Harry Charles scoops Second Place in the CSI5* King George V Grand Prix at the Longines Royal International Horse Show.
Monday 01 August 2022
Belgium’s Gilles Thomas had his first five-star win today when claiming the historic Longines King George V Gold Cup at the Longines Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead, riding Aretino 13. It was the first time a Belgian rider has lifted the iconic trophy since Jacques Misonne’s win in 1931.
Eight riders made it through to the jump-off in the Grand Prix including Great Britain’s Harry Charles and Robert Whitaker as Kelvin Bywater’s cleverly designed 13 fence, 1.60m track caught out many of the sport’s leading names. In the second round, Robert Whitaker initially led with a fast-four fault round on Caroline Blatchford’s 13 year-old gelding Evert, before Ireland’s Trevor Breen delivered the first double clear on Gonzalo to move into the top spot. Things then got exciting when Brazil’s Marlon Modolo Zanotelli riding Harwich VDL went nearly 1.5sec quicker to go ahead of Trevor.
Next up was Harry Charles, who was hoping for his first victory in the class that his father Peter won in 2009. Riding the experienced 16-year-old gelding Borsato, owned by Sarah Hancock and Pembroke Holdings, Harry delivered a brilliant second clear round in a time of 51.22sec. But British hopes for a home win were dashed when the Gilles, the last rider to go, shaved an impressive 3sec off the time to take the €49,500 first prize.
Harry Charles, who heads to Herning next week for the ECCO FEI World Championships, was pragmatic after just missing out on the title. “I came here with the goal to try to win this Grand Prix with the horse – he’s 16 so he has all the experience now, and he’s just getting better with age. He jumped the first round fantastic, and it was a cool course to jump, actually – we jump in a lot of small sand rings with delicate little poles, and it was nice to have some proper jumps,” he commented
1st Thomas Giles (BEL) & Aretino 13 – 0/0 – 48.21 seconds
2nd Harry Charles (GBR) & Borsato – 0/0 - 51.22 seconds
3rd Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (BRA) & Harwich VDL – 0/0 – 52.03 seconds
4th Trevor Breen (IRE) & Gonzalo – 0/0 – 53.46 seconds
5th Robert Whitaker (GBR) & Evert – 0/4 – 50.20 seconds
Full results can be found here.
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