ST. TROPEZ, France--The U.S. team of Laura Kraut, Alessandra Volpi,, Alex Matz and Karl Cook finished sixth in he Nations Cup in St. Tropez pn Sunday, Sept. 21 after Cook and Kraut finished first and third in the Grand Prrx on Friday.
Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque winning the Grand Prix (Photo by EcoryBut the most important result of the Nations Cup finish was that it qualified the U.S. for the Final in Barcelona on October 2-5.
"Karl and Laura were brilliant Friday night over two very hard courses, and we did qualify for Barcelona," said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland, "We have had an unprecedented series of winning either the grand prix or the Nations Cup on Nations Cup weekends. There's only been one CSIO5* where we haven't won one or the other."
Usually, each rider's top horse is saved for the Nations Cup as competing in in a two round class over a difficult course on Friday can leave a horse a little tired for Sunday's class.
But, the U.S. team only had to finish the Nations Cup to qualify for Barcelona, and knowing that Ridland had Cook on Caracole de la Roque and Kraut on Bisquetta compete in the Grand Prix.
"That probably figured a little" said Ridland about Kraut having a rail down in round one and two rails down in round two and Cook having a rail in round two.
The U.S. finished just two rails off a podium finish, but ti was round one that was the real nail biter.
IN ROUND one, the final two riders, one for Ireland and one from France, both had to have a rail down for the U.S. to even make round two, but David Simpson for Ireland and Marc Dilasser for France had two rails and one rail down respectively, and the U.S. qualified for round two on 12 faults.
Kraut on Bisquetta, first to go for the U.S., had a block out of the wall for four faults, Volpi on Gypsy Love had eight faults, Matz on Ikigai had an uncharacteristic 16 faults and Cook on Caracole was clean to finish as one of three teams on 12 faults.
With only three riders in round two, Kraut had eight faults, Volpi came back with a beautiful clean round and Cook had one rail to finish sixth on 24 faults.
Great Britain won on 15 faults with Italy second with 16 faults and Belgium third with 17 faults, followed by Germany on 18 faults and France on 20 faults.
