Louise Saywell wins penultimate qualifying competition for the Team Murka & World Class Programme U23 British Championship at Ingliston Equestrian Centre
Tuesday 06 November 2012
World Class Development rider, Louise Saywell riding Winner IV, owned by father Mick, won the penultimate qualifying competition, at Ingliston Equestrian Centre, Bishopton for the jointly sponsored Team Murka and World Class Programme U23 British Championship Final that will take place at the London International Horse Show, Olympia on Friday 21st December 2012.
The competition, which is open to riders aged 23 years or under, attracted a field of 22 entries that produced eight first round clears over an up to height, technical course built by Peter Gillespie.
In the jump-off, seven riders again jumped clear with Louise riding Winner VI taking the victor’s spoils in a time of 30.84 seconds, nearly a second in front of second placed Jessica Mendoza riding her mother Sarah’s Classic Highfly, who has won the previous two qualifying competitions at The Hand EC and Aintree International EC.
World Class Development rider, Tim Page riding Trevor Sturman’s Quentin Tarantino, was third in a time of 32.28 seconds. Abigail Newberry was fourth riding Lancelot TN in a time of 33.61 seconds and also fifth riding Cornetta 10 in a time of 33.81 seconds, both horses are owned by Ali Ghandour and in sixth place was Jessica Mendoza, riding Nuggets L Amandour 390093 who is also owned by her mother Sarah, in a time of 35.23 seconds.
With her two previous wins and her second place at Ingliston, Jessica is currently top of the league table with 110 points.
Through the increased and generous support of Team Murka, there is a greater total prize fund of £1650 in each of the six qualifiers in the series, with the winner of each qualifier receiving £550 in prize money, together with £200 in value of Training Vouchers, which are awarded to the first six prize-winning riders who are currently eligible for British Team Selection.
Rob Hoekstra, World Class Performance Show Jumping Manager commented, “It was a very, very good course and qualifying competition, with two fantastic rounds by Louise Saywell to win the class. It was good to see a mixture of juniors and young riders performing at a high level”, Hoekstra went onto to say, “I hadn’t been to Ingliston Equestrian Centre before and I think it is a fantastic place with spectacular facilities”.
A maximum of twenty-four riders will qualify for the Championship final with all qualified competitors 23rd birthday falling on or after the 1st January in the same year as the Championship final. The top seventeen horse and rider combinations will come forward from the qualifying competitions, based on league points accumulated from each horse/rider combinations best four results from the six qualifying competitions. Points will only be awarded to riders who are currently eligible for British Team selection.
Five horse and rider combinations from the 2012 British Young Rider European Team will automatically qualify by right and in addition to the maximum of twenty-two horse/rider combinations qualified through the above process, two wild card qualification places will be awarded, this decision will be made by the World Class Programme Performance Manager. The number of wild card selections will only be increased if required to fill the quota of twenty-four places at the final.
Team Murka is a sponsorship vehicle for sailing and showjumping and is committed to pursuing excellence in both sports. They sponsor Peter Charles, Olympic Gold Medallist, his family and his Team, supporting him to build a world-class team of horses.
Team Murka is extending this support to help build the future of showjumping in Great Britain by sponsoring the Under 23 Championship Series and Final at Olympia and the young Charles Team of Harry (a winner at Olympia, 2010), Scarlett and Sienna Charles.
Team Murka are currently involved in upgrading the main Equestrian Complex of the Central Russian Army Sporting Club in Moscow, plus the organization & prize money for a series of Summer and Winter showjumping competitions held at the facility. The main objective of these competitions is to raise the level of involvement and the standard of showjumping in Russia, including children, junior & young riders, amateurs and professionals. Sponsorship also extends to supporting two Russian riders.
The World Class Development Programme is Lottery and Exchequer funded via UK Sport, and seeks to identify and develop talented athletes who have shown the potential to reach the world stage. The Programme underpins World Class Performance and, together with the Equine Pathway, they comprise the Equestrian World Class Programme, incorporating the three Olympic sports of dressage, eventing and showjumping, and the Paralympic sport of para-equestrian dressage.
The Programmes work closely with the three British Equestrian Federation Olympic Member Bodies; British Dressage, British Eventing and British Showjumping, whose own training and competition programmes work hand in hand with the programmes run within World Class.
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