GREAT BRITAIN TAKE 3RD PLACE IN DUBLIN

 The final leg of the FEI 5* Top Level Nations Cup series was played out in the immense main arena at Dublin Horse Show this afternoon infront of capacity crowds. There was all to play for with the eight nations contesting the series, all hoping for the lucrative league points on offer to ensure a solid finish to the series on the League Table.
 

With the home crowd hoping to see Ireland secure a win on home soil, they also were passionately wishing that it would be their home team lifting the revered Aga Khan Trophy which also goes with the title.
 

With a course that was not only big but also technical, the first few rounds for each of the teams saw penalties notched up the majority of nations taking part. The only exception to this was the Swedish and Irish teams whom had managed to secure three clear rounds between them.

 

 

 

Tina Fletcher with Hello Sailor, a 13 year-old gelding owned by Lady Pauline Harris, who were the travelling reserves for the Olympic Team, were third to go. Producing a foot perfect clear round, Tina came through the finish within the time allowed posting a much needed zero penalty score. 

 

 

Finishing the first round on a total of 5 penalties put Great Britain just behind France and Sweden who were going forward with 4 penalties apiece. Just above them and leading the field was Ireland with a total of 1 penalty.

 

 

Tina Fletcher and Hello Sailor relishing both the arena and course made it look all look incredibly easy by producing yet another clear; one of just four achieved throughout the 40 rounds of jumping.   John Whitaker with Argento, having incurred penalties retired knowing they couldn’t better the score leaving Great Britain on a total finish score of 9 penalties. 

 

This then cleared the way France and Ireland to fight it out for first place. However a fence down by Kevin Staut the last rider for France left Ireland secure in the knowledge that they were the winners without their final rider Cian O’Connor needing to jump.  

 

 
Talking afterwards, Rob Hoekstra, World Class Showjumping Performance Manager commented “We finished in 3^rd place in the competition and 4^th place on the final league standings – so all in all I’m happy. Our focus this year has always been on winning an Olympic medal whilst also ensuring we finished in the top half of the league table. As a team we’ve delivered on both counts and I really couldn’t have asked for more from anyone this year.   Looking specifically at the competition today, Tina’s performance has been outstanding, especially when you consider how few double clears were achieved. I also am impressed how our two relatively inexperienced team horses performed and was pleased to see Carlo producing a clear and looking back like himself in the second round”.
 

The Grand Prix will take place on Sunday where each of the British squad riders will be contesting the lion share of the €200,000 prize money on offer. For further information and full results from the event please visit www.dublinhorseshow.com

The British Showjumping Teams are supported by Exchequer and National Lottery funding via UK Sport.
 

 

FEI Nations Cup™ 2012 – Final Standings after Round 8

1.    Germany              -    48

2.    France                 -    44

3.    Ireland                  -    39

6.    Netherlands          -   34.5

8.    Belgium                -   32

 

 

FEI Nations Cup™ 2012 Calendar:

La Baule (FRA), 10-13 May; Rome (ITA), 24-27 May; St Gallen (SUI), 31 May – 2 June; Rotterdam (NED) 20-24 June; Aachen (GER) 3 - 8 July; Falsterbo (SWE) 12-15 July; Hickstead (GBR) 19-22 July; Dublin (IRE) 15-19 August.