Carlo picks up second in Lexington
Monday 07 November 2011
The Alltech National Horse Show concluded with the $250,000 Grand Prix which saw Course Designer Richard Jeffery build a large technical track. Challenging both horse and rider, only five combinations managed to jump clear making it into through to the jump off.
American Richard Spooner and his ride Cristallo set the pace with tidy inside turns and a clear effort coming home in 37.97 seconds.
Nick was the last to challenge the shortened course with Beverley Widdowson’s ten year old grey Gelding Carlo. The speedy duo produced the only other fault-free round. They also managed to catch all the inside turns, and although they had a fast gallop through the end of the course, a slow start proved costly when they tripped the timers at 38.33 to finish in second place.
"I didn't really get the distance I wanted to the first fence, so I ended up having six strides to the vertical," said Skelton. "Then, when I turned, Carlo just sort of stopped dead. I stood still for a split second, so I knew I was well down then. I knew from the rustic to the end of the course I was pretty quick. I thought if I got five to the second I probably wouldn't have beat him anyway, and I probably wouldn't have gone as hard then as I did. I was very pleased with Carlo anyway; he jumped very nicely this week."
Jessica Springsteen and Cincinatti Le Silla rounded out the three as the fastest four-fault combination coming home in 40.66 seconds.
Alltech National Horse Show
Grand Prix FEI World Cup - Saturday 5th November
1st Richard Spooner riding Cristallo – 0/0 in 37.97 seconds
2nd Nick Skelton riding Carlo – 0/0 in 38.33 seconds
3rd Jessica Springsteen riding Cincinatti Le Silla – 0/4 in 40.66 seconds
4th Harrie Smolders riding Exouis Oliver Q – 0/4 in 44.05 seconds
5th Margie Engle riding Indigo – 0/4 in 46.71 seconds
.jpg "British Showjumping’s Team Audevard announced for CSIO5* Rome FEI Nations Cup")