Team NAF Young Riders 2nd in their FEI Nations Cup Final, Belgium
Sunday 29 September 2019
The GBR Young Rider team, competing under the title sponsor branding of Team NAF, mirrored the placing of the Junior Team just before them when they took 2nd place in their FEI Nations Cup Final this afternoon at Sentower Park in Opglabbeek, Belgium.
Qualification for the Final had come on Thursday afternoon when they finished in 5th place to secure their place as one of the six teams that would be invited to step forward for the Final. With all six teams starting on a zero score again the competition was wide open for any one of the finalists to claim the title as theirs.
The other five nations were Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and the USA, all of whom were focused on securing the win and focused on giving each of the teams a hard run for their money. It was an eventual win by the USA who finished on a clean score card of zero penalties with Great Britain just two time penalties behind them.
James Winter, aged 19 from Chepstow in Gwent took the role of pathfinder incredibly well posting a foot-perfect clear with the 8 year-old bay mare Garande owned by Elizabeth Winter. Next to go Taisie de Gruchy, aged 21 from St Ouen in Jersey looked set to follow with the 12 year-old Winner of Picobello Z owned by Lauren de Gruchy. However, a touch of a fence on the course saw them return home with 4 penalties being accrued.
Scarlett Charles, aged 18 from Alton in Hampshire with the Hill House Equine Ltd’s 12 year-old bay gelding Lordanos Junior posted a superb round leaving all fences untouched. It was therefore with extreme disappointment when the clock stopped to see they were just marginally over the time allowed to pick up a time penalty. For Alex Gill, aged 21 from northallerton in North Yorkshire with the 8 year-old mare Goldenstar owned by Stal M de Boer and VDL Stud it was the same result when they posted a foot-perfect round albeit just outside the time allowed to pick up a single penalty.
This saw Great Britain finish on a total of just 2 penalties, once the top three counting scores had been taken into account, to sit just behind the USA but 2 penalties ahead of Denmark who took 3rd place. Belgium finished in 4th having to take 8 penalties into account whilst Spain and Switzerland took 5th and 6th place respectively with a tally of 10 and 13 penalties.
The qualifying round on Thursday had seen Joe Fernyhough, aged 18 from Stonehouse in Gloucestershire take the role of pathfinder with the 9 year-old British Bred brown gelding owned by Rowland Fernhough ahead of Taisie de Gruchy who contested the final this afternoon.
For full results visit www.online-equipe.com.
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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