian Ahlmann, Daniel Deusser, Marcus Ehning, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Ludger Beerbaum.
Farrington, who had removed himself from Team USA selection for Aachen well prior to the championship, won his third Hampton Classic 5* Grand Prix, making it the 11th 5* Grand Prix win with Greya, one of the horses that earned him the Jumping World Cup Final crown back in April.
But that wasn’t enough to maintain his world number one slot and he has now dropped to second on 3,303 points behind Vogel’s leading tally of 3,376.
Scott Brash, part of the British bronze medal team in Aachen and a three-time former Rankings leader, has moved up a place to third on 3,274, with Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, fresh from his gold medal with Dynamix de Belheme, leaping up from 16th to fourth on 3,074.
Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam, previously in third, has dropped to fifth on 3,066 ahead of Ben Maher of Great Britain with 2,866.
Piergiorgio Bucci of Iraly, 2,866), Daniel Deusser of Germany, 2,823) and McLain Ward, 2,734, are next in line, with Nina Mallevaey of France rounding out the top-10 on 2,730 and retaining her world’s best female athlete title while Laura Kraut is112th.
