Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. This time the world-class entertainment consists of dressage and showjumping, as the FEI World Cup finals 2009 are decided in the town. Mikael has again managed a historical final placing with Isaac du Jonquet. Last time in Gothenburg Isaac suffered a minor injury, but now all looks good ahead of the new opportunity!

Sunday: Mikael finishes a solid 13th in Vegas, Meredith is the repeat champion.

Report

All is good in Vegas. Isaac and Arja arrived there early Saturday, Noora and Mikael followed suit Sunday afternoon. The horses were kept in quarantine until Monday morning, where after it was allowed to ride them on the Thomas & Mack arena.

The Thomas & Mack Center is an arena on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The facility was first opened in the summer of 1983. Its primary tenant is the UNLV men's basketball team

Mikael had an easy pass with Isaac on Monday and on Tuesday it was already business as usually. Noora told Isaac appeared to have travelled well, as well as adjusted to the new environment.

The first World Cup final is jumped Thursday-eve, but the schedule started already Tuesday with the obligatory vet check. On Wednesday everyone is allowed to participate in one of the two warm-up sessions. Thereafter it’s the real deal, and the starting order for Thursday is decided by draw Wednesday eve.

Wednesday

The first steps in the World Cup final has went well and uneventfully.On Tuesday eve Isaac passed the vet check without problems and on Wednesday Mikael and Isaac took part in the warm-up class. Noora told that Isaac appeared still really good and they were eagerly awaiting Thursday's first final with Mikael.

Thursday

Mikael and Isaac finished the first final, starting on number 16, with a decent effort in the speed class. Mikael rode the tight course without taking huge risks, but was fluent and consistent throughout the course. An unfortunate rail down on the b-part of a triple combination (oxer-vertical-vertical) added up an addition 4 seconds to their final time.

Noora told they were happy Isaac, which appeared both relaxed and energetic. Mikael's course went much as planned, naturally next to the unfortunate rail down. The initial plan was to ride a time good enough for a top-10 placing; now the one rail cost a good 10 placings down the leader board. For Friday's second final the obvious goal is a clean round and thereby a decent placing in the final's rankings.

Friday

Friday seemed as a good day for Mikael and Isaac. Horse and rider cleaned the first round and did a run in the jump-off, finishing on a good time, although taking also an unfortunate rail during the effort. Friday final result showed Mikael and Isaac as 9th in the class and overall the pair made a huge improvement starting 11th overall for Sunday. Mikael told his initial goal was a top-10 placing overall, which now still seems – with decent rounds on Sunday – within reach. Isaac has felt good throughout the show, and Mikael thought, perhaps even better than before on Friday.

On another note, one of the discussions around appeared to be “luck in Vegas”, this time standing for rails falling back in their cups quite so often. Usually there is not a lot of knocking allowed on this level to take down a rail, but these fences seemed to allow quite a few of “unclean” jumps. On a practical level there was many horses and riders making a big number of mistakes of various severity, but still being penalized by perhaps only a single rail down – or even an all “clean” performance. The other, unfortunate side of this coin was that many of the top horses and riders paid heavily with a rail down for that perhaps only small contact throughout the whole course. In case of Mikael and Isaac all has gone by the book, using only skill and ability so far, prompting for luck being plenty available – if needed at all – still for Sunday. We surely hope so!

Sunday

The Vegas week ended with a great and historical 13th place for the Finnish horse and rider. Isaac showed its true colors again on Sunday and did a great job. Sunday’s first round was something of a disappointment, with 8 faults after Isaac rubbed a rail on both the b-part (4b) of a triple combination and soon after the front rail of fence number 6. Mikael lost momentarily his focus after the first rail, which felt unnecessary, and probably paid a price for it with the second fall at fence number 6. After the first round the placing was a shared 17th.

The second round was really big and technical, much as anticipated the courses would be in the final and by a good margin the biggest so far. Isaac and Mikael eventually left the arena with a great performance, doing an excellent last round in the finals. Only an unlucky rail at the very last fence improved Mikael’s and Isaac’s standings a lot on this hard course, and their final standing became 13th, something one need to be at ease with.

- It was an awesome experience riding such a championship, where every day counts, as every fence and every round is decisive for the final result. Isaac showed being a true championship-level horse by being at best at the last and hardest round, which he still jumped with ease. Thinking about the big picture the 13th place was a good performance. Of course looking at all courses individually, there is still thinks to improve on in the positive sense. Hence having a horse at its best, we could aim for an even better placing in the future, Mikael told after the finish in Vegas.

