German dominance hits British hopes for repeat

German riders proved the superiority of their horsepower once again when filling the top three places in yesterday's Preis von Europa, with Markus Beerbaum taking a seemingly reckless flyer to the last fence to win on Charleston.

The tight time of 93 seconds in the opening round had contributed to many of the mistakes. "That was the biggest problem, the time was almost ridiculous," Michael Whitaker said after he hit two fences on Virtual Village Prince of Wales. There were nevertheless nine clear rounds that were within the time ­ six of them for German riders but none for the British.

Markus Beerbaum, who had won a Mercedes car in Hamburg with Charleston two weeks earlier, made sure that his elder and better-known brother, Ludger, would have a tough target to chase with the Cannes Grand Prix winner, Goldfever, who was next into the arena. There was not, however, much danger from that quarter since Goldfever had a single error and a slower time to finish in ninth place, leaving Heinrich-Wilhelm Johannsmann as runner-up on Graishüter.

The tight time in the first round was described by Ludger Beerbaum, the current leader on the world rankings, as "borderline". But the course designer, Arno Gego, was unlikely to have wanted any more than nine horses in the jump-off ­ and, as Ludger Beerbaum pointed out, "he would have had a lot more clear rounds if the time had been easier".

Mark Armstrong and the nine-year-old mare, Elise, who seems to be enhancing her chance of selection for this month's European Championships with every outing, were the best of the British.

Elise, who is small and full of fire, made her only error at the middle element of the treble. She will come under close scrutiny from the selectors in her next competition, tomorrow's Nations Cup.

Tim Stockdale had two fences down on the chunky Traxdata Wiston Bridget, finishing four places above Michael Whitaker by virtue of a faster time.

John Whitaker retired Calvaro after two early errors, which did not augur well for British hopes that the stallion will recover his best form in the Nations Cup ­ though, if anyone can achieve the desired turn-around, John Whitaker has to be the man.

"We've put all our eggs in one basket and that's the Nations Cup," Michael Bullman, the British chef d'equipe, said. He would love to witness a repeat of last year's totally unexpected British victory, which was achieved during Ronnie Massarella's last year as team manager. Massarella is here with three of his grandchildren to support the British team.

Last year, the British team held off the challenge of Germany with an immaculate clear tally from the team of John Whitaker, Michael Whitaker, Carl Edwards and Andrew Davies. The German team finished second with a net total of four faults. Ireland finished third with eight faults. The Switzerland and Dutch teams finished joint fourth with 12.

AACHEN NATIONS CUP SHOW (Germany) Preis von Europa: 1 Charleston (M Beerbaum, Ger) clear, 38.08sec; 2 Graishüter (H-W Johannsmann, Ger) clear, 40.10; 3 Esprit (L Nieberg, Ger) clear, 40.31. Best GB: 23 Elise (M Armstrong) four faults in first round.