United States Eventing Association

France dominated the podium placings in the first leg Event Riders Masters (ERM) at the Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials. 40 riders, from nine nations were competing for a prize fund of £50,000 as well as an opportunity to catch the team selector’s eye ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Astier Nicholas riding Piaf De Bneville landed the £16,000 first prize. He was joined on the ERM podium by French riders Thibaut Vallette and Karim Laghouag who finished in second and third place, riding Qing Du Briot and Entebbe De Hus respectively. The fifth finisher, France’s Mathieu Lemoine riding Bart L, was also involved in the winning celebrations as he is a shareholder in Astier’s winning horse.

Following the dressage and Show-jumping, Great Britain’s Kitty King held a commanding lead, but an incident in the start box of the cross-country cost her expensive time faults moving her right down the final order.

After a faultless show jumping Marlborough based Astier started out on cross-country in second and wasting no time with Piad De Bneville the pair secured the lead after crossing the finish line with just 6.8 time penalties.

Astier Nicholas and Piaf De B'Neville. Photo Courtesy of ERM.

Astier explained; “It’s amazing to win the first leg of ERM and I am delighted for my horse Piaf De Bneville. His show jumping and cross-country was spot on today. It’s hard to make the time here at Chatsworth so I expected that the winner would need to post a quick cross-country and the final leader board could change dramatically.

“This new competition format means you ride it more like a three day event rather than one day and the crowds getting behind the riders has created a really big atmosphere across all three phases. The big aim for this horse is the Olympics this summer and this weekend’s competition has been an excellent preparation for that”.

Our sole American pair in the first leg of this Event Rider Masters Series, Clark Montogmery and Loughan Glen, took a ninth place finish this weekend. Jessica Montogmery, Kathryn Kraft and Holly & William Becker's 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse scored a 39.5 to sit in 11th place after dressage, and the gelding went on to add only 8.8 time penalties to their score for a top ten finish.

Four former European champions headed a stellar line up in the first leg of the ERM. It produced a thrilling competition with dramatic surges up the leader board as the cross-country time proving hugely influential. Australia’s Chris Burton climbed from twenty second after show jumping, to finish in sixth place. He was the only ERM competitor to finish inside the optimum time.