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Triple gold for Great Britain’s pony teams


  • Great Britain’s teams have won gold in all three disciplines at the FEI European Championships for Ponies in Malmö, Sweden (5-9 August).

    The dressage team made history on Thursday (6 August) by taking team gold for the first time at this level.

    Team member Phoebe Peters and SL Lucci added another world record to their collection with 81.39% to win the individual test on Saturday (8 August).

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    The pair also broke their own world record in the freestyle test yesterday (9 August) with a winning score of 85.825%.

    They already hold the world record in the pony FEI team test.

    The team was made up of Phoebe, Rebecca Bell on Valido’s Sunshine, Clare Hole on Rembrandt and Isobel Berrington on DHI Langar.

    Their total score of 222.87% put them a less than one percent ahead of second placed Germany.

    Denmark took team bronze.

    Britain’s showjumpers swiftly followed the dressage team’s success to collect another team gold on Friday (7 August) morning with just one fault.

    Ireland took silver with three faults and France came third with five faults.

    Jodie Hall Mcateer on Tixylix, Jack Whitaker on Zodianne van de Doevenbree, Jessica Hewitt on Ammanvalley Santino and Charlotte Ash on Aughnashammer made up the gold medal-winning team.

    Jodie, 15, and Sarah Mendoza’s Tixylix also claimed individual silver.

    “Jodie has ridden with determination and a calm head all week,” said chef d’equipe Matthew Lanni.

    “She has jumped six rounds throughout the championships and to only have one fence down across them all is quite a feat.

    “Her performance in the final jump-off, under tremendous pressure, only serves to show the talent that she is and the great partnership she has built with Tixylix.”

    Tixylix was previously partnered by Jessica Mendoza, who has been a frequent member of British senior Nations Cup teams this year.

    These medals take Tixylix’s pony European Championships medal total to seven.

    Meanwhile, Team GBR’s eventers (pictured top) moved up from team silver following the cross-country to make it a clean sweep for the pony teams in all three disciplines.

    All team members – Thomas Tulloch on Spirit VI, Saffron Cresswell on Cuffesgrange Little Ric, Phoebe Locke on Quay and Harriet Wright on Foxtown Cufflynx – showjumped clear to secure the gold on a score of 138.7pen.

    Thomas, Saffron and Phoebe also took individual fourth, fifth and ninth places respectively.

    Gary Parsonage, chef d’equipe and chairman of the Charles Owen pony selectors, said he “couldn’t have asked for more”.

    “The tables really turned for us when a good French score was disqualified during the horse inspection meaning a less strong score had to be taken, but our guys still had to hold their nerve,” he said.

    “Thomas was so close to [individual] bronze but he couldn’t have done any more for us.”

    For full report don’t miss this week’s issue of H&H out Thursday (13 August).

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