Great Britain’s Team NAF 3rd in Uggerhalne Nations Cup
Friday 11 June 2021
It was an extremely hard fought CSIO 3* FEI Longines Nations Cup competition today in Uggerhalne, Denmark where the top three positions weren’t settled until a three-way third round jump-off had taken place.
At the end of the second round three teams sat on 8 penalties each. To decide how the top tier of the line up was going to play out it then required Great Britain, Belgium and Denmark to nominate a single rider each to come forward for a timed jump-off. Coming forward in that order, all teams were re-set back to zero penalties with just final and crucial round counting bringing with it incredible pressure on those nominated bearing in mind what was at stake.
First drawn Great Britain had nominated Lily Freeman-Attwood, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire with the 11 year-old chestnut gelding Karibou Horta owned by Emily Freeman-Attwood. A fence down in the first round had soon been put behind them when they produced a foot-perfect performance in the second. Laying down the gauntlet for the two nations to come behind her she posted another clear in a time of 39.94 seconds for the others to follow with.
Denmark put forward Zascha Nygaard Andreasen with Quinn as their rider of choice having delivered a double clear previously. Their penalty free tally continued when, knowing what they had to beat, they put in a daringly fast round to finish clear in 37.56 seconds. For Belgium, it was Thibeau Spits who was the last to come forward. Two down in the first round before jumping clear in the second, they sail at what looked to be an equally daring pace, however stopping the clock in 38.84 seconds just wasn’t enough to catch Denmark but was just enough to relegate GB into 3rd.
Initial Two Rounds
Joseph Stockdale, from Roade, Northampton with the 10 year-old bay mare Equine America Cacharel IV owned by Joy Cocklin had taken the role of pathfinder for the team. A role that he fully embraced when he posted outstanding clears in each round on the scopey and talented mare making the twelve fence course designed by Louis Konickx (NED) look easy.
Jackson Reed Stephenson, from Lower Dunsforth, Yorkshire with his own 11 year-old chestnut gelding Exception picked up 4 penalties in the first when a top pole lowered. A foot in the water in the second round saw a further 4 penalties added to their overall score. Lily Freeman-Attwood then came forward as the third rider before becoming the nominated rider for the final deciding round.
Amy Inglis, from Haywards Heath, West Sussex with the 13 year-old homebred chestnut mare Wishes owned by Claire Inglis finished on an uncharacteristic 12 penalties in the first round to become the dropscore. Their second round, as the final rider to come forward for the Brits saw them deliver a remarkable clear which resulted in GB jumping up into joint 1st place and being assured their position in the final three-way jump off.
Chef d’Equipe for the team Rob Bevis said “All the riders did really well and played their part in getting us to the final jump-off today. Joe was good today and his horse was absolutely fantastic. Amy secured us into the final round and the chance of being part of the jump off, without her final clear we wouldn’t have been there. Lily, had the luck of the draw against her and she did incredibly well under a lot of pressure to come out as the first of the three and deliver a fast clear in the way she did. Jackson also went well and he was just unlucky to pick up the penalties he did”.
The Grand Prix will be on Sunday 13 June at 14:00 hrs local time and for further information on the show and full results visit www.equitour.dk/en/.
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Pony, 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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