World no.1 Tim Price is sitting handy this morning as the CSIO4*-S field heads into the final test at the CHIO Aachen in Germany.

Tim aboard Wesko is in second place on 23.8 penalty points after the dressage and showjumping tests, with just the cross country to come. Laura Collett (GBR) and London 52 lead the 44-strong field on 22.9.

The New Zealand team, who are chasing back-to-back victories in the hotly contested Nations’ Cup are also in second spot, on 83.1 penalty points, just behind hosts and leaders Germany on 80.5.

“It is a unique experience jumping in the Aachen ring,” says Tim. “It takes quite a bit of different kind of riding to go in there and to try and keep your horses canter. It suits some horses more than others. All in all for the team to be in second place, we are all really happy about that and keen to really to stick really tight to that and hopefully better it a little bit tomorrow after cross country.”

He said all of the team were looking forward to tomorrow’s cross country. “I think it will be fast and clear to win – and that is what we need to do. We need to be clever with our team plan and that is what we plan to do and we are going to nail it!”

Tim was very pleased with Wesko. I was happy with my guy and just to scrape inside the time after really running it to the wire – I find it quite difficult to judge the time around a track like that and I added down a couple of lines and it was pretty close.”

At the end of the dressage Tim was in fifth, with team mates Jonelle Price aboard Faerie Dianimo in 11th, Jesse Campbell and Cleveland in 20th and Dan Jocelyn aboard Blackthorn Cruise in 40th.

The Frank Rothenberger-designed showjumping course saw Jonelle move to eighth on 26.9, Jesse remain in 20th on 32.4 and Dan up to 36th on 44.6. Individual James Avery aboard Mr Sneezy sits in 41st spot on 51.3. All combinations are also chasing individual honours.

Dressage leader Ingrid Klimke (GER) and SAP Hale Bob OLD dropped to third after taking a rail in the showjumping, as did Michael Jung (GER) aboard fischerChipmunk FRH who moved from second to fourth. Just 13 combinations remain on their dressage scores, with Tim and Jonelle two of those. Tonight, riders will surely be challenged by the Rüdiger Schwarz-designed cross country, and with so much on the line, they ‘ll be pushing hard for clear rounds, inside the time.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS & START LISTS
CLICK HERE FOR TEAM RESULTS


The horse details:
Mr Sneezy – owned by Tiny Clapham, and Ian and Heidi Woodhead
Cleveland – owned by Kent Gardner and Jesse Campbell
Blackthorn Cruise – owned by Panda Christie and Dan Jocelyn
Faerie Dianimo – owned by Trisha Rickards, Jacky Green and Jonelle Price
Wesko – owned by the Windrush Equestrian Foundation

By Diana Dobson
Photos by Libby Law/ESNZ