Clark Glasgow Crowned British Showjumping National Champion
Sunday 16 August 2015
Today The British Showjumping Business Partnership International Stairway League Final came to a spectacular conclusion as Clark Glasgow soared to victory to be crowned National Champion.
The last phase of the hotly contested Horse of the Year Show Wild Card Series took place on the Grand Ring at the NAEC, Stoneleigh. The sun was shining as 32 riders stepped forward to tackle the imposing course in a bid to claim the coveted title.
The tension was high as the competition started in reverse order from the previous combined results of the two legs, both of which were also hosted at the British Showjumping National Championships earlier this week.
The course was challenging and put both horses and riders to the test with only 5 riders managing to jump a clear round. Moving on to the jump off was Lance Whitehouse riding VIK II, Clark Glasgow riding Fleur De L’Aube, Robert Lewis riding Courtney Z, Jonathan Buxton riding High Offley Arturos Catch and David McPherson riding Gloria Van Zuuthoeve.
First to ride was Jonathon Buxton who produced a quick round but knocked a rail. The following rounds saw David McPherson opting to retire and Lance Whitehouse having a rail down. Only two riders managed the elusive clear round – Robert Bevis and Clark Glasgow.
Ultimately it was Clark who outperformed his competition with one of the most impressive rounds seen all week at the British Showjumping National Championships. Clark flew around the course in style to finish on a time of 50.98.
Clark was thrilled with this win saying “I can’t believe it, so so excited”. Clark has only been riding Fleur De L’Aube for 9 months and the combination are “still getting to know each other.” Clark is a student of show jumping legend, and National Championships Ambassador, Tim Stockdale. It was Tim who helped Clark find his winning ride Fleur De L’Aube.
Tim has been with Clark every step of the way and helped him with his tactics for today’s competition. When it came to the jump off “today Tim just said National Champion has a good ring to it so we just went for it” said Clark. “I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever taken her against the clock”.
Today is a bitter-sweet victory for Clark as this win marks his last big competition before he embarks on a career path in medicine. This impressive young rider is also a humble and gracious winner saying “the thing I am really grateful for is that I am an amateur rider and if it weren’t for my family, particularly in their support I wouldn’t be anywhere near here”. Clark was thrilled with his win and even after exiting the arena said “I don’t really want to get off”.
National Champion was not the only title on offer during this class as the International Stairway League winner was decided along with the HOYS Wild Card series winner. It was Nigel Coupe riding Glovers Hill who claimed the International Stairway League title.
This win was an achievement Nigel has been chasing for a while as he has placed second the past two years in this class, finally landing the title this year. The win was made even more impressive by the fact that Glovers Hill has just come back from injury. “He hurt his back at Hickstead in the Queens Cup so we haven’t been able to ride him for the past 2 weeks. Coming here was more of a hope than an expectation”.
Nigel is thrilled to be returning to HOYS saying “its going to be nice to go back”. Glovers Hill is also no stranger to HOYS, he has impressively competed there in previous years in both Showing and Showjumping.
The HOYS Wild Card Series winner was Jonathan Buxton, riding High Offley Arturos Catch, who never anticipated winning the title. Jonathan “came planning on only jumping the first 2 legs” due to sustaining a broken back in March and “just came to get him jumping but wasn’t planning on entering the last class”.
The combination have been together 2 years and it was Jonathan’s girlfriend who aquired High Offley Arturos Catch as a 5 year old. “We never expected him to jump these classes. Every time we ask him a question he has come up with the answer. He’s got a heart of gold”
All three riders have secured themselves a ticket to Horse of the Year Show in October, taking place at Birmingham’s NEC.
Results
1st Clark Glasgow and Fleur De L’Aube
2nd Robert Bevis and Coutney Z
3rd Lance Whitehouse ad VIK II
4th Jonathan Buxton and High Offley Arturos Catch
5th David Mcpherson and Gloria Van Zuuthoeve
6th Matthew Sampson and ROI IV
7th Max Routledge and Carus Royale
8th Tim Stockdale and Erasmus VD Heffinick
9th Anna Edwards and Blazer B
Photo Credit: 1st Class Images
All British Showjumping National Championships and Stoneleigh Horse Show 2015 is hosted at the National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre (NAEC), Stoneleigh, Warwickshire during the 11th-16th August. For further information, please visit www.bsnationalchampionships.co.uk
