Great Britain’s Team Audevard secured a hard-fought podium place in the Longines League of Nations Rotterdam
Saturday 21 June 2025
Great Britain’s Team Audevard came out fighting to mark their best result in the 2025 season of the Longines League of Nations with third place on the podium in Rotterdam.
“We tend to be a bit slow out of the starting blocks at the start of the season, and Rotterdam is usually our turning point in the season. I’m hoping this is the case and I was absolutely delighted with our riders’ performances today – with a little bit of luck, we’d have been one place higher today,” said chef D’Equipe Di Lampard.
In a nail-biting competition which went down to the wire, the host country The Netherlands snatched victory in front of the home crowd in the final moments, denying France a second consecutive win by three faults.
Belgian course-designer Bart Vonck set a challenging 12-fence, 15-effort 1.60 track for the 10 teams forward, and he tested with questions everywhere. A dog-leg six strides after the open water to a set of planks to a wide oxer on a related distance, a substantial double of oxers followed by five strides to another set of planks, while the penultimate Longines combination of vertical, oxer, vertical caught others. With a tight time allowed added, it was tough, and only two riders provided double clears.
“Britain was the only team to complete both rounds without incurring any time faults,” said Di, proudly. “It was the strongest course we have been up against, right from the first fence to the last.”
Britain’s pathfinder Ben Maher drew on his vast experience on Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s 16-year-old Exit Remo, but even they were caught out by the planks as the horse jumped slightly to the right to come home on four faults.
Matt Sampson countered with a superb clear round on Unex Competition Yard and Rachel and Bill Gredley’s Der Senaat 13-year-old Medoc De Toxandria to keep Britain in the hunt in the early stages.
There was drama with Donald Whitaker’s round as Retsportanlage Dagobertshausen GmbH’s Millfield Colette was initially judged to have a foot on the tape of the open water, and added to the excitable Cornet Obolesnky x Clearway 12-year-old’s four faults after just tipping the vertical going into the combination put the pair on eight.
“We were watching from above and didn’t think she’d had a foot on the tape. I didn’t see the last half of Donald’s round as I was gone [to make an objection],” said Di. “Luckily, the judge agreed with us that it was a boot mark on the plasticine, not a hoof mark, so the four faults were rescinded – it made a big difference.”
Had the eight faults score stood, it would have been a different picture; Britain would have dropped down a place to fourth as Belgium were only two faults behind.
Still gaining valuable experience at five-star 1.60m level, Sienna Charles and the Typhoon S 11-year-old Chawton came home on the discard score of 12.
“It was a great experience for Sienna jumping at this level with a home-bred horse, and she can only learn from it,” said Di.
Team Audevard stood in third at the halfway stage on eight faults, less than a fence away from France and The Netherlands on five faults apiece. It was tight, and the hunt for glory was on. However, with only three riders from each team allowed to return for round two and every score counting, the pressure was on.
Ben rectified his earlier mistake with pinpoint accuracy to deliver a flawless clear this time with Exit Remo, but it was a gut-wrenching round two for Matt Sampson. He looked to be storming home clear, but agonisingly, Medoc De Toxandria caught the front rail of the final fence behind and it toppled to give the pair four faults – denying their chance of a bumper double clear bonus.
“It was a great opening round from Ben, he just had the plank down and Matt and Medoc are a fantastic partnership – the horse is really enjoying himself, the last fence was heartbreaking,” assessed Di.
It was down to Donald Whitaker. He had a fence in hand for the team to stay in third place, and a clear round could move Britain up the order. He almost pulled it off, but again the combination caught them, Colette tipping the oxer at the middle element to put them on four faults.
The Netherlands’ final rider Harrie Smolders came home on five faults with Monaco for the host country to take the top podium place on a 10 fault total, while France dropped to second as Kevin Staut added eight faults to their round one score of five to finish on 13 faults, just three faults in front of Britain on 16. The valuable points gained push Team Audevard up to sixth place on the LLN Standings 2025 on 195 points. France tops the leaderboard with 240 points, 15 points ahead of Ireland with Germany in third on only five less for 220 points.
The fourth and final qualifying leg of the 2025 Longines League of Nations series will be staged at St Tropez Gassin in France, on 21 September 2025 where the eight places at the Longines League of Nations™ Final for 2025 will be decided.
LLN ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands – 20 June 2025
1st The Netherlands – 10
2nd France – 13
3rd Great Britain – 16
Ben Maher & Exit Remo 4/0
Matt Sampson & Medoc De Toxandria 0/4
Donald Whitaker & Millfield Colette – 4/4
Sienna Charles & Chawton – 12/-
Image: © FEI/Leanjo de Koster
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