British Children’s Team 2nd in Opglabbeek
Friday 27 May 2016
The British Showjumping Children’s Team came 2nd in the Nations Cup in Opglabbeek, Belgium this afternoon in their first team competition of the year.
With three of the four riders posting clears across both rounds of the Nations Cup to finish on a zero penalty score, the British team were forced into a jump-off third round to decide the top two places. The team they were up against were home nation Belgium, who were the only other team of riders to finish on a zero penalty score with the closest other nation being Spain who finished on an overall score of 4 penalties in 3rd place.
The Brits were represented by Sienna Charles (13 years) from Alton, Hampshire with Chaitanya 2 a 9 year-old grey more owned by Peter Charles who was the initial of the four to come forward. Their fault free performance across both rounds paved the way for the others to follow with Lilli Freeman-Atwood (14 years) from Shrewsbury, Shropshire with Banana D’Ive Z a 15 year-old chestnut mare owned by Mark McCourt being the next to come forward and deliver a clear in both rounds 1 and 2.
Eleanor Hall-Mcateer (14 years) from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire with Dazzle, a 15 year-old grey mare owned by Mandy Hall took the position of 3rd rider with Oliver Fletcher (13 years) from Woolstone, Oxon with Temple Rebus a 9 year-old chestnut gelding owned by Graham Fletcher taking the role of anchor. Both riders performed brilliantly across the 1.30m course in the first round. Oliver went on to produce another clear in Round 2 ensuring a zero penalty score for GB due to Eleanor having a touch of a pole in the 2nd round resulting in 4 penalties being accrued and becoming the drop score.
The jump-off between Belgium and GB was definitely one that saw tensions increasing as the rounds played out. A clear by both teams first riders saw GB take the lead on time due to Sienna putting in an incredibly fast clear. This lead was furthered when the second riders came forward with Belgium’s second rider notching up a high penalty score whilst Lilli jumped another clear. Belgium then delivered clears by their remaining two riders as did GB with both Eleanor and Oliver which meant both teams finished on zero penalties once again due to only the top three scores counting.
For GB, it was an excruciating wait whilst the judges added their fastest three times together to see if they were fast enough to beat the three riders times from Belgium that had jumped clear. Unfortunately it was just under a second that split the teams with Belgium having the edge with their time of 130.08 seconds to nudge GB into 2nd with their time of 131.07 seconds.
Further information on the show, and full results can be found by visiting www.sentowerpark.com.
British Showjumping would like to thank their consortium of Business Partners who assist support the Youth Squads.
The British Jumping teams are also supported by the Equestrian World Class Programme. The programme, which encompasses both Podium and Podium Potential squads, focuses on identifying talent, developing potential and maximising medal winning performances on the world stage. The Programme has been funded by the National
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