British team wins eventing Nations Cup leg
British eventers claimed a narrow victory over France in the 2nd leg of the FEI Nations Cup in Ballindenisk, Ireland at the weekend (11-13 April).
4 clear rounds cross-country helped Team GB finish on 138.4pen ahead of France on 141.9.
Izzy Taylor led the team, finishing in 2nd place by adding just 0.4 time-penalties to her dressage score with Allercombe Ellie (pictured top).
The other 3 members of the British team were Rosalind Canter, 5th with Zenshera, 8th-placed Lucy Wiegersma and Mr Chunky and Nicky Roncoroni with Stonedge, 19th.
Team manager Philip Surl said: “Izzy as ever was a total professional and is fast becoming a team stalwart and Ros Canter had a really great first Nations Cup team outing finishing in 5th place.
“Lucy’s Mr Chunky did a strong test, but sadly had a couple down, while Nicky’s very young but talented ride was excellent cross-country. Despite being the most inexperienced of the bunch, he is off to a really great start.”
The win leaves Britain in 2nd place overall in the series on 19 points with France just leading the way on 20. The Netherlands are in 3rd place with 9 points.
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The 3rd leg of the series will be on home ground at Houghton Hall next month (22 – 25 May).
The CICO Nations Cup squad is supported by the Equestrian World Class Programme which has been funded through Exchequer and National Lottery funds, via UK Sport since 1998; visit http://www.equestrianteamgbr.co.uk/ for more information.
A full report from Ballindenisk in this week’s magazine — out this Thursday (17 April).
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.