A young British team effortlessly won the Longines EEF Series at the Equieffe Equestrian Centre in Gorla Minore, Italy
The heat did not affect the British team, with brilliant performances from Oliver Fletcher on Hello William (Waldo van Dungen x Stakkato) (0/0), Joe Whitaker riding Hulahupe JR (VDL Bubalu x Indoctro) (0/4), Joe Fernyhough on Calcourt Particle (Spartacus TN x Lasino) (0/0) and Amy Inglis riding Wishes (Guidam x Wellington) (0/0) which put them on a zero penalty score after the two rounds of competition.
After a first round that saw Switzerland, France and Great Britain tied on a score of zero, only the British managed to repeat themselves in round two in which course builder Andrea Colombo had raised four jumps to the maximum height allowed of 1.50m.
As far as winning the Nations Cup was concerned, the decisive rounds proved to be the double clear rounds ridden by 19-year-old Oliver Fletcher, 25-year-old Amy Inglis and 21-year-old Joe Fernyhough who did his first Nations Cup as a senior rider. The three youngsters led by Chef d’equipe Tony Newbery did not allow themselves to be intimidated by the competition, their opponents or the pressure and produced a fantastic team result.
Behind Great Britain, second and third place went to France and Switzerland, both on a total of eight faults, the same score as Italy, Belgium and Greece ranked according to total time. Spain finished seventh on 20 faults.
British Chef d’Equipe Tony Newbery said: “I think this EEF Series is a fantastic idea to bring the youth up, to get them ready hopefully for the Division 1. I think the height of the courses is perfect and a very good level to set. We have another team competing this week and it’s a great series to give the younger riders experience. These riders were with me in the Youth Series as Young Riders and Juniors, so we all know each other very well!“
“I think it was a quite a difficult and technical course, but there was pressure on the nerves because of riding for one’s country and team also playing a massive part in it. Today luckily we all did well and it paid off! My first two Nations Cups were terrible which makes today even better!” Oliver Fletcher said.
“It all absolutely suited our horses today and I thought it was a nice course although the second round was tough in the heat and none of us are used to seeing the sunshine! It was tough to come out and do it again in the heat. It’s definitely a perfect step for riders like us who want to go up to the next level,” Amy Inglis added.
The CSIO3* in Gorla Minore marked the end of the regional qualifiers of the Longines EEF Series, with Italy and Greece securing their places for the decisive semi-final rounds ahead of the Warsaw final on September 8-11.
Source: Press Release EEF
