GREAT BRITAIN FINISH 3RD IN LA BAULE
Friday 17 May 2013
In the glorious French seaside resort of La Baule, with an arena swathed in sunshine, the grandstands were full to brimming with spectators all knowing they would see some world class performances in this, the first of the European Division 1 - Furisiyya Nations Cup competitions.
The competition saw eight teams come forward to test themselves across the course, designed by Frederic Cottier, which consisted of 12 obstacles requiring 15 jumping efforts. Great Britain were drawn fourth to go with Netherlands, Spain and Ireland going beforehand and Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France following respectively.
Although the sixth qualifier of the global Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping series, this qualifier at La Baule was the first of the qualifiers for Europe Division 1 in addition to being a qualifier in which France, Ireland, Switzerland and Great Britain were competing for league points.
FIRST ROUND
Nick Skelton OBE from Warwickshire and Big Star were the pathfinders for Great Britain. Putting in fantastic foot perfect performance with Beverley Widdowson’s 10 year-old bay stallion Big Star. Looking as fresh as they did when they played a pivotal role in winning Team Gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Nick and Big Star made the course look easy as they cleared the final fence, a 1.65m vertical within the time allowed of 84 seconds.
Ben Maher MBE, a member of the Gold Medal winning Team for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics was next to go with Jane F Clark’s 11 year-old grey mare Cella. Making their debut as a combination in the Furisiyya Natons Cup series, they incurred an unfortunate 4 penalties early on in the course when the back pole fell on Fence 2, an Oxer.
Scott Brash MBE from Peebleshire with the 13 year-old bay gelding Hello Sanctos, whom he rode to Team Gold medal position at the London 2012 Olympics, owned by Lady Kirkham and Lord & Lady Harris were third to go for the team. Touching the top pole of the vertical going into the combination directly in front of the grandstand resulted in them incurring 4 penalties.
Taking the role of anchor was Warwickshire’s, Robert Smith with his own 10 year-old bay mare Voila. A hind foot touch of the green and blue vertical over a water tray saw the top pole fall and the incurring of 4 penalties. This particular fence which was positioned just after the combination and on a turn back across the arena incurred penalties for a few. Jumping the rest of the obstacles clear, they came through the finish line just outside the time allowed to finish on a total of 5 penalties.
With all teams only counting the best three scores, at the end of the first round it was Switzerland who were the clear leaders having finished on just 1penalty. France were in second on 5penalties, Belgium and Germany on 6 penalties, Netherlands and Spain on 7 penalties whilst Great Britain and Ireland were on 8 penalties apiece.
SECOND ROUND
With teams contesting the second round in reverse order, Great Britain were second to go following Ireland. Having watched the competitors across the first round and feeling that the course could be raised, Frederic Cottier took the opportunity to increase the height of some of the fences making the course even more testing for those due to come forward.
Entering into the arena for the second time, Nick Skelton and Big Star looked as fresh and confident as they did in the first round. Putting in yet another brilliant and stylish clear the grandstands erupted into applause and cheering in a way that you would normally only expect a home rider to achieve such is their popularity.
Ben Maher, knowing that time faults could prove crucial in ensuring Great Britain a solid start on the league table kept his pace up throughout. Having had considerable success with Cella in Florida and knowing he could trust her to pull out all the stops, she didn’t let him down putting in an absolutely faultess round bringing them home within the time allowed on a zero penalty score.
Scott Brash and Hello Sanctos incurred a fence down early on in the course incurring 4 penalties. Continuing their way around the course they looked set to clear the rest of the obstacles however, a touch at the last fence and its subsequent lowering brought an audible gasp of disappointment from the grandstands and a total of 8 penalties.
Carrying a lot of pressure as the fourth team member, Robert Smith entered into the arena with Voila knowing that they had to keep any penalties to a minimum . However, a fence lowered in the combination saw them incur 4 penalties along with a time penalty having stopped the clock just outside the time allowed.
With Great Britain finishing on an overall score of 13 penalties despite Nick and Big Star producing one of the only two double clears of the competition, it was a case of waiting for the remaining riders to go to decide the final placings. The tension in the stadium was electric with the winning team not being decided until the final round which saw Switzerland incur faults and being forced to carry some penalties they had hoped would become the discount score.
The final placings saw The Netherlands take 1st place, followed by Switzerland with 3rd place being shared between Great Britain, Ireland and France on 13 penalties.
Rob Hoekstra, World Class Showjumping Performance Manager commented “It’s early days, the horses all jumped well especially when you consider it’s so early in the season. Big Star in particular was fantastic putting in two brilliant performances. We are now looking forward to the next team competition Rome”.
The focus will now be on preparing for Sunday’s Longines Grand Prix of La Baule and it’s €200,000 prize fund. Further information and full results from the FEI 5* show can be found by visiting www.labaule-cheval.com
Results:
1st Netherlands
2nd Switzerland
3rd Great Britain
Ireland
France
6th Germany
7th Belgium
8th Spain
FEI TV were broadcasting live footage from the event. To access this please visit www.feitv.org The event will also be shown at a later date on Eurosport and Horse & Country TV. Please visit www.britishshowjumping.co.ukand click on ‘whats on tv’ for broadcast times.
The British Showjumping Teams are supported by Exchequer and National Lottery funding via UK Sport.
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