Great Britain secure their place in the 2018 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Final
Friday 10 August 2018
Great Britain's Senior Nations Cup Teams, who compete under the title sponsor banner of Team NAF, today secured a qualifying position for the 2018 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Final following a sixth place finish in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ of Ireland CSIO5* at the Dublin Horse Show. Today's result also sees GB retain their place in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Europe Division 1 for 2019.
The team of four riders representing Great Britain were Amanda Derbyshire who is based in Florida, USA with Roulette BH, a 9 year-old British bred bay gelding owned by Gochman Sport Horse LLC. The opening rider for the team she picked up 8 penalties in the first round and an unlucky 4 in the second. Holly Smith from Loughborough, Leicestershire with Hearts Destiny, a 9 year-old British bred bay gelding owned T J Hall Limited, Graham Smith and Holly had a touch at a fence in the first round. Coming back into the second they looked incredible when they posted a foot-perfect clear, one of only three combinations in this round that managed to do so.
Alexandra Thornton who is based in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands with Cornetto K, a 12 year-old dark bay gelding owned by Dunwalke Ltd delivered a respectable 4 penalties in the first round, however their second round saw them pick up 9 penalties to become the drop score. William Funnell from Dorking, Surrey with Billy Buckingham, a 10 year-old British bred chestnut gelding owned by Billy Stud took the role of anchor rider. Having become the drop score rider in the first round with their 12 penalty finish, the second round saw them back in top form when they left all fences untouched, just outside the time allowed to accrue a single time penalty.
It was Mexico that took the win on their finish score of 8 penalties with France, Italy and Ireland all sitting one fence behind them in Joint 2nd. With the overall league tables now having come to a close for the season, as a result of the eight legs having been contested, all eyes turned to focus on who had qualified for the Final in Barcelona. Working out the points allocation whilst the presentation was underway it was quickly announced that Belgium became the overall winners of the Western European League with Ireland hot on their heels to take 2nd place. Switzerland, France and the Netherlands finished in 3rd to 5th place respectively with Great Britain taking 6th place over Sweden to give the full list of the seven nations who would be heading to Barcelona.
Following today's Nations Cup competition, World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping, Di Lampard, commented "We came here today with the aim of assuring ourselves of a place in both the Nations Cup Final 2018 and Europe Division 1 for 2019; which I delighted to say we have done. This year has been about building and developing the British squad and in that respect, this season has been encouraging. We are now focusing on the World Equestrian Games in Tryon next month."
For full results of the league table and results visit www.longinestiming.com
For further information on the show and full results once the show is underway, visit www.dublinhorseshow.com. Full information in respect of the FEI Nations Cup series can be found by visiting www.fei.org. FEI TV will be showing live footage from the event. To access this please visit www.feitv.org.
British Showjumping would like to thank NAF, title sponsors of the Senior Nations Cup Teams along with the 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.
.jpg "Laura Renwick Dominates in the Redpost Equestrian Senior Foxhunter Second Round at Felbridge Showground")
