Rotterdam CSIO 5* Nations Cup
Sunday 24 June 2018
Belgium took the honours in this afternoons top level Longines Nations Cup competition in Rotterdam, The Netherlands this afternoon with their zero penalty score at the end of two rounds of jumping.
Germany who looked as equally strong in the first round had to satisfy themselves with 2nd place on 4 penalties accrued in the second round. Their 2nd place finish saw them two fences ahead of the USA, The Netherlands and Switzerland who all picked up a final score of 12 penalties across the 1.60m course to finish in joint 3rd.
Great Britain sat one fence behind them on 16 penalties as did France to see them finish in joint 6th with Sweden finishing in 8th on a tally of 19 penalties.
For Great Britain, riding under the title sponsor banner of Team NAF, there were some solid performances to note. Opening rider for the team Ben Maher MBE from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire with Winning Good, a 9 year-old bay gelding owned by Poden Farms certainly looked good in the first round and were extremely unlucky to pick up 4 penalties at the open water having left all the other obstacles standing with what looked like effortless ease. The second round saw them lower a vertical and oxer to finish on 8 penalties within the 82 seconds time allowed.
Amanda Derbyshire from Leyland, Lancashire with Luibanta BH, a 10 year-old bay mare owned by Gochman Sport Horse LLC made the course look easy with a brilliant first round clear. Their second round however saw them caught at the water with a toe on the tape line to pick up 4 penalties in the second. Alexandra Thornton who is based in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands with Cornetto K, a 12 year-old dark bay gelding owned by Dunwalke Ltd touched a pole to pick up 4 penalties coming out of the combination in Round 1 to become the drop score however a foot-perfect clear in the second saw them return home penalty free to give Great Britain a much needed clear.
William Whitaker from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire with Utamaro d’Ecaussines, a 14 year-old bay stallion owned by Ludwig & Yasmine Criel had an uncharacteristic fence down in each of the two rounds to finish on 4 penalties apiece. This saw GBR finish on a total of 16 penalties with 8 being collected across each of the two rounds.
Talking afterwards Di Lampard, World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, commented "It was a tough course as we expected here today in Rotterdam, with no margin for smallest of error. It was a great start for Alexandra Thornton's Nations Cup campaign and she was very unlucky to collect 4 penalties coming out for the combination today and not achieve a double clear with Cornetto K. Amanda Derbyshire was also very close to a double clear with Luibanta just putting a foot in the water.
"Ben's young horse Winning Good made a green mistake at the water in the first round after a copy book performance over the poles. William rode as anchorman and Lady Luck just wasn't on his side with 4 penalties in each round.
"There are plenty of positives to come out of this leg of the competition with both new young horses and athletes".
For full results https://bit.ly/2yCMay2 . Full information in respect of the FEI Nations Cup series can be found by visiting www.fei.org. FEI TV will be showing live footage from the event. To access this please visit www.feitv.org.
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Children, Junior, Young Rider and Veteran 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.
11dtw0hmsttk0.jpg "NAF Five Star Bronze and Silver League Qualifiers get underway at Speetley Equestrian Centre")
