Lamoza Velisha and Call Me Cooley received a score of 34.5 and are placed 21st, while Brooke Dougall and My Locky achieved a score of 36.3 for 28th. Both combinations produced solid tests and will now look ahead to Saturday’s all-important cross country phase (start times below).
New Zealand’s Charlotte Penny and Carousel also had a good test, scoring 35.7 for 25th.
Watch all the action via ClipMyHorse.TV
You can watch all the action from the FEI Eventing World Championship for U25 (as well as the action from Millstreet International Horse Trials, running concurrently) via ClipMyHorse.TV.
The best way to watch the action live and on demand is with a CMH.TV Premium Yearly Membership. With the FEI World Championships in Aachen (11-23 August) just around the corner, ClipMyHorse.TV Australia is currently offering a 20% discount on Premium Yearly Memberships with the code WORLDCHAMPS26.
Normally priced at $259.53 AUD*, a Premium Yearly Membership is currently available for $207.62 AUD*.
Watch the action from the FEI Eventing World Championships for U25 here via ClipMyHorse.TV.
Calvin Böckmann leads the way
Calvin Böckmann, world number one in the FEI Eventing U25 Rankings, has happy memories of Irish eventing as he won an individual bronze medal in the Pony Europeans on Askaban B back in 2014. It was Millstreet’s first year of international horse trials and the start of Calvin’s successful career representing Germany.
He is now back as a member of the German squad at the first FEI Eventing World Championships and is riding the Selle Francais mare Altair De La Cense, his Junior and Young Rider team medal-winning horse.
The duo leads the field following the dressage phase, with 27.6 the score to chase.
“This is our 10th season together and we have been through all the ups and downs,” Calvin explains.”
“We bought her as a Junior horse and people said ‘Oh, you will need another horse for Young Riders’, but she was in those teams. Then after Young Riders, it was suggested that I sell her, but she went on to be my reserve horse in seniors for three years.
“She has a huge heart and, although it sounds like a cliche, she is very special to me.”
Calvin is 25 and earned his first senior flag for Germany last year, when he finished fourth at the Europeans at Blenheim, so this is his first and last opportunity for this new championship.
“It is going to be a huge thing for my career as we don’t have many opportunities to ride in competitions of this stature with all the atmosphere,” he said. “We are here to do our best.”
Australian official on the world stage at Millstreet
In addition to Lamoza and Brooke, a third Australian is in action in Millstreet as an official.
Wagga Wagga’s Hunter Doughty is the Technical Delegate, a role that sees him sign off on everything from courses and arenas to horse inspections, stabling and stewarding — one of the most significant official roles at any FEI championship, and a huge endorsement of the depth of Australian officiating expertise.
Hunter brings 35+ years in event administration, plus EA Eventing and EA Jumping Course Designer credentials, and EA coach educator accreditation.
Cross country begins from 12pm local time/9pm AEST Saturday
Mike Etherington-Smith is in his 12th year as cross-country course-designer at Millstreet and has the responsibility of producing the sport’s first ever FEI World Eventing Championship U25 track.
“The brief is not to make it too fierce because there will be a broad range of experience and expertise among riders,” he explains. “There are plenty of long routes but also some strong straight routes. To win it, you’ve got to jump.”
He adds: “It is great that we have the interest for this first U25 championship, with riders crossing the world from the US and Australia and New Zealand and we hope they will spread the word about what a superb place Millstreet is.”
Mike observes that the cross-country footing is “in amazing condition”. An enormous amount of work has taken place since the May horse trials, which was wet.
“Thomas Duggan [owner of Millstreet] went out and invested in drainage equipment and, of course, now it’s been dry for weeks – in Ireland! So the team here at Millstreet have been doing a brilliant job aerating and watering and we will be continuing right up to Saturday.”
Mike’s course-designing career includes two Olympic Games (2000 and 2008), plus a World Equestrian Games (2010) and three European Championships (2005, 2019 and 2021) as well as five-star courses at Kentucky, Adelaide and Luhmühlen and next year’s European Championships at Avenches.
“It’s not only a great honour to be here, but Millstreet is a particularly fun event to be part of. It’s very well organised but also very friendly and relaxed and that’s how I like it.”
The final jumping phase will take place from 1.30pm local time/10.20pm AEST on Sunday.
