competition news Team GB fourth at European Dressage Championships
The culmination of the dressage competition at the Longines FEI European Championships welcomed Great Britain’s Spencer Wilton and Carl Hester back to the arena. With fifteen combinations forward to contest the individual medals, both combinations produced fabulous tests in the Ullevi Stadium, to draw their 2017 European campaigns to a close. With Jen Goodman’s Super Nova II, Spencer Wilton was first to take to the arena for Great Britain, for only their second ever Grand Prix Freestyle test together. To the sounds of Adele and Justin Timberlake, the duo produced a superb test to see 75.443% awarded, for a huge new Personal Best. Commenting afterwards Spencer said: “I’m really chuffed. He had a really tricky few moments outside with the noise – he’s never heard anything like this before. He’s so good; he’s hopefully gained some confidence here this week. You always want to do as well as you can, and I’m just taking this all as a huge positive. “In the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special he understands the preparation for the movement, but today at times he just felt a bit lost. I’ve learnt a lot from this experience - and a lot about him as well. It’s going to give us a good boost for next year.” Fourth last into the arena was Carl Hester with Jane de la Mare’s and his own Nip Tuck. With a difficult floorplan, Carl and Nip Tuck gave everything and produced a fantastic test to see a score of 80.614% confirmed.
“I’m pleased, but he was a little more difficult than I expected
Carl Hester and Nip Tuck
today,” said Carl. “I gave him an easy morning to make sure he wasn’t too tired but he was very excited! His scores have gone up all week and that’s very satisfying. We never thought he’d get this far but it’s testament to his temperament, he’s a worker. He finds it easy to do the difficult stuff, so time to work on a new freestyle - I know I can make it even harder!” The conclusion of the Grand Prix Freestyle saw Germany’s Isabell Werth and Sönke Rothenberger once again take individual gold and silver after posting plus 90% scores, whilst Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour secured the bronze with 84.561%. Great
Britain’s Carl Hester finished fourth with Spencer Wilton claiming 13th.
The earlier Grand Prix tests saw Spencer and Carl produce two great tests, their scores, alongside Emile Faurie and Lollipop 126’s Grand Prix score ensuring Great Britain finished fourth in the team test. First in for Great Britain on day two, Spencer and Supernova produced a fabulous test in an electric atmosphere to see high marks awarded, notably through the passage. An uncharacteristic mistake from Supernova out of his first pirouette proved costly, but Spencer kept his composure
for a flawless final centre line, for a confirmed mark of 72.086%.
“I’m so pleased with him,” Spencer said, “he had quite a difficult time in the warm-up before we went in, but I felt like he was gaining confidence all the way through. Apart from the mistakes it felt that he did really nicely. I was really pleased with his passage, but he just wasn’t really relaxed enough – but I’m really pleased that he gave me the feeling that he was growing in confidence. It felt really good. Under the floodlights this evening, Carl Hester with Jane de la Mare and his own Nip Tuck, performed a stunning test with just a slight mistake in the rein back, to record a score of 74.900%, which saw them into fifth place individually. Carl commented afterwards: “He really does his best. As usual, he’s so brilliant in canter, the two’s, the one’s, the pirouettes; he’s just so genuine. He really did get on with his job tonight. “We’re just a snip off bronze and I’m gutted for the team, but for the sport as a whole, for Sweden to win a medal at home is very special; for us, Windsor lifted everyone to a new level in 2009. It just hasn’t gone our way and it just hasn’t been our championships.”
With the final team scores confirmed, it was Germany who took the gold medal, with Denmark the silver and hosts Sweden the bronze, with Great Britain’s trio finishing fourth.
Spencer Wilton and Supernova
The British senior teams are supported by the BEF’s UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme.
Equine Page 53
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