Di Lampard’s team of up and coming horses gain valuable experience in Falsterbo
Friday 10 July 2015
Today’s FEI Furusiyya Nations Cup competition in Falsterbo, Sweden saw World Class Showjumping Performance Manager, Di Lampard, take full advantage of the fact that it wasn’t a league point qualifier for Great Britain by putting forward a relatively young team of horses.
Explaining Di said “The revised format of the series works well for us as we can now view each competition differently and select accordingly. For the competitions which are non point qualifying it gives us the opportunity to put forward as many up and coming combinations as we can which allows us an opportunity to strengthen and deepen the pool of potential championship horses that we can call on in the future”.
With this objective in mind the afternoon was still a positive one despite a 7th place finish for GB and an initial disappointment when Will Funnell with his home bred (Billy Stud) brown stallion Billy Congo, with whom he won a Team Gold at the 2013 European Championships in Herning, was eliminated. The uncharacteristic refusals from Billy Congo were explained when he left the arena, as it later transpired he had over reached on the course resulting in the decision to not bring him forward for the second round.
It wasn’t just the three remaining horses making their first appearance on teams within this top tier of Nations Cup competitions but also 22 year old Yazmin Pinchen from Ifield, West Sussex. Coming forward as the second rider for the team with Ashkari, a 13 year-old bay mare owned by her mother Nancy, their finish score of 12 penalties in the first round were quickly learnt from and put behind them when they delivered a stylish round with just 4 penalties awarded in the second.
For Laura Renwick from Maldon, Essex with her own and husband John’s 9 year-old British Bred bay gelding Bintang II they had an extremely unlucky 4 penalties in the first round when the penultimate fence fell followed by 8 penalties in the second. Looking absolutely unfazed by the course it appeared to be just a little bit of over enthusiasm that saw the fences touched and lowered; something that will no doubt quickly settle as his education at this level continues.
It was Michael Whitaker from Nottinghamshire and Beverly Widdowson’s 10 year-old British Bred chestnut gelding Calcourt Falklund that stole the show for GB with their brilliant double clear. With two outstanding team horses already within her stable, namely Big Star with whom Nick Skelton won a team Gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Cassionato whom Michael has ridden to team victory at three Nations Cup competitions this season already, Beverly must have been delighted to see this relatively inexperienced horse come out and prove himself with such style and conviction on his first appearance.
Talking shortly afterwards Di commented “Naturally it’s disappointing to finish 7th, however we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this wasn’t a point qualifier for us and we were using the competition to bring out as many relatively new horses as we could. Calcourt Falklund was exceptional, his double clear highlighted the brilliant talent and scope that he has. Ashkari and Bintang, also on their first top level Nations Cup performed solidly and this will be a great experience for them to have under their belt. Regarding Billy Congo, it was really unfortunate that he incurred an over-reach and it was absolutely right that we withdrew him from the competition at that point. We have Hickstead next where we will be hoping to pick up some points, so that is very much the next focus for us after the Grand Prix here on Sunday”
It was the Netherlands who stood at the top of the podium in 1st place having finished on a zero penalty score with Sweden and Germany both sharing 2nd place on 4 penalties. Switzerland took 4th on 12 penalties with Spain in 5th on 14 penalties and USA on 22 penalties in 6th place. GB’s finish score of 28 penalties saw a 7th place finish ahead of Poland who took 8th position on 58 penalties.
Further information on the show and for full results can be found by visiting www.falsterbohorseshow.com. Full information in respect of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup series can be found by visiting www.fei.org.
The competition will be broadcast at a later date on Horse & Country TV. Please click here to stay up to date with broadcast times.
The British Showjumping Teams are supported by the UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme.
The World Class Development Programme underpins World Class Performance and, together with the Equine Pathway, they comprise the Equestrian World Class Programme, incorporating the three Olympic sports of dressage, eventing, showjumping and the Paralympic sport of para-equestrian dressage. The Programme has been funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, through Exchequer and National Lottery funds, via UK Sport since 1998.
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