GREAT BRITAIN IN EQUAL 2ND AFTER FIRST ROUND OF THE TEAM COMPETITION

The first day of the Team saw Great Britain secure themselves in equal 2^nd position at the end of the first day of Team competition. The competition saw Greenwich endure some incredibly heavy showers and wet conditions at times but Team GB didn’t let this affect their performance in front of packed Grandstands laden with Union Flags being waved. 

 

The order of go for the team remained the same as yesterday’s first Individual qualifying round with Nick Skelton as the pathfinder followed by Ben Maher and Scott Brash with Peter Charles taking the role of anchor.

 

The course with a total of 16 jumping efforts across the 13 fences, many of which depicted globally renown London Landmarks such as Big Ben, Downing Street and the British Museum set the scene in the arena. The arena, as it has all week, looked stunning with the incredible backdrop of Queen’s House and the River Thames as a focal point at the top of the arena.

 

Nick Skelton from Warwickshire with Beverley Widdowson’s 9 year-old bay KWPN stallion Big Star put in a superb foot-perfect and stylish performance to produce one of the first clear rounds of the competition. 

 

Talking afterwards Nick Skelton commented “Looked amazing, felt amazing, it is amazing; for me it was perfect, a really nice course. It wasn’t crazy big but you had to be careful enough and there were tricky lines. There are enough tests out there but Big Star is jumping unbelievably. 

 

“He’s got everything, I feel great, he’s in great condition, he hasn’t got a negative, he is the most perfect horse. I mean for a young horse to jump like that, he’s a freak. There’s a long way to go yet but I wouldn’t want to swap horses.   Big Star is a very very quiet horse outside but as soon as he comes into the arena he lights up ten gears. The crowd are unbelievable, it won’t be their fault if we don’t win!”

 

Ben Maher from Bishops Stortford with his Quainton Stud’s and his own 10 year-old dark bay stallion Tripple X II pulled out all the stops to also produced a foot-perfect round for Team GB. Punching the air as he came through the finish showing his delight at their performance resulted in the crowds leaping to their feet and roaring their delight in a sea of Union Flags.

 

Ben’s comments after his performance were “Tripple X knows what he’s doing so I’m just letting him get on with it a bit. He jumped well, as soon as he saw the red bus fence in the arena he thought, hold on a minute, this isn’t a normal day, something new is going on here and it caught his attention and he started to try harder.   The water felt a long stretch, it felt like a river not a water jump but it’s great.   The course is difficult today, it’s not the biggest but it’s technical.

 

“I know Tripple X will improve, I know he can still be better than that again. We’re going to stay focussed and do the best we can “.  

 

Peebleshire based Scott Brash competing in his first Olympic Games entered the arena to not only a tremendous cheer from the crowds but also the start of a heavy shower. Riding Hello Sanctos, a 12 year-old bay gelding owned by Lady Kirkham and Lord & Lady Harris, Scott was determined that the rain wouldn’t distract them. The pair produced a superb round with the crowds riding every fence with him, however a slight touch on the front pole of the final fence, the Trafalgar Square oxer saw a late falling pole incur them 4 penalties.

 

Talking afterwards Scott commented “Santos jumped amazingly and as I rode to the last I thought he was good and I thought just let him jump it – I didn’t feel like he did anything wrong. I need to look back at the videos, maybe I needed to hold him a little bit more, but at the minute I think if I was to ride it again I’d ride it the same. He jumped fantastic everywhere else.

 

“He jumped super, I’m chuffed to bits with him, it was a big difference to yesterday, just in his attitude and the way he felt to ride as he felt normal again. Yesterday he was quite shell shocked so it’s good.   The rain was no trouble, I’m not using that as an excuse the conditions were actually quite good for me but I wanted to jump clear for the team”.

 

Peter Charles from Alton, Hampshire with Vindicat W, a 12 year-old bay gelding jointly owned by Olga White, Tara Charles & Team Murka were the last of the four into the arena. Yesterday had seen Vindicat slightly unnerved by the noise of the crowds, however he seemed happier in the arena today.   Having cleared fence 7, the Open Water with a width of 4.30m he was unlucky in the following fence, a combination,  resulting in the incurring 4 faults in the middle section. A lowering of a pole at the Penny Black vertical on a related distance saw another 4 faults being incurred before sweeping left and then right to clear the final two fences. 

 

On Vindicat, Peter expressed his thoughts by saying “It was a bit of a building round from yesterday, I thought when I jumped the first line then spun back to the water he felt good and then from what the guys tell me we were a little bit unlucky in the middle of the combination.

 

“It’s very unfortunate what happened to him yesterday, for a first year Grand Prix horse that really unsettled him. He’s not jumping bad but not as good as we hoped for. That round today will have done him a power of good but it’s not what we want, it’s an Olympic Games and we want to jump clear”.

Tomorrow, 6th August,  will see the top 8 teams go forward to contest the three Team Medal positions on offer.  The competition starts at 14:00hrs.

 

Full results and further information  can be found by visiting www.london2012.co.uk

 

 

1st       Saudi Arabia   1 penalty

2^nd      Great Britain    4 penalties

            Switzerland

            Netherlands

            Sweden

6^th       Canada            5 penalties

7^th       Brazil               8 penalties

            USA                 8 penalties

 

 

Nick Skelton / Big Star           0 faults          0 faults

Ben Maher / Tripple X III       0 faults            0 faults

Scott Brash / Hello Sanctos 4 faults           4 faults

Peter Charles / Vindicat W     10 faults       8 faults