After the show jumping event, which was full of surprises, Piggy French and Cast Away II won the World Championships for 7 year old horses. Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam were 2nd. The Australian rider Lucinda Fredericks and her little mare Prada were 3rd.

Saturday’s cross country cross event had affected some the 7 year old horses competing in this 22nd edition of the Lion World Championships. Two horses were not accepted by the jury which was presided over by Nick Burton, during the final inspection on Sunday morning: Mignonne de Canisy, Michel Bouquet’s thorough-bred mare, and Mr Spiritus, Anna Hilton’s English thorough-bred horse.
Then, the show jumping event took place in the afternoon before a great number of spectators. Like for the 6 year old "babies", the cross country event had also influenced the performances here as only 8 couples out of the 43 which were competing, managed to have a clear round.
Michael Jung and La Biosthétique Sam, who had been 3rd since the dressage event, demonstrated that their 2nd place in the World Championships for 6 year old horses in 2006 was not a coincidence. After a perfect round, the German couple left the arena clear and with a superb final 2nd place.
When Nicolas Touzaint entered the arena with Barlovento, the level of tension was at its height. But with eight faults during the round, any hope of a victory and/or of coming away with a medal disappeared for the European Champion. The couple ended up in 9th place. Of course this is a disappointing result but as Nicolas had predicted on Saturday “ the show jumping arena is small and I know that on Sunday it will not be easy.“
In the lead since the first day of the competition, Piggy French had everything to lose when she entered the arena with Cast Away II. But the British rider glided over the course and had a magnificent victory with her Irish bay horse. “The round went very fast. In fact, I had won before I even realized it ! said Piggy. “Everyone wants to come here to compete and I have won the competition with a really extraordinary horse.“
The young woman, who has her stables with Oliver Townend, has sparkling eyes when she speaks about Cast Away: “he has such a huge potential that he has had clear rounds for the last eighteen months! But he would be bored if he only performed in show jumping, as he is horse who needs to compete in cross country events. For the future, he must now try to be qualified for three star competitions, but we will take the time which is necessary to do this. There is no point in rushing things as he has too many qualities. Furthermore, even though he is very big, his muscle structure is not developed enough. But to be perfectly honest, I hope that I can perform my qualification for the London Olympic Games with him!“
Finally, the Australian rider Lucinda Fredericks and Prada, clear in the arena but who had one time fault for going over the allowed time limit, finished in 3rd place.