Brits triumph in Tryon despite hurricane hurdles
Team GBR’s eventers and dressage riders overcame hurdles put in their path as Storm Florence hit Tryon to win a brilliant set of World Championship medals
BRITAIN triumphed in Tryon during the first week of the World Equestrian Games (WEG), despite the devastating effects of Hurricane Florence.
Team GBR’s eventers scooped team and individual gold, the latter coming thanks to a nearfaultless performance from
Ros Canter and Allstar B, while the dressage riders took team bronze and, courtesy of Charlotte Dujardin and Mount St John Freestyle, individual bronze. Both teams have secured qualification for the 2020 Olympics.
After a full set of world-class dressage performances, all four British eventing team members jumped clear and inside the time around the cross-country course, from which two fences had been removed owing to the weather.
Piggy French and Quarrycrest Echo, Tom McEwen and Toledo De Kerser and Gemma Tattersall and Arctic Soul, along with Ros, were the only team to add no penalties to their combined dressage score across country, while individual Tina Cook and Billy The Red also jumped clear, with just 2.4 time-penalties.
All Sunday’s sport was moved to Monday as a result of the severe weather conditions. And again, Britain delivered, holding off a strong challenge from the brilliant Irish, who took silver, while
France claimed bronze.
Last in for Britain, Ros did not need her one fence in hand, jumping a perfect round to take the individual gold as well as clinching Britain’s sixth world team title. It was a second Irish silver in the individuals, for Padraig McCarthy with Mr Chunky, while Germany’s Ingrid Klimke and SAP Hale Bob OLD heartbreakingly knocked the final rail to slip from gold to bronze.
After the victory, Ros said: “I don’t think it’s sunk in. I can’t believe it; Allstar B was an absolute hero, I had an amazing experience in there. I kept saying, just let him do his job, and I’m so proud, he’s just phenomenal.
“There were tears, which isn’t normal for me. It’s incredible, for me and the support team behind Team GBR; the team around us is phenomenal. They make the dream come true.”
British eventing performance manager Dickie Waygood said it had been an “amazing day in the office”.
“It was really great teamwork,” he added. “They all pulled together, they all went in there for the team and stuck to the system. It was close at the end, but even before Ros jumped the last fence I knew she had it.
“Our primary objective was qualifying for Tokyo and our next was to win as many medals as possible; we’ve achieved both.”
DRESSAGE DOUBLE
IT was a successful championship debut for Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester’s rides Mount St John Freestyle and Hawtins Delicato and Emile Faurie’s Dono Di Maggio, who put in strong performances along with Spencer Wilton’s Olympic silver medalwinning ride Super Nova II, to take team bronze behind winners Germany and runners-up the US.
“It was really tense, really good, close sport, and for once it went our way,” Carl said.
Spencer had to pull out of the grand prix special shortly before he was due to perform as “Neville”, having “got himself very excited” in the team prize-giving, was found to have “tweaked something” and was not 100%.
Carl and Hawtins Delicato made just one mistake in their one-time canter changes to score 72.1% and secure ninth place in the special, while Dono Di Maggio, who had been suffering from the effects of the heat and humidity, scored 70.38%.
Charlotte and Freestyle, in only their third grand prix special, wowed the crowd to score a personal best of 81.489% behind champions Isabell Werth and Bella Rose, and home rider Laura Graves on Verdades.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” Charlotte said. “She’s only nine and that was just her third special. The feeling I had in the arena was amazing and it didn’t matter if the test won me a medal as I knew she’d given me everything.”
Carl and Charlotte were both due to contest the freestyle on Sunday but as that day’s competition was cancelled, and it was not possible to move it to Monday, it did not run. Unlike the event horses, who were always due to fly home on Tuesday, the European dressage horses’ flights were booked for Monday and this could not be changed.
Despite the best efforts of organisers and officials, “the logistics of putting all necessary elements into place in time have proved insurmountable”.
“We know this is desperately disappointing for the 15 athletes who had qualified for the freestyle, and of course for all the spectators who had bought tickets, but the weather has left us with no choice,” Tryon 2018 organising committee president Michael Stone said. “Horse welfare has to be the top priority and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn’t work, so sadly the decision had to be taken.”
Carl Hester told H&H: “It’s really sad, but with increasing weather problems it has to be horses first; it’s the right decision.”
Spencer Wilton added it was “very sad but the only decision”.
‘It was an amazing day in
the office’
DICKIE WAYGOOD