Young British showjumpers win Nations Cup

A British team of FEI Nations Cup newbies has won the second leg of the Furusiyya Europe Division 2 league in Odense, Denmark.

‘Disastrous’

As Britain is in Europe Division 1, this competition was used as an opportunity to give up-and-coming riders a chance to compete for their country.

Di Lampard was the acting chef d’equipe, overseeing a team comprising Jessie Drea (22) from West Sussex, Tim Page (25) from Suffolk, Holly Gilliott (25) from Leicestershire and Harriet Nuttall (24) from Somerset.

Despite it being Holly and Harriet’s first time in a FEI Nations Cup, both jumped clear in the opening round, while Jessie had one down with Touchable. Tim Page and Santa Cruise – who won the International Stairway competition last year – had a “disastrous” round, knocking up 16 faults.

This provided the drop score, which meant Britain was in second place at the half-way stage with just four faults.

Improve performance

In the second round, Holly jumped another clear with Dougie Douglas, while Tim made a great recovery to have just one down. Harriet and A Touch of Imperious also had four faults, which meant the team had done enough to win the event on a total of 12, and Jessie didn’t have to jump again.

“I think it is great that the competition now allows for four riders coming back for the second round because it gives them the opportunity to improve on their first performance,” said Di.

In joint second place on 16 faults was Belgium, Switzerland and France. Sweden was fifth (20 penalties), Australia was sixth (24), Ireland seventh (28), while the Netherlands took eighth place (36).

Holly, who jumped one of four double-clears, had take a break from competing in 2012 after breaking her ankle, which needed seven operations. She came back stronger than ever, but credits her trainer Di for her place on the team

Dream come true

“Di helped me to get to Arezzo [Italy] as the sixth person last year and I was told that if I went to Spain for the Sunshine Tour and did well I would be considered for the Nations Cups,” said Holly.

“The selectors told me what to do and I delivered, so they stuck to their word and here I am. It was always my dream to ride for Great Britain and I can hardly believe we won – I’m still waiting to wake up!”

Di was delighted with the whole team’s performance: “The sky is the limit; we have a lot of young talent. The guys were brilliant today and it all came together at the right time. All the team needed was a bit of my stability and I am so proud of them. The good spirit we have was the key.“