British Showjumping’s Team NAF take 4th place in Wellington CSIO4* FEI Nations Cup
Saturday 04 March 2017
British Showjumpers finished 4th this evening, 3rd March 2017, under the sponsor banner of Team NAF in Wellington, Florida.
The halfway stage of the competition, after all riders had jumped their first round, had Great Britain sat in joint 4th position with Argentina on a score of 16 penalties. Ireland and Brazil held a strong joint lead with zero penalties to carry forward whilst home nation, the USA, sat in 3rd place on 5 penalties. With only six nations being invited into round 2 it was Canada that took the final spot being just one penalty behind Great Britain on a score of 17 penalties.
For Great Britain, the first round had shown some promising performances with all of them riding forward going rounds to ensure they stayed within the time allowed which had caught quite a few of the combinations out. It was Jess Mendoza with Toy Boy VIII, a 9 year-old chestnut gelding owned by her mother Sarah, that took the role of pathfinder. A touch of a pole at the vertical jumping into the double saw them pick up 4 penalties in what was otherwise a faultless round.
Amanda Derbyshire with the 9 year-old bay mare Luibanta BH incurred 8 penalties with the lowering of the first and last part of the combination. Their round had been foot-perfect until this, the penultimate obstacle, which lay on the home straight and caught out all too many competitors. Next to go was Emily Moffitt, making her inaugural appearance on a British Team. Riding Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve, a 10 year-old bay gelding owned by Poden Farms, they collected 4 penalties at the double midway on the course. Sam Hutton, who took the role of anchor with the 10 year-old chestnut gelding Happydam owned by Equimie BVBA were caught out at the vertical over a water tray when they lowered the top pole. This along with a touch at another fence on the course saw them break the finish line on 8 penalties.
With only three of the four rider scores counting in each round, it meant that GBR moved forward on the 16 penalties gained by the initial three riders. Jumping in reverse order, Jess made her second round appearance early on in the jump off. A back pole of an oxer jumping out of the double lowered to see herself and Toy Boy awarded 4 penalties with a further 4 penalties picked up when a top pole fell at a vertical towards the latter end of the course.
Amanda Derbyshire was incredibly unlucky to pick up 4 penalties at the water tray in what looked to be an incredibly strong round with Luibanta. It was Emily Moffitt though, on her debut as a British team rider that delivered the first clear for the Brits when, aboard Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve, she posted an extremely impressive and foot-perfect faultless round within the time allowed. To say she looked delighted as she came through the finish line would be an understatement, as did the rest of the British camp watching on the sidelines.
For last to go Sam Hutton with Happydam it just wasn’t their evening with 16 penalties being picked up for them to become the drop score. This saw Great Britain finish on a total of 28 penalties overall and in 4th place ahead of Canada and Argentina penalty tallies sat at 36 and 43 respectively. It was Ireland who took the win on an impressive total of just 4 penalties with home nation the USA taking 2nd place on 13 penalties and Brazil in 3rd on 16 penalties.
The Grand Prix will be on Sunday 4 March at 13:00 hrs local time. The Chef d’Equipe accompanying the team is World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, Di Lampard.
For further information on the show and full results, visit www.equestriansport.com.
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Children, Junior and Young Rider teams.
NAF’s premium range of Five Star brands include Superflex, Superflex Senior, PROFEET, Optimum, Magic, Oestress and Respirator Boost with quality at the heart of everything they do. They are a UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme), GMP+ (International Feed Assurance Scheme) and BETA NOPS (Naturally Occuring Prohibited Substances) accredited company and this enables them to guarantee full traceability on all the natural ingredients they utilise in their formulations, which are also selected in compliance with the FEI guidelines for Clean Sport. For further information, visit www.naf-equine.eu/uk/index.jsp.
The GBR showjumping teams are supported by the British Equestrian Federation’s World Class Programme, funded by UK Sport through the National Lottery. The Programme focuses on identifying talent, developing potential and maximising medal-winning performances on the world stage.
14kvaj7pl3106.jpg "Jonathan Egmore and Mollie Rose Smith are winners in the Equissage Pulse British Novice Second Rounds.")
11dtw0hmsttk0.jpg "NAF Five Star Bronze and Silver League Qualifiers get underway at Speetley Equestrian Centre")
