Great Britain name their Team competing tomorrow in Barcelona
Wednesday 27 September 2017
Tomorrow afternoon will see a field of fifteen nations start competing at the much anticipated Longines FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in Barcelona (ESP). The fifteen nations that have fought their way to the final are all fielding strong teams with the objective of taking the overall title so the next few days definitely look set to deliver some superb top class competition.
The draw to decide the order-of-go took place earlier this evening with Great Britain drawn fifth behind New Zealand who will open the competition followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UAE. Following Great Britain will be Belgium, Ireland, USA, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Brazil, Germany and then Canada who take the last slot.
Spanish course designer Santiago Varela will be focused on ensuring that his course tomorrow pulls forward the best eight teams for the finale on Saturday night. The remaining seven nations will battle it out on Friday night in the Longines Challenge Cup.
As well as a total of just over €1.8 million in prize money, including bonuses of €150,000 for double-clear rounds, there is the immense pride and prestige of winning the coveted team trophy.
The British Team, who are title sponsored by NAF UK, will be riding under the guidance of World Class Performance Manager Di Lampard. Di’s selected team of four for tomorrow and their order of go will be as follows:
Scott Brash with Ursula XII, a 16 year-old British Bred mare owned by Lay Pauline Kirkham and Lady Pauline Harris.
Guy Williams with Rouge de Ravel, a 12 year-old by stallion owned by S.C.E.A. de Lillebec
William Whitaker with Utamaro d’Ecaussines, a 13 year-old bay stallion owned by Ludwig Criel
Ben Maher with Quilata, a 13 year-old bay mare owned by Poden Farms
Competition gets underway at 14:30hrs local time and is estimated to finish at 17:30hrs. All fifteen teams, with four riders per team, participate in the first round not against the clock. The top eight teams qualify for the Final, the remaining seven teams move on to the Longines FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final Challenge Cup which takes place on Friday evening commencing at 21:00hrs local time. Saturday evening will see the Final play out across the eight teams commencing at 21:00 hrs local time. The format of the competition will be where all teams come forward with their four members with an initial round not against the clock with a jump-off against the clock in the case of equality of penalties for first place.
The competition will be broadcast on FEI TV with the Jumping Challenge Cup also being broadcast live on Facebook and You Tube.
For further information on the show and results once competition is underway visit www.csiobarcelona.com
Image: FEI Jumping Director John Roche during this evenings Team Draw with rider and social media influencer Mattia Harnacke
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