Brits finish 5th in Lisbon
Friday 31 May 2019
It was a 5th place finish for the British Team, riding under the title sponsor banner of Team NAF, this evening in the Portuguese CSIO3* FEI Nations Cup competition in Lisbon having finished on joint penalties with France but in 3 seconds slower cumulative time.
The competition took place on the established grass arena at the Sociedade Hipica Portuguesa with the second round played out under floodlights and in front of capacity crowds. It was the home nation, much to the audience’s delight that claimed the victory against their neighbours Spain in what turned out to be a hard fought for title.
With Portugal having completed both rounds on a zero penalty score, it was then all down to Spain’s final rider which, if he jumped clear, would mean that the two nations would be drawn into a third round jump off. Looking like this would be the case, you could have heard a pin drop until, at the final fence, the back pole lowered on the oxer to see Spain then finish on a tally of 4 penalties and relegated into 2nd place. Ireland took 3rd place with their score of 8 penalties whilst Great Britain slotted into 5th behind France with us both on 16 penalties ahead of Belgium on 20 and Colombia on 29.
For Great Britain, the first round had looked strong with them sitting in joint 3rd at the halfway stage alongside Ireland on just 4 penalties. Jessica Dimmock from Hannington, Northamptonshire with her own 11 year-old bay mare Cybel II opened up for the team with an exceptional clear. The second round however saw Cybel appear to look at one of the early fences and lose her rhythm before putting down and unseating Jess resulting in elimination for them.
Christopher Frazer who is based in Germany with Quisandro, a 9 year-old dark bay gelding owned by Thorsten Hartmann was the first of the three British riders making their debut on a 3* Senior Nations Cup team. For them it was just the middle section of the combination that caught them on both occasions to see 4 penalties accrued each time.
Jodie Hall-Mcateer from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire delivered an extremely confident first round clear with Salt N Peppa, a 10 year-old chestnut gelding owned by her mother Mandy Hall. The second round saw them accrue 4 penalties at the wall which was at the start of the turn back to the home straight.
Graham Gillespie from Alexandria, Dunbartonshire with Andretti, a 13 year-old bay gelding owned by Jorand Yannick took the role of anchor. It was 4 penalties in each round for them when an early pole fell in the first round and the same as Jodie, it was the top row of bricks that caught him out in the second.
The team will now turn their focus to the Grand Prix which takes place on Sunday 2nd June at 15:00 hrs local time. The Chef d’Equipe accompanying the team is Rob Bevis.
For further information on the show and full results visit www.sociedadehipica.pt.
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.
.jpg "British Showjumping’s Youth Teams announced for Nations Cup in Busto Arsizio, Italy")