Back home in Europe there was also great results to be told, as Maiju and Casandra Z scored World Ranking points on 1m50 level, by placing 14th with only one fault for exceeding time allowed. Maiju did on Sunday also clear rounds with Kennzo and Winnie PV on 1m30 level and with St Germain on 1m35 level. The young 6 year old Cocktail had one rail down in the 6-year olds final.
 

Pictures:

Our Las Vegas album

Official website:

Las Vegas 2009

Results and start lists:

Vegas LIVE

Broadcasts

The World Cup final can be seen live via the FEI’s own pay-tv, FEI TV on the Internet . A one-week subscription is worth 24.99€ or charged on a daily bases 11.99. FEI TV requires a computer running a Windows OS (XP or Vista).

Schedule

All times local (Las Vegas GMT -7)

Las Vegas Local Time

Wednesday
9.30 Rolex FEI World Cup™ warm-up I and II
Thursday
19.00 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Final I
Friday
19.00 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Final II
Saturday
12.00 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Sunday
12.00 Rolex FEI World Cup™ Final III

World Cup Final Participants

Japan League

1. Daijiro Mashiyama, JPN Paradox

New Zealand League

1. Anna Trent, NZL Musketeer NZPH, Levitation NZPH

Arab League

1. H. Bin Moteb Al Saud, KSA Ashkur Allah Obelix

Mexican League

1. Alberto Michan Halbinger, MEX Chinobampo Lavita
2. Enrique Gonzalez, MEX Frida

Western European League

1. Gerco Schroeder, NED Eurocommerce Milano – Eurocommerce Seattle –Eurocommerce Pennsylvania
2. Daniel Etter, SUI I Peu à Peu 4 – Wisper Zuid
3. Marcus Ehning, GER Plot Blue – Sandro Boy – Leconte
4. Albert Zoer, NED Oki Doki – Sam
5. Steve Guerdat, SUI Trésor V – Ferrari – Jalisca Solier
6. Thomas Velin, DEN Grim St-Clair – Godsend du Reverdy
7. Rutherford Latham, ESP Valentina van ‘T Heike
8. Ludo Phillipaerts, BEL Kassini’Jac – Cavalor’s Winningmood
9. Lars Nieberg, GER Lucie 55
10. Mikael Forsten, FIN Isaac du Jonquet
11. Helena Lundback, SWE Madick – Bukowskis Erbblume
12. Ben Maher, GBR Robin Hood W
13. Ludger Beerbaum, GER Coupe de Coeur – All Inclusive NRW – Gotha
14. Michael Whitaker, GBR Insul Tech Amai – Insul Tech Womani Van –Suncal Portofino 63
15. Marco Kutscher, GER Cash 63 – Cornet Obolenski
16. Geir Gulliksen, NOR L’Espoir – Cattani
17. Christina Liebherr, SUI LB Robin Hood – LB No Mercy
18. Max Kühner, GER Acantus GK
19. Edwina Alexander, AUS Isovlas Itot du Château – Isovlas Late Night 16 –Isovlas Socrates
20. Rodrigo Pessoa, BRA Rufus

Central European League

1. Vladimir Beletskiy, RUS Larkanaro – Ragazza 36 – Lotos
2. Angel Niagolov, BUL Baloufino – Rue Blanche du Gibet – Stritzel
3. Hasan Senturk, TUR Concept – Caro Ass – Pinot Grigio – Siec Janico

USA East League

1. Kent Farrington, USA Up Chiqui
2. McLain Ward, USA Phillipa – Goldika 539 – Sapphire
3. Christine McCrea, USA Promised Land – Vegas
4. Todd Minikus, USA Pavarotti – Presidente – Olinda
5. Hillary Dobbs, USA Quincy B – Corlett – Marlo – Marengo
6. Beezie Madden, USA Danny Boy – Onlight – Judgement
7. Michelle Spadone, USA Melismo
8. Darragh Kerins, IRL Night Train

USA West League

1. Mandy Porter, USA San Diego
2. Ashlee Bond, USA Cadett 7 – Chivas Z
3. Richard Spooner, USA Ace – Cristallo – Quirino 3
4. Harley Brown, AUS Cassiato

Canadian League

1. Keean White, CAN Celena – Vienna Rouge
2. Ian Millar, CAN Redefin – In Style

Title Holder

1. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, GER Shutterfly

Organizing Committee’s NF Wild Cards (2)

1. Danielle Torano, USA Vancouver d’Oeuvray
2. Rich Fellers, USA Flexable – Kilkenny Rindo