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‘The penalties will come off’: Tom McEwen reflects on his World Championships cross-country round

Gemma Redrup Gemma Redrup

    • Third British team rider Tom McEwen completed his eventing World Championships cross-country round in Pratoni Del Vivaro, Italy having been awarded 15 penalties for a missed flag, but he told H&H he is confident “the penalties will come off”.

    Tom and Toledo De Kerser were awarded the penalties at fence 7b – the first skinny at the bottom of the Slide – where the flag on the right hand side of the obstacle was dislodged.

    “I came down the hill balancing and he was actually paying no attention and I just hit the flag with my foot,” said Tom, who didn’t quite make the optimum time, finishing with 4.8 time-faults.

    “He would have preferred to be at Burghley as he needed bigger fences,” laughed Tom. “He was absolutely on one – he warmed up very settled, but we got out there and he just wants to jump everything and realistically most of the fences in between the combinations are sort of intermediate height.

    “He was fantastic though – honest, good, true – it’s just I would usually call him pure pleasure [to ride], but today, I would say the pleasure was definitely at the finish!”

    Tom said that it took him five minutes to get Toledo settled.

    “I just think the camber of the course was really unnecessary for the horses – I know they need to keep it in a small area for media and the TV, but we’re in the most beautiful park and I thought for me that is why I lost most of my time.”

    Australia’s Shane Rose enjoyed a great eventing World Championships cross-country round with Virgil, jumping clear and clocking just 2.8 time-faults, which has moved them up a number of places on the leader board.

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    Gemma Redrup
    Gemma Redrup

    H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor
    Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
    Gemma Redrup

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