GB Finish WEG Day 1 with some Solid Performances
Tuesday 02 September 2014
The first day of jumping at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy has drawn to a close and the GB riders have put in some solid performances to position us within the top third of the field going forward. Competing in the D’Ornano Stadium in the centre of Caen, GB along with the other nations competing are all aiming to secure one of the five qualifying tickets for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In terms of meeting objectives, Chef d’Equipe for the British Team Rob Hoekstra had focused on a desire to deliver the team within the top tier on the leaderboard by end of play today so that we would be in a solid position going forward tomorrow. His hopes of being within a jump of the leaders may not have been met but they certainly weren't dashed with GB finishing in 11th position going forward.
The format of the competition today was a Speed class where the fastest three times within each of the teams are calculated by a coefficient to work out the penalty points to be awarded against each team. This score then decides the order of go tomorrow for each of the nations in addition to being a score that each of the riders carry forward individually.
With 153 riders coming forward, Michael Whitaker with Melissa Braybrooke's 12 year-old chestnut gelding Viking V had been drawn 7th to go in the competition which is never an enviable position to be in. Their faultless performance saw them return home within an extremely acceptable time of 85.12 seconds setting the standard for the rest of the team to follow. Catching up with Michael after his round he commented “He did everything that I wanted to do. I didn’t want to go stupidly fast today, because there’s tomorrow, but I couldn’t have asked for any more. I wanted to get a solid round in for the team; for me it was important to get a nice quick start.”
Debutante Championship Team rider Joe Clee with Ludwig Criel’s 10 year-old bay stallion Utamaro d’Ecaussines were next to go for the Brits. Despite them being a mainstay for the British Team this year at Top Level Nations Cup competitions this was their first Championship Team appearance, a fact that was hard to believe with the way they confidently rode into the arena. Producing yet another brilliant clear in a time of 85.49seconds Joe couldn’t have been happier when he talked about his round afterwards by saying “I’m delighted. My horse jumped a solid start and I’m really proud to be here; we’ve worked a long time to get here. I’ve had the horse since he was five, now to be here at one of the biggest events in the world and to be representing the country with these riders on the team, it’s great. We’re here and we’re here to do a job.”
There would be no more an inspiring story than the one of 21 year-old Spencer Roe with his mother’s (Sally) 11 year-old bay gelding Wonder Why. Spencer has produced Wonder Why since a youngster and together they have progressed through the Junior & Young Rider ranks into senior Top Level Nations Cup teams this year. When he heard that he had been selected for the Championship Team he said he could hardly believe their luck despite the fact that they had definitely earned their stripes with some brilliant performances the most recent of which was their double clear in Dublin. Proving their worth once again they put in yet another clear for GB in a time of 88.12 and it was a jubilant Spencer that spoke to us afterwards saying “I just can’t believe we are here. It’s unbelievable. He is absolutely brilliant and he just does everything you ever ask of him. I always knew he would be good, even when he was very young but I never knew how good! But every time we went up a level, he just did it and now here we are and it’s just brilliant”.
World No.1 rider Scott Brash and Hello Sanctos, the 12 year-old bay gelding owned by Lady Kirkham and Lord & Lady Harris were drawn late to go in the competition. Knowing that a fast time would be important for the team he focused on delivering as fast a time as he felt he safely could. It was at one of the last tight turns on the course which required them to turn back towards a large oxer that a pole rolled and Scott incurred 4 time penalties to be added to his time of 81.21 seconds. Talking afterwards Scott commented “I’m really pleased with Sanctos. It was definitely my fault that we had that fence, I just turned and we came in too deep. Sanctos is feeling good and I’m happy with him”.
Rob Hoekstra, summed up his thoughts at the end of the day by saying “Our focus is very much on the team and we needed a fast time from Scott. It was just one of those unfortunate things that can happen when you are asking someone to post a fast time; there is always a risk of a pole coming down. We are within the top dozen nations which is ok, naturally we would liked to have been a little closer to the leaders but it is what it is. We will sit together as a group tonight and decide the best approach for tomorrow now we know we are in the top third and in terms of the going order”.
At a press conference just before everyone wrapped up to head home before returning to the D’Ornano Stadium course designer Frederic Cottier talked about his role today by saying “The challenge today was to create a course that would suit a large field of horses and riders competing at various levels. I wanted to create turns that gave freedom to promote confidence in both horse and rider by making it progressively more technical. Tomorrow will be different. The Top 15 teams are very tight so it is the confident combinations that will excel."
Tomorrow will see the riders come forward for the first of the two Team competitions where each rider will be required to jump.
For further information on the World Equestrian Games please visit www. Normandy2014.com.
The British Equestrian teams are backed by the UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme and are supported by Dodson and Horrell, Land Rover, Mears Country Jackets, NAF, NuuMed, Point Two Equine, Tagg Equestrian and Toggi.
FEI TV are showing comprehensive coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and will be showing tomorrow's competition from 08.55am GMT. Please note that this is a subscription channel only and for information, please visit www.feitv.org.
- Tuesday 2nd September - Speed Competition - 08.55
- Wednesday 3rd September - Individual Qualification & Team Competition (Part One) - Session One at 08.55
- Wednesday 3rd September - Individual Qualification & Team Competition (Part One) - Session Two at 13.05
- Thursday 4th September - Individual Qualification & Team Competition (Part Two) - Session Three at 14.55
- Saturday 6th September - Third Individual Qualifying Competition - 12.25
- Sunday 7th September - Individual Final Four - 13.55
- Sunday 7th September - Closing Ceremony - 15.55
Team Standings:
1st France - 2.08
2nd Sweden - 3.01
3rd USA - 4.72
4th Germany - 4.82
5th Netherlands - 4.83
6th Canada - 6.0
7th Ireland - 6.51
8th Belgium - 9.53
9th Colombia – 9.86
10th Qatar – 11.01
11th Great Britain – 12.39
12th Brazil – 12.95
13th Egypt – 14.27
14th Norway – 14.65
15th Ukraine – 14.98
.jpg "Thrilling Weekend Kickstarts the STX-UK Pony British Novice Championship Second Round")
