GB’s Team NAF Joint Second in Drammen CSIO3* FEI Nations Cup
Sunday 30 August 2020
Having endured a few days of stormy showers and weather, the sun was most definitely welcomed by all when it made a reappearance just before the start of the CSIO3* FEI Nations Cup in Drammen, Norway this afternoon.
The full-up 1.45m course designed by Anders Hafskjold took in twelve obstacles requiring fifteen jumping efforts. There wasn’t a particular fence that caused trouble, despite there being both a double and a combination approached via a dog-leg turn early on in the course, but there certainly wasn’t too many clears pulled out the bag across the forty rounds jumped.
For Great Britain, riding under the title sponsor banner of Team NAF, it was a joint second place finish with Denmark behind Ireland who took the eventual victory on 4 penalties. Taking the role of pathfinder for the Brits was Georgia Tame from Horsham in West Sussex with the Team Z7 owned 9 year-old bay stallion Z7 Ascot. An outstanding performance from them in both rounds saw them post a double clear, one of only two combinations throughout the entire field able to do so.
Emily Moffitt who is based between Evesham in Worcestershire and Florida, USA was next to go with Winning Good, an 11 year-old gelding owned by Neil & Heidi Moffitt and Poden Farms. Their first round saw Winning Good going forward to touch a front rail of the combination in what was otherwise a faultless round to finish on a 4 penalty score. Their second round saw them finish with 6 penalties to become the drop score in that round.
Jack Whitaker from Whatton, Nottinghamshire with Elucar VE, an 11 year-old grey gelding owned by Molly Orstrom and Michael Whitaker was next to go. A touch at the start of the double followed by the top pole of a vertical later on in the course saw them pick up 8 penalties to become the drop score in the first round. For Jack, it was a solid improvement in the second round when it was just a 4 penalty score that needed to be added to his tally.
Anchor for the team came in the form of Will Funnell from Dorking, Surrey with Billy Diamo, a 10 year-old British bred chestnut gelding owned by The Billy Stud. The in-form Billy Diamo couldn’t have looked better when he posted a foot-perfect clear to come home with a clear balance sheet. Their second round saw 4 penalties picked up at the first fence before going on to post another superb round leaving all fences untouched within the time allowed.
Finishing on an overall total of 12 penalties was enough for GB to take second place jointly with Denmark with a fence in hand over Germany who took 4th. Home nation Norway took 5th place with a score of 28 penalties.
Talking afterwards Chef d’Equipe and World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, Di Lampard said “It was great to get out and do a Nations Cup again. Everyone was happy to be here, the hosts couldn’t have been more hospitable and it’s a credit to them to have got all the protocols in place to allow this to happen. Georgia was absolutely outstanding today, first to go in the team and to deliver one of only two double clears of the competition on a 9 year-old and comparatively novice horse really illustrates how exceptional she was.
“Naturally everyone comes out to win; it was within reaching point but we couldn’t quite grasp it. However I’m happy with the entire team. In addition to Georgia’s performance we had a great clear from Will and Billy Diamo, they were really unlucky in the second round. And we have also seen Emily and Jack, who was making his debut at senior nations cup level, have gained a lot of experience by being here which will serve them well for the future”.
For full results https://online.equipe.com/en/class_sections/525868
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.
Photo: Georgia Tame & Z7 Ascot
Credit: Mette Sattrup
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