Eventing in numbers: a new 2015 record dressage score and Townend’s double
Dates: 7–9 August, 23rd week of the 2015 season
The basics
Number of British Eventing (BE) fixtures: four (The Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe, Hendersyde Park, Chilham Castle (2), Skipton (2))
Number of BE sections run this week: 49
Number of FEI sections run in Britain this week: two
Event with most sections: Chilham Castle and Skipton — 16 sections
Number of BE sections run so far this year: 1711
Number of combined BE and FEI sections run so far this year: 1755
Number of BE fixtures run so far this year: 114
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Best dressage scores
Gatcombe: 22.5, for Noah Brook and Deo Volente III in the new novice restricted championship, the Corinthian Cup
Hendersyde Park: 20.9, for Wills Oakden riding Blackcol Lotte, who won the intermediate novice section N, despite eight showjumping faults
Chilham Castle: 21.5, scored by Sophie Forbes and Tricky Johnie, finishing second in the BE100 section M with four showjumping faults
Skipton: 17, for Eliza Stoddart on two rides (Future Gravitas who won the five-year-old section D and Future Illicit Heights who finished second in the BE100 section N)
Speedy gonzales
1: number of pairs who beat the 6min 28sec CIC3* optimum time at Gatcombe — Oliver Townend and Armada finished fourth
0: number of pairs who beat the 5min 51sec optimum time at Gatcombe over the intermediate course. Oliver Townend and Note Worthy were fastest, winning section B with 1.2 time-faults
2: number of pairs inside the 5min 8sec BE100 optimum time at Hendersyde; the fastest were Henry Cooper riding Soprano D L Henbage and Katy Thomson riding Mohawk
And also…
31.5: the best FEI dressage score this year, scored by Andrew Hoy and Rutherglen in the CIC3* at Gatcombe. However the pair were eliminated after a fall across country
4: the number of pairs who finished the four-year-old section D1 at Chilham Castle
84: percentage of starters in the British Open Championship who scored below 50 in the dressage
2: the number of wins claimed by Oliver Townend at Gatcombe (British Novice and Intermediate Championships), matching William Fox-Pitt’s 2014 achievement. It was Oliver’s third victory in the intermediate championship and his fourth in the novice championship, but the first time he has won both in the same year
100: percentage of starters who completed the BE100 section J at Hendersyde Park
2: the number of Antipodean riders taking the top two places in the British Open Championship at Gatcombe
12: the number of marks by which Oliver Townend and Note Worthy won Gatcombe’s British Intermediate Championship
100: percentage of starters who finished the BE100 section B at Skipton
7: the number of British riders finishing within the top 10 in the British Open Championship at Gatcombe
2: the number of Oliver Townend’s rides to finish within the top two in Gatcombe’s British Novice Championship
19: the age of Noah Brook, who won the Corinthian Cup at Gatcombe by 10 marks
Further afield
28: the age of Kerry Millikin’s 1996 Olympic partner Out and About before he sadly passed last week due to old age
15.9: the margin by which Britain’s pony European riders won the team gold last week in Sweden
Full reports from Gatcombe and the pony European Championships in H&H this week, out Thursday, 13 August 2015.
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