competition news
Millie Allen wins pony team silver at European Championships
her mother’s (Julie) 14 year-old chestnut mare Some Like It Hot under the Team Fairfax banner.
The British Team quartet of Millie Allen, Emily Ward, Faye Adams and Amy Inglis
It was 15 year-old Millie Allen with her father’s (Peter) 10 year-old bay mare Song Girl who brought home an individual medal for Great Britain at the Pony European Championships held in Arezzo, Italy.
With Irish rider Susan Fitzpatrick having secured her Gold medal finish by finishing all the qualifying competitions on 4 penalties, it left five riders needing to go into a third and final timed jump off to decide the Silver and Bronze medal positions. Great Britain had three riders in the mix, joined by one rider from both Denmark and Germany, all of them on 8 penalties.
The three British riders were 14 year- old Emily Ward from Cheshire with her father’s (Nick) 8 year-old chestnut gelding King Mac, Amy Inglis aged 16 years from Haywards Heath with her mother’s (Claire) 14 year-old chestnut mare Lea du Genier accompanied by Cleveland-based Millie Allen and Song Girl. Emily, who was early to go in the jump off, laid down the gauntlet by jumping clear in a time of 33.52 seconds. With two medals at stake, competition was fierce and there wasn’t a rider after her
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not prepared to try and beat her time, whilst also hoping that they could leave the fences untouched. Germany’s Lars Volmer alongside Amy Inglis both incurred 4 penalties when a pole fell, relegating them to 5th and 6th place respectively. It was Millie Allen who managed to put in the fastest clear by stopping the clock at 32.91 seconds, a time that most would have thought absolutely impossible, such was Millie’s turn of speed. Her performance was enough to secure her the Individual Silver, relegating Jessica Toelstang from Denmark with a clear in 33.28 seconds into Bronze just ahead of Emily. Chef d’Equipe Katrina Moore commented “They rode well today and they came back strong after Saturday’s Team Final. It was unfortunate for Emily to have to go early in the jump off; she rode a very mature round and put the pressure on. It was then a case of throwing caution to the wind to try and beat her time whilst jumping clear, something that Millie did exceptionally well and her place on the podium is extremely well deserved.” In the Pony Team competition, Millie competed alongside Amy, Emily and Faye Adams, aged 15, from Halesowen with
Looking incredibly strong from the outset and with all four riders having put in solid performances, Great Britain were in pole position after the first round, heading the leaderboard on an zero penalty score. Jumping in reverse order, Great Britain were the last of the ten nations to come forward with the competition taking the same format as the Nations Cup competitions, where only the three best scores count, allowing one of the team members rounds to be a drop score. With rider after rider then collecting penalties, each of the teams in contention found themselves accruing points. Germany, France and Ireland were sitting in joint 2nd place on 4 penalties and France and Ireland in joint 5th on 8 penalties. With just two fences dividing the top six places there was all to play for and none of the nations were going to let the opportunity of winning a medal out of their grasp easily. With all of the nations having put forward their third riders, the three nations set to battle it out for Gold were Germany, Great Britain and France - if their final rider jumped clear enabling them to drop score their first riders penalties. As Germany’s final rider passed the finish line having jumped clear it meant that they carried just their 4 penalties from the morning and it was heart-in-the- mouth time waiting for the final French rider to go. Unbelievably, their fourth team member who had jumped clear in the morning was eliminated, making it a two way fight between ourselves and Germany. Entering the arena, Millie knew she had to jump clear if we were to go into a third and deciding round with Germany. Looking set to do just this, it was gut-wrenching to see the flag go up at the water to indicate she had touched the tape despite leaving all the fences standing, thus incurring 4 penalties. So after a vintage competition, Great Britain took the Team Silver position with Germany in Gold and Ireland in Bronze on their finish score of 12 penalties. France dropped down into 4th position on an end score of 16 penalties. Talking after the competition GB Pony Chef d’Equipe, Katrina Moore said “It’s always upsetting to be that close to a Gold Medal and to lose it from your grasp at the last minute, but it shouldn’t detract from the tremendous achievement we’ve had here today. We have won a team silver against incredibly strong teams and Germany were always going to be the one to beat. All four members of the team along with our fifth rider Alex Gill have been have been consistent throughout the qualifying competitions and with all of five of them qualified for the individual competitions too. I’m incredibly proud of everyone and their performances, I really am.”
Individual Results - Gold Susan Fitzpatrick / Rock Dee Jay; Silver Millie Allen / Song Girl; Bronze Jessica Toelstang / Nikolina; 4th Emily Ward / King Mac; 6th Amy Inglis / Lea du Genier; 8th Faye Adams / Some Like It Hot.
Further information about the show and the competition schedule can be found by visiting
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Equine Page 29
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