EQUESTRIAN: Peter Charles's chances of reproducing the form that saw him head the line-up for the World Cup qualifier in the Olympia championships in London 12 months ago were in jeopardy yesterday when his outing in a one-round speed class to decide the starting order for today's 2002 feature left him in serious pain.
Charles has been having problems with an elbow injured in a fall less than a week before the world equestrian games in September, with the damage further compounded in another fall from a young horse at home in Hampshire six weeks ago. As a result he was forced to pull out of both Paris last month and last week's World Cup show in Geneva and is now wearing a brace to protect the injury. But movement in his right arm is severely restricted and, although he steered his double Hickstead Derby winner Corrada to a clear yesterday, he was slowest of the 10 that left all the fences standing.
Under the new rules brought in this season, that puts Charles 10th- last to go in this afternoon's World Cup, but his discomfort was obvious even from the stands and he admitted afterwards he was in a lot of pain. Under international regulations he is limited ithe amount of pain relief he can take, but is using ice packs and a Tens machine to numb the area when he isn't riding.
Not surprisingly, he decided against running the gigantic 19 hand horse Apollo in last night's Puissance, calling in Michael Whitaker as substitute, even though he won over the big wall last year with the catch-ride Sagrat.
Charles said after yesterday afternoon's class, "It's sore just jumping a cross pole", which is a long way short of the 7ft 3ins he cleared for victory 12 months ago.
Dermott Lennon, who rode the stallion Dow Jones Courcel into seventh in last night's speed, got off to a great start in the pre-World Cup decider, taking the racing line with his gold medal mare Liscalgot in his bid to catch the target set by Robert Smith with the Irish export Mr Springfield.
A daring turn into the planks paid off, but the mare then trailed off the front rail going into the following double and then lowered the upright by the entrance gate. Despite clocking the second fastest time, he was left in 23rd place overall, which means he goes 14th on the 38-horse startlist today.
Smith made sure of today's pole position by scorching round with Mr Springfield to set an unbeatable target of 53.69. Jimmy McCloskey's nine-year-old son of Western Promise netted the same pre-World Cup class in Geneva a week earlier, but stablemate Marius Claudius then had a fence down in the cup itself. Smith will be giving the eight-year-old stallion a second World Cup run today and, if he makes it to the jump-off, he will have the advantage of going last against the clock.
Lars Nieberg, a member of Germany's gold medal squad at the last two Olympics, came closest to Smith for second place, but was still almost four seconds off the pace in a desperately lack-lustre class. Under the old rules, only 18 could get into the cup, with the Friday class deciding both the starters and their order of jumping, which meant everyone had to really have a crack against the clock to make for a much more exciting spectacle. The new rules state that 38 horses can start in World Cup rounds and, following the last-minute withdrawal of European champion Ludger Beerbaum and former world champion Rodrigo Pessoa, there were only 38 in the class yesterday.
RESULTS
Champagne Taittinger Christmas Cracker - 1 Britain's Mr Springfield (Robert Smith), 53.69 seconds; 2 Germany's Fighting Alpha (Lars Nieberg), 57.39; 3 France's Olympia (Michel Robert), 57.57; 4 Switzerland's LB Pozitano (Beat Mandli), 58.81; 5 Germany's Dobel's Fiala (Otto Becker), 59.10; 6 Britain's Cortaflex Machiavelli (William Funnell), 59.97; 10 Ireland's Corrada (Peter Charles), 71.25; 23 Ireland's Liscalgot (Dermott Lennon), 8 faults, 56.58.
Double Your Money - 1 Holland's Balaboeska R (Jeroen Dubbeldam), 1,700 points, 51.42 seconds; 2 Germany's Adolf D (Franke Sloothaak), 1,700, 51.62; 3 Germany's Filias (Otto Becker), 1,700, 52.07; 4 Switzerland's LB Lacorrado (Beat Mandli), 1,700, 52.09; 5 Austria's Remus Racing 2 (Anton Martin Bauer), 1,700, 54.24; 6 Britain's Arko (Nick Skelton), 1,700, 60.24; 12 Ireland's Ginger Watt (Dermott Lennon), 1,300, 49.66.
The Accenture Stakes - 1 Sweden's H&M Tamina (Malin Baryard), 48.60; 2 Switzerland's Edza de St Denis (Markus Fuchs), 49.18; 3 Britain's Kalusha (Robert Smith), 49.35; 4 Germany's Graziana (Toni Hassmann), 49.58; 5 Germany's Joli Coeur (Franke Sloothaak), 50.16; 6 Britain's Gamble (Andrew Davies), 50.20; 7 Ireland's Dow Jones Courcel (Dermott Lennon), 52.86.
Sony Ericsson Christmas Stakes - 1 Switzerland's Granie (Markus Fuchs); 2 Switzerland's LB Pozitano (Beat Mandli); 3 Italy's Kerkorian Lalan (Jerry Smit); 4 Germany's Adlantus FRH (Lars Nieberg); 5 Britain's Carlucci (Di Lampard); 6 Ireland's Liscalgot (Dermott Lennon).
