Second place finish for the Brits at the CSIO5* Nations Cup of Gijon

Friday 30 August 2019

Second place finish for the Brits at the CSIO5* Nations Cup of Gijon

The Brits, under the sponsor banner of Team NAF finished a close 2nd in the CSIO5* FEI Nations Cup in Gijon, Spain this afternoon.  The competition took place within the show that started on the 28th August and runs until 1st September at the Las Mestas Sports Centre.

It was a twelve nation strong field that came to contest the 1.60m course designed by Avelino Rodriguez-Mirvalles with its time allowed of 80 seconds.  The Brits had been drawn last of the twelve to go during the previous evenings draw which had seen France drawn first followed by Italy, Egypt, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Netherlands, Mexico and then Ireland just before us.                                                                                                               

First Round
For GBR it was Joe Clayton from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire with Carreau of Greenhill Z, a 10 year-old bay mare owned by Jos Lansink Horse BVBA that took the role of pathfinder.  For Joe the twelve obstacle course, requiring fifteen jumping efforts, set within the grass arena proved to cause no issues with him delivering a foot perfect clear; one of only three produced from the first round riders.

For next to go Helen Tredwell from Finmere, Buckinghamshire with Galtur, a 9 year-old British bred grey gelding owned by Philip Tuckwell it was a 9 penalty finish which saw them become the dropscore when they touched two fences just outside the time allowed.  Max Routledge from Godalming, Surrey with Balulu, a 9 year-old British bred bay mare owned by Sarah Williams put in a solid first round to pick up just 4 penalties.  Their penalties were picked up when they touched the top pole of a vertical going into the double mid course.

Team anchor Ellen Whitaker from Barnsley with Arena UK Winston, a 10 year-old British bred black stallion owned by Norman Oley, made the course look easy when they posted a clear within the time allowed to return home a zero penalty score.  Their performance saw Great Britain move into pole position at the end of the first round with just a total of 4 penalties

Second Round
It was a 4 penalty finish for Joe Clayton and Carreau of Greenhill Z in the second round, which they picked up mid-course when a top pole fell.  For Helen Tredwell, on the eye-catching grey Galtur it was two obstacles that caught her out, one of which was the vertical jumping into the double that had caught many before her.

Max Routledge with the big jumping Balulu pulled it out the bag with an effortless clear to give Great Britain the first clear of the second round.  Their performance was mirrored by Ellen Whitaker with the striking Arena UK Winston when she jumped a faultless round to return home with a penalty free round.  This gave Ellen a double clear and she couldn’t have looked more pleased with the ten year-old stallion as she exited the arena making a big fuss of him.

This saw Great Britain finish in 2nd place on a score of eight, just two penalties behind Italy who took the win.  France took 3rd place whilst Germany and Ireland took equal 4th.

Di Lampard, Performance Manager for Showjumping, said after the presentation “I’m delighted with how the young horses performed. Ellen was a very good anchor rider producing a double clear, Max Routledge made a great 5* nations cup debut appearance and it was great to have Joe Clayton back in the team producing two solid rounds. It was good to have Helen, who having had a good national summer season stepped up to this level with Galtur who she has produced through our system. We now focus on Sunday’s Grand Prix.”

The Grand Prix will be on Sunday 1st September at 15:30 hrs local time. The Chef d’Equipe accompanying the team will be World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, Di Lampard.

For further information on the show and full results, visit hipico.gijon.es

British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Children, Junior, Young Rider and Veteran teams.

NAF’s premium range of Five Star brands include Superflex, Superflex Senior, PROFEET, Optimum, Magic, Oestress and Respirator Boost with quality at the heart of everything they do. They are a UFAS (Universal Feed Assurance Scheme), GMP+ (International Feed Assurance Scheme) and BETA NOPS (Naturally Occuring Prohibited Substances) accredited company and this enables them to guarantee full traceability on all the natural ingredients they utilise in their formulations, which are also selected in compliance with the FEI guidelines for Clean Sport. For further information, visit www.naf-equine.eu/uk/index.jsp.

The GBR showjumping teams are supported by the British Equestrian Federation’s World Class Programme, funded by UK Sport through the National Lottery. The Programme focuses on identifying talent, developing potential and maximising medal-winning performances on the world stage.

 
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