Vitali leads Kiwis to double gold

A horse who has often missed out lands the individual win as New Zealand reign and Britain has two on the podium

- EMILY BEVAN

TIM PRICE and Vitali were in imperious form at CHIO Aachen, leading from start to finish to clinch individual victory - their first at this event - and help New Zealand to the top spot in the UBS Cup team competition. The pair secured a clear round in the showjumping - a phase that has often been their downfall - then made light work of Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s cross-country track, adding just 3.2 time-penalties to their dressage mark of 27.3, which earned them a shared first place after the initial test.

“Vitali came in feeling fit and well and did a nice test. Showjumping has been our Achilles heel so I was nervous ahead of our round,” said Tim.

“I had help in the warm-up from Shane Breen, who instilled a lot of confidence in me. Vitali’s usually better when he showjumps before cross-country and he jumped well, so I was chuffed and relieved.

“He's a very good cross-country horse. As the other competitors near me in the standings were going at the same time, I couldn't do anything other than ride according to my horse, so I went for a safe but fast round. When we crossed the line, the crowd were clapping, but I didn’t know if we'd won or not so had to check the scoreboard.

“It was so exciting when I found out we'd won the team event, too. We needed it as we've had several nearly moments with the team recently, so it’s nice to get across the line on this one.”

Tim and Vitali, a 15-year-old Holsteiner, finished over three penalties clear of Britain’s Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality, who climbed from fifth after dressage thanks to two clear jumping rounds and just 3.6 cross-country time-faults.

“He's an older horse and can be spooky, so I wasn’t sure how he would react in the atmosphere but he grew and he loved it,” said Tom. “He did one of his best tests and then produced two great jumping performances, so I couldn't have asked for any more.”