British showjumpers enjoy another lucrative week in Florida
British showjumpers are celebrating another successful week at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.
Scott Brash and Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof topped the $200,000 ( £127,806) FEI World Cup Grand Prix CSI 4* on Saturday night (10 March).
Scott beat America’s Richard Spooner by just 3/10ths of a second, finishing on a time of 37.27secs – compared with Richard’s 37.52secs round.
“This was definitely one of my best wins,” Scott said. “I have not won a big grand prix like this – it’s high up there.”
Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof is a ten-year-old SBS gelding owned by Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham.
He is a new mount for Scott as of January but the pair have already had great success together, including a win in Thursday’s (8 March) $32,000 ( £20,422) WEF challenge cup.
And in yesterday’s (11 March) $32,000 ( £20,422) Suncast 1.50m championship class, Britain secured a one-two finish.
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Nick Skelton and Beverley Widdowson’s Unique took first place with Tina Fletcher and Unique IX in second.
With 57 entries starting the class, only six went clear and the jump-off saw only two clear rounds.
Skelton said of the eleven-year-old KWPN gelding Unique: “He felt really good. He has done the 1.50 [class] every week and he has been great.
“I didn’t think I was particularly quick, but I was clear and that was the main thing.”
Tina Fletcher’s Unique IX is also an eleven-year-old KWPN gelding.
“He was good, I was really pleased with him,” she said.
“I have had him for about a year [and] he is usually very consistent.”
The FTI Consulting festival – which runs for three months – has seen several leading British showjumpers take up temporary residence in Florida to get some valuable mileage over big courses ahead of Olympic selection.
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Flora Watkins spent several years working for BBC News before moving into print, first as a staffer at Horse & Hound, before going freelance.