Nicole Pavitt finishes 3rd in Vilamoura CSIO3* Grand Prix
Sunday 07 November 2021
It was a forty-five strong field this afternoon that came forward to contest the 1.50m Grand Prix course in Vilamoura, Portugal with a prize fund of just over €40,000.
Despite the large field there were only ten combinations that managed to navigate the first round clear to qualify for the jump-off. Great Britain certainly made their presence felt with three of the ten carrying the union flag in the form of Nicole Pavitt, Guy Williams and James Wilson.
Time was always going to be critical within such a strong jump-off and it did unfortunately lead to some unwanted penalties being collected as the race against the clock played out. Guy Williams, known for his turn of speed, picked up 4 penalties with his own 16 year-old Rouge de Ravel having stopped the clock in an incredibly fast time of 39.77 seconds. This saw him finish in 5th place just behind Victor Bettendorf (LUX) who had crossed the finish line just a fraction faster than him. James Wilson who also picked up 4 penalties took the next spot in 6th with L’Amour a 13 year-old chestnut owned by Pavel Vingralek.
It was Nicole that delivered the sole double clear for the Brits, one of only three achieved in the entire competition, to take 3rd place with Penelope Shaw’s 9 year-old bay gelding Madagascar Dwerse Hagen. Their time of 43.72 saw them sit behing Andreas Shou (DEN) and Sophie Hinners (GER) who took the first two places respectively with just over two seconds separating the top three places.
For full results
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