Ben Hobday riding Mulrys Error GBR during the Dressage phase of The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials at Badminton in Gloucestershire, UK on 4th May 2016
A “minor injury” to Sallie Rylie’s Mulrys Error has ruled the popular horse and his equally popular rider Ben Hobday out of travelling to the USA, where they were due to make their British Nations Cup debut at The Plains on 8-9 July.
Ben’s team-mate James Sommerville will not make the trip either as his own and his mother Jennifer’s horse Talent has also incurred a minor injury.
“It is anticipated that both horses will soon be out competing again in the not too distant future. We thank both riders and their owners for making the horses available,” said a statement from British Eventing.
USA-based Brit Justine Dutton has been boosted up from the reserve spot and will now join the team on Jak My Style. Emily Llewellyn has been called up and will make the trip to the USA with Emirati Nightsky. She said on Facebook that her whole team is “super excited”.
The other two team members, Matthew Heath and his own and Hazel Livesey’s One Of A Kind II and Nicky Roncoroni with her mother Janey and Lorna McWilliam’s Watts Burn, are unchanged.
Mark Phillips on the dangers of tracks missing their designated rating
This is the second year the USA has hosted a leg of the Nations Cup at The Plains. Britain finished third of the three teams competing last year, represented by Jodie Amos (Wise Crack, third), Ben Way (Willows Tipster, 26th), Justine Dutton (Huck Finn, 36th) and Ros Canter (Zenshera, eliminated for a fall across country). The USA won, with Canada second.
Britain currently holds first place in the 2017 Nations Cup overall standings, after finishing second at all three competitions so far (Strzegom, Houghton and Tattersalls). The next fixture on the calendar is Wiener Neustadt in Austria (30 June-2 July), followed by The Plains, Aachen in Germany (19-23 July), Haras du Pin (10-13 August), Waregem in Belgium (22-24 September) and Boekelo in the Netherlands (5-8 October).
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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.
