Brits on top in pivotal Poland event

It was British girls vs Aussie boys in the fourth leg of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing in Poland – with the girls coming out on top.

Young

The three-man Australian team led after dressage, with Andrew Hoy and Cheeky Calimbo taking individual lead. The Brits were trailing third, but their faster times on the cross-country saw them take a two-penalty lead going into the final phase.

Izzy Taylor (KBIS Starburst), Emily Llewellyn (Greenlawn Sky High) and Sarah Bullimore (Valentino V) all jumped clear. Jodie Amos had an unfortunate four down, but provided the drop score, which meant the team maintained their lead with a total score of 150.3pen.

Pivotal weekend

Izzy also placed second individually, and was the only rider to finish on her dressage score (48,20pen).

“It was good practice for the pressure stakes,” said Britain’s team manager Philip Surl. “The riders were all very professional.

“This is quite a pivotal weekend for us, as we have 12 places at Blair Castle [the European Eventing Championships in September] as host nation, and will be announcing the longlist of riders soon.”

Andrew Hoy, Kevin McNab (Casperelli) and Chris Burton (Haruzac) took second place (168.7pen).

The remaining nations didn’t have the best results, with 10 riders eliminated on the cross-country and three retiring. According to Philip the cross-country was “stiffer than usual”

“To have four such good performances [from Britain] and then three clear rounds next day was very satisfactory,” he said.

Young riders

Belgium finished third, with the Karin Donckers taking the individual honours on Fletcha van‘t Verahof. Germany was fourth, witha team of young riders,Sweden fifth, the Netherlands sixthand the host nation seventh.

The next leg of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing is in Aachen in August.