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2014 FEI EUROPEAN PONY CHAMPIONSHIPS |
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Day 2 Report
Final Part of Dressage Team Competition
First (individual) round in the Jumping
First part of Eventing dressage
(Click on heading to jump to that report) |
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The second and final group of riders competed today to decide the Team
Dressage medals. GB had finished in 2nd place overnight behind
Germany but ahead of The Netherlands, Denmark and Italy, so for the
first time for year, the pressure wasn't on the last two riders to make
up a deficit, but instead for them to go for Gold!
GB supporters had to watch 7 other riders before Beth Horobin &
Gigolo (Going East x Nordcap) entered the ring. At one point
Beth & Gigolo seemed to be "always the bridesmaid and never the bride"
in respect of team selection especially in 2013 when they had been
selected for the team only for Gigolo to be a little off in the last
days before the event and so was replaced by the reserve so their team
appearance this year is testimony to Beth's resilience and tenacity.
With Gigolo looking to be performing the test of his life with plenty of
power, they just had one small "blip" when Gigolo did a lovely walk to
canter transition when he should have gone into trot. Beth didn't
let this
The last of the British riders, as in 2013, was Phoebe Peters and Danish-bred
SL Lucci
(Lukas x Bazar). Last year Phoebe and Lucci were the highest
scoring British combinations achieving an amazing 77.795% in the team test.
This year, Phoebe rode a very careful and contained test that took her &
Lucci into the lead with with 76.590%. This ensured the team
gained at least a Silver medal and put the pressure on the last German
rider, Semmieke Rothenburger & Deinhard B (Donick B x Golden
Dancer) as spectators calculated that they had to get at least 75.3% for
German team Gold. Semmieke & Deinhard rose to the challenge with a
lovely test that gained 78.410% and so Germany won another Dressage Team
Gold with a final team score of 225.333 but the great performances from
all of the GB girls gave them a coveted Team Silver medal for the first
time since 2000!
The British team final average score of 74.085% exceeds the 73.222%
average of 2013 (which in itself had been way ahead of the previous best
final average of 70.333%).
All riders do go forward to the Individual round, which takes place on
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Overall, for GB - Phoebe
finished 2nd, Alex finished 4th, Beth 7th and Rebecca 12th - which is
likley to be the first time that all 4 GB riders have finished in the
top 15 and shows both the
quality of ponies and riders in the team this year and how hard they've
worked to improve.
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Beth Horobin & Gigolo
Phoebe Peters & SL Lucci
The Silver medal wining British team and their Chef d'Equipe on the podium
Waiting for the presentation |
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The first session of the Eventing Dressage featured one of the GB individuals and the first two of the team riders. First to go in were team pathfinders, Chelsea Pearce & the British bred and SPSS graded mare Catherston Nutsafe (Catherston Nightsafe x Dutch Courage) and they scored 66.25% which converted to 50.6 penalties and put them into 10th place at the end of the day.
Individuals Chloe Bell & Strawberry Box (breeding unknown) were the next GB combination and they did a great job to score 72.92% (40.6 penalties) and this took them into the lead until the 20th rider (Emma Brussau (GER) & Rocky 536) went, but Chloe still finished the day in 2nd place.
Next for GB were the 2nd team combination of Thomas Tulloch & Spirit IV (breeding unknown) and they scored 63.75% (54.40 penalties) and finished the day in 16th place.
Overall, at the end of the day, the British team were in 7th place (out of 8 teams). However, a nations bar Sweden (who only have 3 riders) can drop their lowest score, so the results at the end of the first day often change. Plus, although Germany are in the lead by 14.6 penalties from Italy in 2nd - the gap is much closer between the remaining teams - with GB just 4 penalties behind Italy and that's just one fence in the final show juming phase. Having walked the course, there look to be some significant challenges and it is unlikely that this will be decided on dressage scores!
The remaining team and individual riders do their tests early on Friday.
Thomas Tulloch & Spirit IV
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Chelsea Pearce & Catherston Nutsafe
Chloe Bell & Strawberry Box
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The first part of the Jumping European Championships is a single round,
up to 1.30m in height, against the clock that traditionally counts towards the
Individual Championships and also decides the ranking for the Team
Championships. The course, designed by Mark McGowen and featuring
some of the iconic London 2012 fences, proved tricky with a number
of ponies knocking down the middle element of the treble.
Overall, there were just 13 clear rounds and 3 ponies were eliminated.
The GB riders had mixed fortunes. Team riders Alex Gill &
Ammanvalley Santino (Cruglwyd Sant x unknown) went clear in
76.51 seconds to finish in 7th place and Harry Charles & Aroldo
(Verdi x unknown) were also clear in 78.32 seconds for 10th place.
Both of these ponies are British-bred, as is the reigning European
Jumping Champion, Rock Dee Jay (Arko III x unknown), who with his rider
from last year, Susa Fitzpatrick were also clear and are in 9th place.
Charlotte Ash & Aughnashammer (breeding unknown) and
Emily Ward & King Mac (breeding unknown) both had fences
down, with Emily being faster so she finished in 21st while Charlotte
finished in 25th.
Individuals Jared Lunn & Javas Alun (Cavalier Two for Joy x unknown)
fared worst finishing in 33rd (out of riders 52) with 8 faults.
In the Team Competition, just one fence separates the first four teams.
Tied for the lead are Ireland and France, both on zero faults, with
Germany and GB tied for third place on four faults. Switzerland are next
in the order, a further four faults behind. With 2 more rounds to
go before the Team Medals are decided - and then another 2 on Sunday for
the individual medals, there is all to play for.
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British-bred Ammanvalley Santino & Alex Gill
British bred Aroldo & Harry Charles
Photos by qorum-photos.com
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The Sports Pony Studbook Society Studbook Office: The Last House, Keysoe Row West, Keysoe, Bedfordshire MK44 2JJ Tel: 07703 566066 Email: |
