Great Britain’s Team Audevard finish in sixth place in the CSIO4*-NC Longines EEF Series Final – Nations Cup
Monday 07 September 2026
Great Britain’s Team Audevard claimed sixth place in the CSIO4*-NC Longines EEF Series Final – Nations Cup in Avenches, Switzerland, in a hard-fought second round.
Ten teams set off over course-designer Gerard Lachat’s (SUI) 12-fence, 15-effort 1.55m track with Britain drawn in the fifth mid-draw position.
“It was a tough course. Gerard is a fair course-designer but he asked a lot of rider questions; it was working out the course and we were unlucky,” said Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard.
The experienced Holly Smith took the pathfinder position, but there was shock when TJ Hall Ltd’s usually consistent 16-year-old Fruselli (Zambesi TN x Karandasj) uncharacteristically came home on 12 faults, hitting the fence on a dog-leg after the open water and the first two elements of the combination.
Jodie Hall-McAteer pulled it back a little with four faults at the back rail of the problematic penultimate vertical, vertical, oxer combination on her mother Mandy Hall’s 10-year-old mare La Gupardie (Van Gogh x Carrera VDL). But Max Routledge also completed the track on 12 faults, struggling with the final difficult line on Weiji Zhang’s nine-year-old stallion Me The Rebel RT (Cornet Obolensky x Baloubet Du Rouet).
The best Britain could hope for is a score of 16 in round one, and it all depended on Olli Fletcher. He gave it his best shot, but just one mistake, again at the final element of the combination, handed Silke Scheiber’s 10-year-old Cassanova One BVL Z (Codex One x Air Jordan) four faults to leave Great Britain in seventh place on 20 faults. Sweden sat at the top of the board on four faults at the halfway stage with a fence in hand over Austria and Italy. But fortunes switched quickly in round two.
Holly bounced back with a clear round on Fruselli to boost Team Audevard’s hopes, and Jodie again made only one error with La Gupardie to return on four faults.
“It was a shock when Fruselli had 12 faults as pathfinder, but he came back well under Holly, and Jodie was very unlucky – she jumped the combination well second time out. It was a flat six strides and you had to choose to go on six or seven strides; all the elements came down a lot. Jodie was so unlucky second time out, La Gupardie was just on the tape at the water, but she’s getting to grips with her horse,” said Di.
Again, Max completed the course with Me The Rebel on 12, picked up on the latter half of the course for the discard score, and Britain’s fate lay with Olli. He made a tremendous effort to pull a clear round out of the bag on Cassanova One BVL Z for Team Audevard to finish on just four faults in round two, giving Britain a 24-fault total to move up to sixth spot.
“Max is riding a young horse at this level and this was the toughest track the horse has jumped. It was tough, but this is what the EEF Series is for,” added Di. “Olli was unlucky at the combination first time out and came back with a brilliant clear round. All the horses improved and we came away with a lot of positives – it is good in this Nations Cup series every team gets to go twice and put the wrongs, right.”
Early leaders Sweden added 12 faults to their round one four to finish on 16 and in second to Belgium, who delivered a zero score second time out to win the competition on 12 faults. Austria and The Netherlands both finished on a 20-fault total, the former taking third place by almost three seconds from The Netherlands in fourth. France totalled 24 faults for fifth with Great Britain’s Team Audevard in sixth, some six seconds in arrears.
CSIO4*-NC Longines EEF Series Final – Nations Cup, Avenches, Switzerland – 6 September 2026
1st Belgium – 12
2nd Sweden – 16
3rd Austria – 20
4th The Netherlands – 20
5th France – 24
6th Great Britain – 24
Holly Smith & Fruselli – 12/0
Jodie Hall-McAteer & La Gupardie – 4/4
Max Routledge & Me The Rebel RT – (12)/(12)
Olli Fletcher & Cassanova One BVL Z – 4/0
Image: PHOTO Bujard/Olli Fletcher Instagram
