Equestrianism: Tinka's Boy jumps clear to give Swiss victory

Markus Fuchs and Nick Skelton's former mount, Tinka's Boy, jumped the crucial clear round that gave Switzerland victory over the powerful Germans in yesterday's Nations Cup. Two other Swiss riders – Beat Mandli on Gryfino and Paul Freimuller on Himmerdor – had paved the way for a Swiss victory. But it was Fuchs who bore the brunt of the mounting tension (and thwarted the hopes of the huge home crowd who had been overjoyed by double clears from Otto Becker and Ludger Beerbaum) with an ice-cool second clear that left his team on a zero score.

A single error would have handed victory to the Germans, who were nearly 17 seconds faster when finishing second on a four-fault total, ahead of last year's victorious Belgian team on eight faults. France and Sweden were fourth and fifth, with Britain in sixth place. Derek Ricketts, chef d'equipe of the Great Britain team, was heartened by an excellent double clear from Scott Smith on Cabri d'Elle, who must have booked his place on the team for September's World Equestrian Games in Spain.

Tim Stockdale was clear first time on the grey Parcival, who had shown a tendency to be spooky last year but now seems to have put that failing firmly behind him. There was no hint of hesitation as he cleared the big double of water ditches (so often the undoing of spooky horses) in both his rounds. The grey's only error came in the second round, after Stockdale had lost a rein coming out of the double. Both Smith and Stockdale have qualified for tomorrow's Grand Prix, in which they have the chance to underline their claims for a place in the World Games.

Mark Armstrong had a two-round total of 12 faults on Elise and Richard Davenport (who needs more experience at this level, according to Ricketts) had 17 on Grand Marnier.

AACHEN NATIONS CUP SHOW (Ger): Nations Cup: 1 Switzerland, no faults, in 269.25sec; 2 Germany, 4, in 252.46; 3 Belgium, 8, in 264.33; 4 France, 12, in 257.56; 5 Sweden, 12, in 261.45; 6 Great Britain, 16, in 260.61. GB scores: Cabri d'Elle (S Smith) 0,0; Elise (M Armstrong) 4,8; Grand Marnier (R Davenport) 8,9; Parcival (T Stockdale) 0,4.