GB FLEDLING TEAM FINISH 2ND IN LISBON FURUSIYAA FEI 3* NATIONS CUP
Friday 07 June 2013
The Furusiyya FEI 3* Nations Cup took place in Lisbon this evening, Friday 7th June in the stunning and established setting of the Hippodrome which was hosting their 93rd consecutive Nations Cup competition. A total of eleven teams and forty four riders were contesting the competition at this particularly popular venue.
The course which was designed by Bernardo Costa Cabral was built up to 1.60m and consisted of 12 obstacles requiring 15 jumping efforts. A twisting course that asked riders to double back at 360degrees to the next jump in three instances also contained a few related distances, in particular to the Open Water early on in the course and also to the final fence, an oxer after the combination.
Accompanied by GB Chef d’Equipe, Di Lampard, was a relatively young team giving them the opportunity to gain experience at Nations Cup level. In a competition where only three of the four competitors scores count, it allows for one member’s penalties to be the drop score. The top eight teams, based on least penalties accrued, then go forward for a second round and in Lisbon there is a break to allow for all riders to contest the second round fairly under floodlights rather than in failing light.
First Round:
Pathfinder was 18 year-old Chloe Aston from Hertfordshire with Quainton Stud’s 9 year-old gelding Quiet Easy 4. An unfortunate three fences down and a time penalty for finishing just outside the 79 seconds allowed saw them incur 13 penalties.
Spencer Roe, aged 20 years from Lincoln was next to go with Wonder Why, a 10 year-old bay gelding owned by his mother, Sally Roe. Competing in his first Nations Cup, he put in a superb performance to jump all the obstacles clear, but his disappointment was all too evident when the clock stopped just outside the time allowed to result in him incurring a time fault.
Jessie Drea, aged 21 years from Haywards Heath with Touchable, a 12 year-old chestnut mare owned by Lynne Humphries were third to go for the team. As the third set of riders started entering the arena, the heavens opened in Lisbon and by the time Jessie had ridden through the start, the rain had really set in. Keeping her cool, she incurred 4 penalties with a touch of the Wall which saw the top brick fall.
Despite many nations incurring faults and very few combinations achieving clear rounds there was pressure on Louise Saywell, aged 22 years from Nottingham to achieve minimal penalties if Great Britain were to be included in the eight teams coming forward for Round 2. Riding Winner IV owned by her father Michael Saywell she incurred 8 penalties within the time allowed to give Great Britain a finish score of 13 penalties overall guaranteeing Great Britain’s in the second round.
Second Round
The second round saw Switzerland, Spain and Australia relegated and Belgium, Brazil, Italy, France, Ireland, Portugal, Great Britain and the Netherlands coming forward in 1st – 8th order respectively.
Jumping in reverse order, Great Britain were the second team to come forward over a shortened course. Chloe Aston, Great Britain’s leading Young Rider looked confident as she entered the arena and produced a much improved second round than her first giving Quiet Easy 4 a fantastic ride to incur just 4 penalties on the course and 2 time penalties
.
Spencer Roe, having incurred 4 penalties with a fence down early on in the course, was determined to keep his pace up knowing that the time allowed was extremely tight. Taking a stride out of the related distance to the final fence, he stopped the clock just outside the 59 seconds allowed giving him a finish score of 5 penalties.
Jessie Drea, on only her second Nations Cup team put in yet another solid round , but a rub of a pole saw it fall resulting in 4 penalties being incurred. Breaking the finish line within the time allowed, she looked relieved to not be incurring any more penalties and as a result had put Great Britain in a strong position of keeping their dreams alive of a ranking point placing. Louise Saywell, coming in as the fourth rider put in an absolutely fantastic foot perfect round to jump clear within the time allowed moving Great Britain up the placings from their 7th place position at the start of the first round with an overall finish score of 22 penalties.
With the leaderboard changing after each rider had finished as a result of so many of them faulting, Great Britain’s position was persistent in its rise. But it wasn’t until the final team, Belgium, had been that the overall placings were clarified with Great Britain finishing in 2nd place behind Belgium.
The Lisbon Grand Prix takes place on the 9th May at 15:00hrs local time. Further information on the show, start lists and results can be found by visiting www.sociedadehipica.pt
The British Showjumping Teams are strongly supported by the UK Sport Lottery funded BEF World Class Programme.
Results
1st Belgium 4
2nd Great Britain 22
3rd Brazil 24
Ireland 24
5th Italy 25
6th France 27
7th Netherlands 36
Portugal 36
.JPG "Sophia Rogers makes a winning return and Rachel Proudley claims a championship double at Pony of the Year Show")
