British Showjumping’s Team NAF Young Riders take 3rd in Opglabbeek Nations Cup
Friday 12 May 2017
Mirroring the performance of the Children’s Team earlier on today, the British Young Riders, riding under the Team NAF banner, secured 3rd place in their respective Nations Cup at Sentower Park in Opglabbeek, Belgium.
Jumping a strong course against a number of competitive nations, the Brits finished behind Belgium and The Netherlands. The Belgians headed the field on a total of 9 penalties, with The Netherlands in second on 10 penalties and Great Britain in third on 23 penalties.
Theo Simpson, aged 20, from Buckhurst Hill, Essex was this afternoon’s British trailblazer with Touch of Chilli, a 13 year-old chestnut gelding owned by David Simpson. The pair posted two strong rounds to finish up with 8 penalties after lowering just a single pole in each.
Taisie De Gruchy, aged 19, from St. Ouen, Jersey was competing on Winner of Picobello Z, a 10 year-old dark bay gelding owned by Lauren De Gruchy. They got off to a great start, picking up just 1 penalty in their first round when they finished just outside the time allowed. Their second round saw the combination unfortunately come through the finish with 10 penalties, which left them on 11 overall.
Bethanie Knight, aged 19, from Southampton, Hampshire was the third rider to go with Quenotte, a 9 year-old black gelding owned by Tony Newbery and Fiona Dunning. Bethanie and Quenotte picked up 14 penalties in each round which saw them become the drop score.
Last to go was Aimee Jones, aged 20, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire with Never Last, a 13 year-old dark bay gelding owned by Susan Jones. A confident first round saw them return home with a fantastic clear and in an otherwise clean performance, they were unlucky to pick up 4 penalties in their second round.
The Juniors were also in action this afternoon, but unfortunately didn’t make it through to their second round. The team of Jodie Hall-Mcateer with Coquin De Coquerie Z, Olivia Poole with Connery III, Allana Clutterbuck with Urlevent Du Bary and Scarlett Charles with Sacree Du Rouet were narrowly pushed out of the second round after finishing in eighth place on a total of 12 penalties. With only six teams moving forward to jump again, Great Britain along with Ireland, Denmark and Sweden didn’t make the cut on this occasion despite a tremendous clear performance by Scarlett Charles, one of only three achieved throughout the entire competition.
The Juniors and Young Riders will now look forward to their Grand Prix competitions which will take place on Sunday 14th May.
For further information on the show and full results, visit www.sentowerpark.com.
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the Children, Junior and Young Rider 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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