Localrider Magazine
Dressage • Showjumping • Eventing • Showing • Endurance www.localrider.co.uk
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September 2014
Packed full of Summer Show Reports ●
Longines Royal International Horse Show
● Cranleigh Show ● Chilham International Horse Trials ● Endurance GB Hornshill Ride ● Sunshine Tour ● Hursley Pony Club Open Show
and many more…
PLUS
All our usual local News & Features 09
September 2014 • VOLUME XIV NUMBER 8
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WIN a Pair of Tickets to Opening Night at Spanish Riding School Vienna Tour
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HICKSTEAD ROYAL INTERNATIONAL REPORT
The jubilant American Team, winners of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup
Longines Royal International Horse Show The All England Jumping Course, Hickstead Wednesday 30th July to Sunday 3rd August 2014
Poppy Carter and Rotherwood Rainmaker took the Oggy Oggy Pasty Supreme Show Pony Championship and the Underwood Supreme Ridden Pony Championship
Words by Julia Longland and photography by Sam Lamb, Rachael Bannister and Localrider Trevor Breen and Adventure De Kannan won the Templant Events Queen Elizabeth II Cup
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merican riders claimed two of Britain’s three classic trophies at the Longines Royal International Horse Show staged on Hickstead’s spectacular ground, the Longines King George V Gold Cup and the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup for the Edward, Prince of Wales Trophy, but the horse who captured the imagination of the capacity crowd was a European, the 14-year-old Belgian bred one-eyed Adventure de Kannan. This lion-hearted adventurer landed the Templant Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Irishman Trevor Breen by slicing 5/100ths of a second from his nearest rival in a cliff-hanger of a jump-off and it was hard to say which was braver: the rider who dared to take a longer route than the other five and still finished faster, or his courageous steed ‘Addy’, the superhorse completing a rare Hickstead double after his triumph in the Equestrian.com British Derby a month earlier. The Derby/Queen’s Cup double has only been achieved once before, 41 years ago by Alison Dawes and Mr.Banbury, (Queen’s Cup winner in 1969 as The Maverick VII) who won the 1973 Derby and went on to divide the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with the 1972 Olympic Individual Silver medallists Ann Moore and Psalm. Now the Irish partnership have added their names to that roll of honour, although Adventure de Kannan seems likely to stand alone in the one-eyed category. He had to have his right eye removed fifteen months ago due to a persistent condition, but his performance remains exceptional. “Addy is a phenomenal, unique horse,” said Breen, 34, “every time he gives you his best, he has all the attributes to enable him to win these different classes. When you have a horse as good as this you have to win everything you can, it’s another tick in the box and,” added Breen, “I couldn’t let my brother have one up on me.” In fact Shane Breen is one up on his brother as he won the Queen’s Cup in 2008 (Carmena Z) and in 2013 (Zarnita). Six combinations went clear in the first round of the Queen’s Cup from a field of 25, with British Nations Cup rider Robert Whitaker setting a racing pace in the decider of 43.25 seconds on USA Today. Neither Philip Miller on Basic or American Laura Kraut on Nouvelle could get near that time, while David Simpson faulted into the double on his mare Hermione V, but Breen set the arena alight by
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apparently taking a longer route round the outside of the water jump after the double. Incredibly, he and Addy whizzed home 5/100ths of a second in front of Whitaker. “I went round the water because he didn’t jump the double all that well in the first round, as it was on his blind side,” explained Breen, “and cutting inside would have upset his rhythm. He’s quick with a huge stride, it suited him better to go round.” Adventure de Kannan adds the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Cup to his other Hickstead triumphs: the 2009 British Speed Derby, the 2012 Amlin Plus Eventing Grand Prix and All England Grand Prix and the 2014 Derby, quite a haul.
William Funnell and Billy Angelo win the Bunn Leisure Trophy
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup
The American team scored a brilliant victory in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup to win with a fence in hand over joint seconds Germany and the Netherlands, but the decision hung in the balance at the end of round two when Beezie Madden had to jump clear on Cortes C for the USA, or the two closest teams would have forced a three-way jump-off. Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland did not have long to wait for his first ever Cup triumph as double Olympic team gold medallist Madden did it in style. The USA had led at halftime with a zero score and then confirmed their form with double clear rounds from Mclain Ward on Rothchild and Beezie Madden on Cortes C, to finish with a 4 fault total. The mare Cylana and 20-year-old Reed Kessler, the discard score with 8 in round one, improved to collect just 4, while Margie Goldstein-Engle and Royce, crucially clear the first time, had the discard 4 in round two. The British quartet were completely out of luck with no clear rounds and relentless rails falling to be seventh of the 8 teams at halftime with 16 faults, and could only improve to equal sixth with France on a total of 28 faults at the finish. Brtish Chef d’Equipe Rob Hoekstra, although disappointed by the home side’s result, was pleased with Jessie Drea, who had 4 faults on Touchable at the eleventh, a vertical, each time. The promising 22-year-old Sussex rider Drea was contesting only her second 5 star Nations Cup, but looking to the future did not crack under the pressure of being the new girl on show before her home crowd. Pathfinder Guy Williams’ Zaire, who improved from two mistakes to one by round two, was rated by Hoekstra as “still fairly novice” and anchor man Ben Maher’s mare Wings Sublime, who spooked at the water each time, was “a bit green there.” The horse that British hopes had rested on to save the day, Robert Whitaker’s stallion Catwalk IV, was completely off form with the discard score of 12 in both rounds. “He felt a bit dead, I don’t know if he was just off colour,” reported Whitaker. The day belonged to Ridland and his side, home a distance ahead of the field for the USA’s first Cup success in Britain’s historic Edward Prince of Wales Trophy since 2007. “I felt we had been knocking on the door recently, I never got to ride on a winning team so this was a first for me, and it was great to get Beezie back from her broken collar bone.” Madden, whose left collar bone was plated and screwed after a competition fall in May, said: “Cortes C felt fantastic, it is great to be back.”
Catwalk returns to form
The day after Britain’s Cup setback, Catwalk IV had a form reversal to sparkle with a double clear round in the Bunn Leisure Salver, outpacing Whitaker’s team mate Guy Williams and Golddigger by 1.71 seconds in the jump-off, confirming that horses are an enigma. “I only jumped him in this because of the way he went in the Nations Cup yesterday,” said Whitaker. “I hadn’t intended to win, but then long distances on the jump-off course suited his big stride. I can’t understand his poor form in the Cup, 12 faults per round is his worst ever result. He had a double clear in the St.Gallen Nations Cup and a clear and a time fault at Falsterbo this season. Today, by this class, he was back to his usual springy self.”
Trevor Breen and Classic III win the Winter B&C Championship
Dreamflight Ladies day at Hickstead Martin Clunes pictured with Allister Hood and Hoppy Jumping, winners of the British Horse Society Supreme Ridden Horse. The combination had earlier won the Lightweight Hunter and Hunter Championship
Bunn Leisure Trophy
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William Funnell produced an immaculate clear round on the 11-year-old Billy Angelo in the two phase Bunn Leisure Trophy to continue straight on into the jump off and finish a mere 23/100ths of a second quicker than Mclain Ward and Cannavaro, with Ben Maher third on Diva ll. “He has had six months off with a bone bruise on the bottom of his off fore fetlock joint, and has only been back six weeks,” said Funnell. “He wasn’t lame, but lost form and flamboyance and it took a while to find out the cause. I bought SEPTEMBER 2014 Localrider 11
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