GB Young Riders finish Team 4th at the European Championships in Austria
Saturday 15 August 2015
It was a 4th place finish for Great Britain after a three way jump off for the Silver and Bronze medals on offer at their European Championships in Wiener Neustadt, Austria yesterday.
First Round
Thursday afternoon had seen all four of the team contest the first round of the Nations Cup competition which counted towards the three medals available.
Chloe Winchester, aged 21 from Eye, Suffolk with her mother Gillian’s 12 year-old bay mare Avoca Valkyrie fresh from her win in the Queen Elizabeth Cup at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead a few weeks ago picked up 4 penalties when a pole was lowered on the course. Second rider Chloe Aston, aged 20 from Tring, Hertfordshire with her own 8 year-old big jumping and flamboyant grey gelding Merqusio put in a fantastic round to leave all fences untouched and within the time allowed to post a zero penalty score
Jake Saywell, aged 18 from Newark, Nottinghamshire with Grand Cru Van Paemel, a 9 year-old bay gelding owned by Rachel Gascoine, a mainstay on youth teams over the years rode an outstanding round to deliver a second clear for Great Britain. Emma O’Dwyer¸ aged 19 from Churchdown, Gloucestershire with her mother Joanne’s 9 year-old bay gelding HHS Figero, the final rider for the team accrued an unfortunate 8 penalties which saw them become the drop score for round one and GB finish on a 4 penalty tally as the first round came to a close.
Second Round & Jump Off
The second round took place yesterday, Friday, with all riders having had the night to prepare themselves for the fight they had ahead of them. The top rank of nations all within a tight bunch registering just a few penalties between them making it all quite open for the taking.
Chloe Winchester would have been delighted with Avoca Valkyrie when they broke the finish line clear within the time allowed to set GB off on a positive note. For Chloe Aston it was an incredibly unlucky 4 penalties that were picked up when a top pole was touched to give them 4 penalties.
Jake Saywell who has proved his strength time and time again within a team environment came into his own giving GB yet another clear to the one posted yesterday. For Emma O’Dwyer it was a 4 penalty finish with HHS Figergo across what had proved, for all nations, to be an incredibly testing course.
At the end of the second round it was Belgium that stood ahead on just 4 penalties to secure the Gold medal for themselves. Great Britain, found themselves on 8 penalties, a score that was also matched by both Germany and Ireland, which meant a three way jump off for the Silver and Bronze positions.
First to go of the three in a jump off where both faults and time would count the decision was made to go for a steady clear and try and force the others into making an error. Chloe Winchester jumped clear, a performance which was matched by both other nations before Chloe Aston also came forward and jumped clear; which was again matched by the other nations. With the third riders coming forward it was Jake Saywell who was the first to go and he again put in an extremely solid performance to return home clear; a score which almost unbelievably was mirrored by Germany and Ireland.
With the competition going right to the wire it was then down to Emma O’Dwyer to try and put in a fast time and risk some penalties as the only way our score could be improved could be on time. A pole down at the second fence saw Emma retire whilst the other nations put In a last ditch attempt to better their own times. In the end it was Germany who took Silver relegating Ireland into Bronze and GB into 4th position.
Tony Newbery commented “They all rode beautifully and I can’t tell you how unbelievably high the standard has been this year. Jake Saywell has jumped three clears today and he also jumped the fastest clear in the final jump off. In past years their performance would have been easily good enough for a Gold medal, that is how hard the competition has been.
“Going into the final of the Individuals tomorrow we have got four riders in the top thirty and Chloe Winchester and Jake Saywell are lying in 5th and 6th position respectively. The competition is tight, there is less than a fence between the leaders and ourselves so it really is a case of anything can happen".
The British Young Rider teams compete under the guidance of Youth Team Manager, Clare Whitaker and their Chef d’Equipe Tony Newbery.
The British Young Rider, Junior, Pony and Children European Championship teams are supported by the UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme.
The teams are also kindly supported by official Equestrian Team GBR suppliers; Dodson and Horrell, Equi-Trek, Land Rover, NAF, NuuMed, Point Two Equine, Tagg Equestrian and Toggi.
The teams are further supported by Animo UK, Champion Hats and Next.
For further information on the Championships and results please visit www.lake-arena.at.
