James Loffet and Nicola Frankland take home Individual Silver and Bronze from the FEI Jumping Veteran European Championships
Monday 11 September 2023
James Loffet claimed the Individual Silver medal on Gaudi at the FEI Jumping Veteran European Championships in Hardelot, France, as British riders filled three of the top four places to add Silver and Bronze to Friday’s Team Silver medal.
“He has the biggest heart, always tries his best and is so uphill and light in front you can dare him to a fence knowing he’ll be careful,” said James, on the Ukato x Goodtimes 12-year-old Gaudi he purchased from Julian Mincher five years ago.
The top 25 riders went through to the Individual with all five Britain’s squad qualifying for the final day but a dramatic turn of events unfolded – to Britain’s advantage.
“Two French riders held gold and silver positions after the team competition but both were rejected in the second trot-up held on Saturday,” explained James.
Three British riders added nothing to their initial day one score to fight for a medal, jumping clear in the team event and supplying double clears in the two rounds of the individual. Sadly, Gold was out of reach as Spain’s Diego Uson Olaso, who touted a score of 1.90 in day one’s Table C speed, was the only rider to jump clear every round to stand top of the podium on Caravaggio De Lison Z.
James, who provided a quick time in the opening speed class but, unfortunately, added four seconds to his time with a rail down.
“I knew we’d never beat the leading French riders so opted to go as fast as we could wile trying to stay careful. We’d have been third but he just touched the vertical out of the double at fence three. It was purely bad luck, although Maybe I anticipated the turn to the next fence. We ended up 12th with the four seconds added but still less than a fence away from gold,” said James.
He made no further errors with Gaudi, proceeding to return a zero score in each round despite the pressure and claimed Silver 1.95 points behind the winner.
“I think he’s only had three poles down all year and one of those was in the first speed round here! He literally didn’t touch a pole in the team or individual. He’s not a big horse but he grew for this competition and definitely sensed this was important – he’s never jumped better,” said James. “By the third round last year he was tired and lost form. Now he takes multi-day shows in his stride and here, his final round was his best – he came out fresh and happy.”
Pressure was high in the final round of the Individual.
“The final round was maximum height and the time allowed set very tight, presumably to have a bearing on the result. Tamsin [Conyers] was one of the first to get inside the time and I was able to get advice on how to ride it. A turnback to the double was crucial, you really had to go inside the medal podium. Tamsin also told me to go inside a flowerbed before the last fence – something I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise,” added James, who had joked all week about his bridle number 123 was an omen for winning all three medals! It’s incredible we came so close to it!”
Nicola Frankland followed suit, carrying her initial 4.07 penalties, incurred with one rail on the floor, to slot the Irish-bred 16-year-old Kings Welcome (Welcome Flagmount x Castana) into the Bronze position, 0.22 points behind James.
Tamsin Conyers justified her Individual status to jump up the order on the Don VHP Z 10-year-old Westlife, again adding zero to her day one score of 6.99 to take fourth, just out of the medals. But she endured a tense few moments as France’s Nicolas Perrin on Beautiful Diamant was in front until the final round when he picked one time fault to drop to fifth spot, 0.82 points behind Tamsin.
Spain’s Diego Uson Olaso posted a final clear for the Gold medal but was incredibly lucky not to hit the planks on Caravaggio De Lison Z.
“He said himself his horse helped him out when the nerves kicked in but he would have needed to have two down for us to take all three medals and that was quite unlikely,” said James.
“It was the most amazing experience to share with the best team – they were fabulous and James had such a cool head under pressure,” said Chef D’Equipe Mandy Frost, who stood in for regular Chef Anne Newbery. “I kept in touch with Anne all the way, she was involved even though she couldn’t be here.”
Image: courtesy James Loffet
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