Todd Still Handy After Germany

Andrew Nicholson has finished 10th and 14th at the Luhmühlen 4* three day event in Germany, with Caroline Powell just behind in 15th.

Clear showjumping rounds were in short supply this morning with only five from the 28 finishers – one of those being Nicholson on Mr Cruise Control (owned by Robin and Nicola Salmon) who he finished 14th on. He dropped two rails with Armada (owned by Paul Ridgeon), while Powell and Mrs Tilly (owned by Camilla, Neil, Roy and Fiona Martin) had three down.

The weather proved an extra challenge for both horses and riders with just 28 of the original 43 start list completing the three dayer.

The event was won by Andreas Dibowski, a valuable member of Germany’s teams for many years, who was at his consistent best aboard Euroridings Butts Leon, in a tense finale. The win gave him his first points in the lucrative 2011 HSBC FEI Classics™.

Dibowski may now take his Luhmühlen-winning ride to Burghley (Great Britain) in September, for the next round of the classics in which the top five riders at five CCI4*s will share a prize pool of US$330,000. There are just two events to go.

Despite not starting at Germany, Mark Todd is still sitting comfortably in third spot on 15 points in the series, with pre-event leader Mary King (Great Britain) finishing eighth in Luhmühlen, so only garnering a few points, and now sitting on 28 but still at the top of the pack.

Piggy French (Great Britain) who went into the showjumping leading at Luhmühlen took two rails aboard Flying Machine to see her finish fourth but in second spot in the classics series.

Final results: Andreas Dibowski/Euroridings Butts Leon (GER) 40 + 0 + 0 = 40.0 1, Sandra Auffarth/Opgun Louvo (GER) 39 + 0 + 4 = 43.0 2, Frank Ostholt/Little Paint (GER) 35.3 + 6.8 + 4 = 46.1 3, Piggy French/Flying Machine (GBR) 37.2 + 1..2 + 8 = 46.4 4, Clayton Fredericks/Dunges Laurent Rose (AUS) 47.2 + 0 + 0 = 47.2 5, Dirk Schrade/Hop and Skip (GER) 45.2 + 0 + 4 = 49.2 6, Oliver Townend/ODT Master Rose (GBR) 48.2 + 0 + 4 = 52.2 7, Mary King/Apache Sauce (GBR) 46.0 + 0 + 8 = 54.0 8, William Fox-Pitt/Macchiato (GBR) 46.2 + 0 + 8 = 54.2 9, Andrew Nicholson/Armada (NZL) 51.5 + 0 + 8 = 59.5 10, Nicholson/Mr Cruise Control (NZL) 44.2 + 24 +0 = 68.2 14, Caroline Powell/Mrs Tilly 58.8 + 0 + 12 = 70.8 15.

Full results on www.luhmuehlen.de

HSBC FEI Classics™ Leaderboard in 2011 (after 3 out of 5 events)

Mary King (GBR) 28 points 1, Piggy French (GBR) 20 points 2, Mark Todd (NZL) 15 points 3, Andreas Dibowski (GER) 15 points 4, Sandra Auffarth (GER) 12 points 5, Clayton Fredericks (AUS) 12 points 6, Sinead Halpin (USA) 10 points 7, Frank Ostholt (GER) 10 points 8, William Fox-Pitt (GBR) 10 points 9, Oliver Townend (GBR) 9 points 10.