Tina Cook and Oliver Townend to lead British eventers at Aachen

The British riders lining up in the eventing competition at the World Equestrian Festival at CHIO Aachen, Germany (20-21 July) are:

• Sarah Bullimore and Christopher and Susan Gillespie and Brett Bullimore’s Reve Du Rouet
• Tina Cook with Elizabeth Murdoch’s Billy The Red
• Imogen Murray and Aivar Ward and M S Team’s Ivar Gooden
• Gemma Tattersall and Clive Smith’s Pamero 4
• Oliver Townend with Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan’s Ballaghmor Class. Direct reserve horses: Cooley SRS or Cooley Master Class owned by Angela Hislop or Sally-Anne Egginton’s Cillnabradden Evo.

Four of these pairs will compete as a team with the fifth starting as an individual.

Aachen is not part of the official FEI eventing Nations Cup competition this year, but this CICO3* will still be a prestigious competition and an important step in the selection process or preparation for the World Equestrian Games (WEG) for many countries. Reve Du Rouet, Billy The Red and Ballaghmor Class are all on the British long-list for WEG with the horses they are taking to Aachen, while Pamero 4 and Ivar Gooden are all on the reserve list.

Germany will start as favourites in Aachen, fielding a team consisting of Sandra Auffarth (Viamant Du Matz), Michael Jung (La Biosthetique-Sam FBW), Ingrid Klimke (SAP Hale Bob OLD) and Julia Krajewski (who has Chipmunk FRH and Samourai Du Thot both listed and will ride one on the team and one as an individual).

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France, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden will also field teams at Aachen, with individuals competing from the Netherlands, Japan, Denmark and Belgium.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

Full report from Aachen in H&H next week (issue dated 26 July).

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.