Great Britain’s Emily Moffitt and Winning Good finished on a score of 87.90 in the opening leg of the European Showjumping Championships at Riesenbeck, Germany.
The pair, who were shortlisted for the Tokyo Olympics last month, followed Georgia Tame’s solid opening round for Team GB. The Poden Farms-owned 12-year-old Winningmood gelding Winning Good, known at home as “Winnie”, looked full of beans and never quite settled into the job in hand. The gelding hit three fences in all, adding 12 points to the pair’s time to produce a score of 87.90. The pair currently sit in 32nd position individually.
“He is very eager to get to the job!” said Emily. “I knew going in that it wasn’t going to be the easiest day. In fact, today was probably my most difficult day – just trying to manage him. He’s extremely difficult when you try and go a bit quicker. We try and keep him in a box, and the second you allow him to get out of that box, it’s difficult to put him back in.”
This is 23-year-old Emily’s debut at a senior championship, but she was part of the winning Nations Cup team that lifted the Aga Khan trophy in Dublin in 2019 and has shown good form this year.
“I thought it was a nice course for the first day,” said Emily. “Tomorrow, we’ll try our best and hopefully we can get two clear rounds in and we can do well for the team.
“Every day, he gets a bit easier and this was the worst possible format for us. We had to try and do the best with what we had and it didn’t go our way. But tomorrow and the following day, I can focus more on the jumps rather than the time and hopefully we can do what we do best and jump some clear rounds.”
The early leader in the individual standings for the European Showjumping Championships was the Netherlands’ Frank Schuttert riding Lyonel D with a score of 74.28. However just before the break, Sweden’s Douglas Lindelow flew straight to the top of the standings riding Casquo Blue on a score of 73.99 to take the lead at the halfway point in Wednesday’s opening competition.
In the team standings for the European Showjumping Championships, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany are looking strongest at the halfway point. The team competition continues on Thursday, with the medals being decided on Friday. The individual championships conclude on Sunday (5 September).
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