Great Britain takes a top nine finish in the FEI European Championships Team Final as Ben Maher aims for an individual medal
Friday 01 September 2023
Great Britain finished ninth overall in the FEI European Jumping Championships Team Final in Milan, Italy, moving up one place from their overnight position. But Ben Maher keeps Britain’s medal hopes alive as he jumps up the leaderboard to fifth as he heads into the individual final.
It was Sweden’s day. On 9.51 penalty points overnight, the team touted three clear rounds, knew they’d claimed team gold before the final rider and are now reigning Olympic, World and European champions. An incredible achievement.
Ireland, including British-based Michael Duffy on Cinca 3 and Trevor Breen’s Highland President, claimed the silver medal on 18 points, 8.49 behind Sweden with Austria moving up to bronze in the final moments as Germany dropped to fourth.
The British team knew it was a big ask but had remained upbeat, buoyed by an incredible clear from pathfinder and superstar Olympic champion Ben Maher with Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s Faltic HB.
“We were coming from behind as a team but stayed positive. I was jumping for myself a little bit in the beginning, and Faltic was incredible yesterday and today. He was uncomfortable on day one but yesterday and today he was back on form. It’s better to start as I did and climb my way back but there’s still a long way to go,” said Ben.
“I walked the course this morning and it was big, bigger than yesterday but you could get to the jumps which was a nice start. He gave me a good feeling over the first couple of lines. The triple combination was quite a stretch, particularly for my horse, and he did have a little touch coming out. He landed quite steep and made the third part a bit long but really tried over the final two fences.”
A relaxing Saturday is now on the cards.
“He [Faltic] is not at all stressed, we have a recovery day tomorrow and he’ll come out fresh on Sunday. I’m lucky in the horses I have, he hasn’t been overjumped. As a team, each [of my] horses help each other and it makes my life easier, enabling me to peak at the right time,” added Ben.
Tim Gredley was going great guns, cutting corners to make up on the tight time allowed but Unex Competition Yard Ltd’s Medoc De Toxandria just clipped the front rail going into the combination and, despite the great efforts, picked up a time fault.
“It’s the best he’s jumped all week and it’s annoying; he slipped round the corner going to the vertical and we ended up too deep into the combination,” said Tim. “It’s my first championship for a long time [2006 World Championships with Omelli] and his [Medoc’s] first so there’s a lot of pluses to come out of it. We were on the wrong side of a couple of fences this week or it would have been a lot better. He now knows it’s proper jumping and even working in this morning, he was more alert. I just wish I had another couple of days to go but the fences can’t get any bigger than this so we know the height’s not a problem. He’ll have a good break and now we have a championship horse, he can aim at those each year.”
It didn’t go according to plan for Sam Hutton as the Caramello Company’s Oak Grove’s Laith came home on 20 faults as the vertical into the double, the planks, the first two elements of the combination and the front bar of the penultimate oxer all toppled.
“I don’t know whether it’s the heat or he doesn’t like it here, he’s been really consistent at every show up until here,” said Sam. “It’s been great to come here riding against the best in the world. Unfortunately, we haven’t performed as good as I’d have liked and how we were hoping but we here to fight another day. The whole experience has been great apart from the results, but it has been great to get here, jump some of these courses and get in on the pressure.
It hasn’t been Harry Charles’ week either, and Stall Zet’s Casquo Blue jumped for eight faults – taking down the vertical going into the combination with his belly and the back bar of the first element of the combination.
“It wasn’t very good to be honest, like the rest of the week, horse jumped OK, I rode OK, nothing special, it’s the end of a disappointing championships,” said Harry. “He’s coming away, most importantly, in good shape, happy and healthy, the week doesn’t reflect how good he is – he has bigger things still to come.”
Nine faults from host country Italy’s final rider, Giampiero Garofalo on Max Van Lentz Schrans had to count towards there score as pathfinder Emanuele Gaudiano was eliminated on Crack Balou. The final score of 40.42 dropped them three points behind Britain and into 10th.
“It hasn’t been our week, but the aim was always to come here and give valuable championship experience to some new riders and horses ahead of Paris 2024, and I feel we’ve achieved this. There will be plenty to analyse as we move forward and make a plan for the next 12 months," said Performance Manager and Chef d'Equipe Di Lampard.
“All eyes are now on Ben Maher and Faltic HB ahead of the individual final. They’ve been on brilliant form so far and hopefully they can carry this through to Sunday.”
Lying in 14th place overnight, Ben Maher’s clear round on Faltic HB rocketed him up the order to fifth for Sunday’s individual final, his 3.13 penalty points picked up on day one putting him less than a fence behind the leader.
Sweden’s Jens Fredricson has led from day one on Markan Cosmopolit and stands at the top on a zero score. Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, who jumped double clear for his team on Dynamix De Belheme, lies second on 0.43 while Ireland’s Michael Duffy is currently third on Cinca 3 on 2.18 after also posting a team double clear. France’s Olivier Perraus (GL Events Doral D’Aigully) added one time fault to his original score in round two of the team competition for 2.79 with Ben in fifth on 3.13 – les than a fence separating the top five individual places.
Tim Gredley finished 37th on 17.49 with Harry a couple of places behind in 40th on 18.61.
The top 25 will initially contend the individual medals in round one on Sunday starting at 12pm local time (11am BST) and round two, with the best 12, is due to start at 2pm (1pm BST).
Image credit: FEI / Leanjo De Koster
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