British Showjumping National Championships – Thursday, 8th August Roundup
Thursday 08 August 2024
Thursday saw the Sytner Land Rover Coventry Championship Arena 1 and the Unibed Championship Arena 2 unite as one arena.
The Redpost Equestrian Senior Foxhunter Masters started bright and early, and competition was fierce. 29 combinations tackled the course, with 11 going through to the jump-off. While Leo Lamb aboard Chrysler Key SR set the best time of 38.97 seconds, he picked up an unfortunate 4 faults for a pole allowing Nicole Pavitt on Neil and Amber Bundock’s Casque D’Or to set an unbeatable clear jump-off time of 40.19 seconds.
Read more about Nicole's win here
The National 1.25m Restricted Rider Championship Final followed next, Georgina Ellis retained her 2023 title with a win on board Victor and Nicki Lay’s ex-eventer, Croisiere.
‘He jumped a really super round. He won this class last year as well, and it was the aim this summer to come back and have another go at it.’
‘I was lucky having second-to-last draw in the jump-off, so I knew what I had to do. I had another ride as well and he was second-to-go…we just needed to be clear and quick, and he was.’
Not to be beaten by the elements, the 7 teams that came forward for the National Team Jumping Championship put up a fierce fight for those coveted red rosettes. Team Surrey came out on top; Katie Mills on Wishful Italics, Megan Jeffrey on Baloubet Diamond Spring, Holly Nye and Billy Stardom, and Georgina Wood and Greenlanes Hudson each jumped their rounds through less than ideal weather and ended up on top of the podium.
‘Three of us have travelled up today, and I was here yesterday. I was very lucky; my team did a very good job. I was on anchor leg, so I only had to jump one round because the girls had all jumped clear in both rounds to take us on a zero-finishing score’ said the Surrey Team Captain.
We asked what went into today to pull off the win; ‘A lot of stress! Organising, we are very lucky to have Abigail as our team manager, who makes sure that we’re all here where we need to be and know what we’re doing. It makes such a difference.’
Rebecca Marsh and 12-year-old Stevie G took the win in the HOYS International Wild Card Qualifier Incorporating The British Showjumping Business Partnership International Stairway by just 0.19 seconds, narrowly beating the only other double clear of the class, Max Routledge on Janeiro.
‘There was only one clear which was Max [Routledge] - I know Stevie is a really quick horse, so I knew if I could keep to my plan, keep the turns tight, I could hopefully do it. He’s by Billy Mexico…I’ve had him from the beginning, we know each other inside out and we just work well together as a team.’
Gemma Hallet and Billy Jive took their second championship title of the week in the final class of the day – The National 1.30m Open Championship Final. 66 combinations came forward, with 23 in the jump-off and 12 double clears. David Harland was hot on Gemma’s heels with Chincoreve, who came in second with a jump-off time of 37.86 seconds, but narrowly missed out on the first-place title by just over a second.
Gemma was all praise for the chestnut mare. ‘She was amazing, as always. The more you ask her, the better she goes. She was third here last year in this class, and she tries her little heart out. I cut it a bit fine to number 2 because I came right across it, but the more you dare her, the better she responds. She’s amazing. I’ve run out of words to say about her!’
Image: 1st Class Images
 (1).jpg "Best of British as Harry Charles secures gold in Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of London")
