TEAM FAIRFAX PONIES NARROWLY BEATEN INTO FOURTH

Friday 01 August 2014

TEAM FAIRFAX PONIES NARROWLY BEATEN INTO FOURTH

The British Pony Team riding under the Team Fairfax banner out at the FEI Pony European Jumping Championships at Millstreet in Ireland narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing in fourth place in today’s Team Competition.

The team knew that today was always going to be a close contest after they finished yesterday’s individual qualifier on 4 penalties, which left them on the same number of penalties overnight as the German. The teams from France and Ireland both kept clean sheets to bring forward 0 penalties to today.

Team Competition – Rounds One and Two
Emily Ward, aged 15 from Neston, Cheshire took the role of pathfinder for the Brits today with her father Nick’s 9 year-old chestnut gelding King Mac. The combination accrued 4 penalties in yesterday’s first qualifier, a score which they matched in round one of today’s competition. The combination then found themselves in the unusual position of becoming the drop score after collecting 8 penalties in round two.

Harry Charles, aged 15 from Alton, Hampshire with his father Peter’s 17 year-old grey Aroldo was drawn next to go and after producing one of the fourteen clears in yesterday’s class, they started today on 0 penalties. Harry and Aroldo were unlucky to get 4 penalties in round one, but a foot perfect second round saw them go clear, a result which Harry was pleased with. 

Charlotte Ash, aged 15 from Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear followed with her mother Shirley’s 10 year-old bay gelding Aughnashammer. This combination also brought 4 penalties forward from yesterday. Aiming to better this, they secured a brilliant clear in round one and were unfortunate to gain 4 penalties in round two. 

Alex Gill, aged 16 from Northallerton, North Yorkshire and Ammanvalley Santino, a 10 year-old dark bay gelding owned Lynn Barker were team anchors today after securing 0 penalties yesterday. A uncharacteristic first round from this combination saw collect them 8 penalties to become the drop score, but they improved on this in the second round to cross the line with 4 penalties.

Team Competition – Jump Off
Following the completion of the second round, the British Team found that they had finished equal with Germany on 20 penalties, which meant that there was a compulsory jump off for the Bronze Medal. France had already secured Gold whilst Ireland took Silver.

The jump off saw the Brits match Germany round for round with Emily, Harry and Charlotte all producing clears, whilst Alex had a pole. With Germany having also produced three clear rounds, it meant that the clock was to become crucial in deciding who the Bronze Medal went to and it was here that the Germans pipped Britain to the podium. The German Team accrued a total time of 116.59 seconds whilst Britain finished on 125.46 seconds. 

Sunday will see the final competition for the Ponies and the Individual medals will be decided. Harry and Aroldo find themselves in equal third on 4 penalties with seven other combinations and they are all just a fence behind the current first placed French combination of Nina Mallevaey and Rominet De Bruz.

The British Pony Team are competing under the guidance of their Chef d’Equipe, Katrina Moore.

The British Youth teams are sponsored by Fairfax Saddles. It is Fairfax’s primary aim to improve the performance of the competition horse. All the saddles and girths are developed using the most advanced technology and are tested extensively. All research and design work is carried out under the direction of Vanessa Fairfax, an ex-International showjumper and University qualified designer. The company is based in Walsall and manufactures all its own products. For more information, please visit www.fairfaxsaddles.com.

The GB Showjumping Teams are strongly supported by the UK Sport Lottery funded BEF World Class Programme. The teams are further supported by Animo UK, Champion Hats, Next and Toggi. 

For further information on the Championships and results, please visit www.millstreet2014.com

 
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