European Eventing Championships final trot-up: two horses held and five withdrawn before showjumping

Five horses have been withdrawn before the final showjumping phase at the Longines FEI European Eventing Championships today (Sunday, 1 September).

There was drama for Ireland at the horse inspection this morning. Team rider Ciaran Glynn did not present November Night, who he said was “just not quite right” after her super clear in the time yesterday.

Then Sam Watson’s ride Tullabeg Flamenco was sent to the holding box. Had he been spun, the whole team would have been effectively eliminated, as they would have been carrying a score of 1000 for a non-finisher, but the dun passed on re-inspection.

Ireland now has to count Sam’s score instead of Ciaran’s, which drops their team score from 103.3 to 121. They keep the same position in the team standings, sixth, but are now significantly behind the medal positions rather than challenging the top three nations.

France too have lost a team member. Alexis Goury’s ride Trompe L’Oeil D’Emery was sent to the holding box this morning and he then withdrew.

This only drops France’s team score by 2.2 penalties, as overnight discard score pair Karim Florent Laghouag and Punch De L’Esques recorded a score only 2.2 penalties worse than Alexis at the end of yesterday. France keep team bronze, still less than a fence behind Britain.

Three other horses were also withdrawn before the horse inspection this morning. They were Cruising (the ride of Spanish individual Manuel Senra Chover), Cosma (the ride of Austrian individual Katrin Khoddam-Hazrati) and Dunkas A (the ride of the Czech Repuplic’s individual Eliška Opravilová).

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The first session of showjumping starts at 11.15am local time this morning (10.15am in Britain). Britain’s Tina Cook will jump in this session with Elisabeth Murdoch and Keith Tyson’s Billy The Red.

Britain’s other four riders — Pippa Funnell (her own and Marek Sebastak’s Majas Hope), Kitty King (Diana Bown, Sally Eyre, Samantha Wilson and Sally Lloyd-Baker’s Vendredi Biats), Piggy French (Jayne McGivern’s Quarrycrest Echo) and Oliver Townend (Angela Hislop’s Cooley Master Class) — will jump in the afternoon session for the top 25, which starts at 1.55pm local time (12.55pm British time).

Check back for more updates from the Eventing European Championships in Luhmühlen later today, plus full report in next week’s Horse & Hound magazine (dated 5 September).

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.