Lance Whitehouse and Rhodos win the FEI 2* Keysoe Int’l Grand Prix
Thursday 18 July 2013
The sun shone on competitors at the inaugural International Show at The college, Keysoe in Bedfordshire yesterday and none more so than on Lance Whitehouse from Melton Mowbray.
The 1.45m Grand Prix with it’s £21,000 prize fund was hard fought. The course, which was designed by Kelvin Bywater asked a number of technical questions of both horse and rider. So much so that only three of the forty six competitors managed to jump clear in the first round.
The combination at the halfway mark on the course caught many out as did the final fence, a vertical on a related distance. The course included two of the London 2012 Olympic fences, one of which was the eye-catching Red Post Box fence with the penny black depicted on it. Drawing admiration from the many spectators sat on the viewing banks watching the classes, they also drew comment from the riders who were thrilled to be given the opportunity of jumping them.
Two clears were produced early on in the competition. One from Huddersfield based William Whitaker and Elisabeth Fredlund’s Upperclass II with another clear shortly following from Shropshire based Irish rider Dave Quigley amd Erasmus VD Heffinck. It was then a long wait until Lance Whitehouse and Jaine Robertson’s chestnut gelding Rhodos produced the third clear of the competition towards the end of the first round.
The jump off which saw competitors test themselves across a shorter and twisting course with a long run to the last fence saw all three riders determined to secure the lion share of the prize fund. William Whitaker who was first to go of the three set off on a pace to ensure his time would be a quick one knowing he had two strong riders to come behind him. However, an unfortunate fence down saw him incur four penalties but within an incredibly fast time of 52.84 seconds. Next to go Dave Quigley knowing there was a chance to win the class if he jumped clear opted to go for a slower time and take the risk. Achieving what he’d set out to do he broke the finish line with zero penalties albeit in a slower time of 61.77 seconds.
With all to play for Lance opted to focus on a clear without taking the risk of too much pace. His strategy paid off as he managed to jump clear whilst shaving almost 3 seconds from Dave’s time to stop the clock at 58.17 seconds.
Talking with show organiser Simon Bates after the prize giving he commented “It has been fantastic to see such high calibre competition at Keysoe. This has been my first step into running an International Show and the support that the riders and everyone involved has shown has been tremendous. I can honestly say it’s been an out and out success and I’m so pleased that we took the step forward to running a show at this level. To run a show and have so many riders acknowledging it makes it all worthwhile and I look forward to the ‘Keysoe International’ becoming a mainstay in the competition calendar”.
Further information on the show and full results can be found by visiting www.keysoe.com
Covering of the Grand Prix at Keysoe will be broadcast on Horse & Country TV in the near future. Please visit www.britishshowjumping.co.uk and click on ‘whats on tv’ for broadcast times as they become available.
Grand Prix Results:
1. Lance Whitehouse/Rhodos (0/0)
2. Dave Quigley/Erasmus VD Heffinck (0/0)
3. William Whitaker / Upperclass II (0/4)
4. Graham Gillespie / Veldheer (4/-)
5. Steven Whitaker / Royal Rose II (4/-)
6. David Simpson / Heroine IV (4/-)
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