United States Eventing Association

There were emotional scenes when Andrew Nicholson and Mr Cruise Control triumphed at Luhmühlen, presented by DHL Paket, the penultimate leg of the HSBC FEI Classics™.

It was the 51-year-old New Zealander’s fourth CCI4* victory in a year, but the first for his long-time loyal owners, Robin and Nicky Salmon, who have often seen their striking-looking grey gelding come close to major honours without ever taking the big prize.

“He’s a big horse that’s taken time but he’s kept improving through all his training, and that means that out of all my four-star wins this one is particularly rewarding,” said the invincible Nicholson, who has now won four of the world’s six CCI4*s.

Zara Phillips (GBR), who finished second on Trevor Hemmings’ High Kingdom, put pressure on Nicholson right until the end with a beautifully ridden clear Jumping round.

However, the six-time Olympian rose to the occasion magnificently, just rattling the second fence but soaring over the rest to finish on his Dressage score of 38.0.

“He was too ice-cool,” Phillips smiled sportingly. “Thank goodness he can’t ride at the Europeans!”

Phillips was clearly thrilled by the continuing improvement shown by her Olympic team silver medallist. “He’s getting better all the time,” she said.

Both the two leading horses are Irish-bred: Mr Cruise Control is by the great jumping sire Cruising and High Kingdom is by Master Imp.

In contrast, William Fox-Pitt’s two horses, which rose to third and fourth places with immaculate clear rounds, are both from continental stock. Neuf des Coeurs, third, is a smart Selle Francais by Nidor Platier, and Lionheart, fourth, is a majestic German-bred by Lancer lll. Neuf des Coeurs missed much of last season through injury and Lionheart, one of the best jumpers on the circuit, is clearly back to his best after inexplicably tiring on the Olympic Cross Country last year.

“It’s been a happy weekend,” said Fox-Pitt, who has now overtaken Jock Paget (NZL) in the HSBC FEI Classics™ to lie second on the leaderboard behind Nicholson. “It was great to have both horses jumping and galloping so well and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Kevin McNab (AUS) had modestly predicted that he wouldn’t be making either Nicholson or Phillips too nervous in the final phase, but he only had one rail down on Clifton Pinot, slipping from overnight third to fifth place.

Fellow Australian, Andrew Hoy, who had been in fourth after Cross Country with Rutherglen, did not present the 10-year-old at this morning’s horse inspection.

The winner, Nicholson, again proved his skills with a top-10 finish on his catch ride, Rathmoyle King. He hit two rails on the 15-year-old grey, but that wasn’t enough to drop him in the final placings and he held onto sixth. With just Burghley to come in the HSBC FEI Classics™, it seems that 2013 is going to be Nicholson’s year.

For the Americans...

Marilyn Little held onto her top 10 spot, moving into 7th place to finish after only dropping one rail in a combination, ending her triumphant weekend on a 57.5. Despite a very tough course yesterday in monsoon-like conditions, coach David O'Connor said that the mare recovered well, as made evident by her solid performance in the arena today.

Jolie Wentworth and Good Knight also successfully completed the challenging event, and added two rails and 8 time penalties to yesterday's cross-country.