Three 2007 gold medal winners return to young rider eventing squad

Three members of last year’s gold medal-winning team return to the British squad for the 2008 young rider European Championships at Kreuth, Germany (25-28 September).

Georgie Spence, Emily Galbraith and Dani Cuomo are the returning squad members, although only Dani rides the same horse as last year, her own 10-year-old Ballin Willow (pictured).

These three are joined on the squad by Ben Hobday, an individual at last year’s championships, Emily Llewellyn, who moves up from the junior ranks where she won three medals, and Sarah Stretton, who wears the British colours for the first time.

The full Jump-sponsored squad is:

• Dani Cuomo, 19, and her own Ballin Willow
• Emily Galbraith, 20, and her own Timing
• Ben Hobday, 20, and his own Uptons Who
• Emily Llewellyn, 19, and her mother Cindy’s Pardon Me II
• Georgie Spence, 19, and and Christopher Jenkins’ Skylight
• Sarah Stretton, 21, and Billie Childs’ Lazy Acres Skip On

Reserves:

• Sophie Griffith-Jones, 20, and her own Seaboy
• Alice Pearson, 20, and Tricia Wilkins’ Beau Bear

One surprise omission from the squad is double junior European champion Laura Collett with Fernhill Sox, who were second at the final trial, but this is down to a problem with qualifications — for a championship qualifications have to be achieved in the current or preceeding year and Fernhill Sox has not done a CCI** since 2006.

Laura has now re-routed to Blenheim, for which she and Fernhill Sox are qualified.

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.