Great Britain has won the opening round of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, Spain, and the team now goes through to Sunday’s (1 October) eight-way decider in pole position.
The squad have clearly bounced back from a disappointing European Showjumping Championships in Milan and they were the only nation from the 15 starters to complete on a zero score on Thursday afternoon (28 September). First-round clears came from pathfinder Tim Gredley with his championship partner Medoc De Toxandria, Robert Whitaker on his King George hero Vermento, and anchorman Harry Charles riding Ann Thompson’s 12-year-old Aralyn Blue, who is looked after by Georgia Ellwood. Lily Attwood’s 12-fault round with Cor-Leon VD Vlierbeek Z was the day’s drop score, but chef d’equipe Di Lampard said she was “absolutely delighted with all four of them”.
“It’s shown progression from Milan – the two riders [Tim and Harry] have come out much more confident and delivered,” she said on day one of the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona.
“We’re getting the girls in the mix too!” she added, including fifth team rider Sienna Charles, younger sister of Harry. “Harry is masterly in anchorman position – a bit didn’t go his way in Milan, but hasn’t he bounced back? That was a near-perfect round.”
‘It’s an honour to be picked for the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona’
Tim Gredley was full of praise for his 11-year-old Medoc De Toxandria, who is looked after by groom Paul Drew. The duo with were part of the victorious Nations Cup team at Hickstead, as well as the European Showjumping Championships team last month.
“When he’s jumping like that, it’s really, really enjoyable,” said Tim. “He’s so careful and he has so much scope – he makes my job much easier.
“That was probably one of the best rounds of the year. It’s all about Nations Cups and representing my country – I really enjoy the format and all the pressure that comes with it. He’s obviously jumped a lot this year and he’s been picked for the final, which is a big honour, so I’m just glad I could pull a clear out of the bag.”
Thursday’s victory puts Great Britain in a coveted final draw of the eight teams who will jump again on Sunday. Joining them in the concluding round of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final in Barcelona will be Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, who all finished on a team score of four.
Title-holders Belgium and USA will also be in the mix after their eight-fault tallies in Thursday’s opening round, while 12-faulters Ireland, France and Mexico had to be split by time, meaning Ireland and France were celebrating, while Mexico will instead head to Saturday night’s Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final Challenge Cup for the seven lower ranked nations.
They will be joined by the Netherlands, who had an uncharacteristically high-scoring day, hosts Spain, Italy, Australia, Argentina and Uzbekistan.
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