Great Britain’s Tokyo 2020 individual gold medalists Ben Maher and Explosion W took centre stage this evening (Dec. 18) in a dedicated celebration of his Olympic success. With the crowd on their feet, the pair left the arena to Alesso’s Heroes, a fitting tribute to their outstanding achievement.
The FEI Driving World Cup presented by Eurofip International came to a thrilling conclusion with World No. 1 Boyd Exell coming out on top once again.
It was a busy day for the show jumpers, opening with The LeMieux Six Bar which was shared between Alfie Bradstock and Max Kühner, who both produced faultless performances across the five rounds. World No. 4 Martin Fuchs made it a London International Horse Show 2021 treble in The Global Herbs Snowflake Stakes, with The Longines Christmas Cracker going to Jack Whitaker riding Valmy de la Lande.
Other notable highlights include wins for Jessica Clarehugh with Avonwolf Beanies Dizzy Dora in The Kennel Club Dog Agility Stakes Finals, and Robert Murphy receiving the Ella Popely Award, presented each year in recognition of the rider between the ages of 18 and 25 who has shown the qualities of being a true sportsman or woman; representing the sport well, acting as a team player, and encouraging others to excel.
Excellent Exell Strikes Again
The FEI Driving World Cup presented by Eurofip International saw the top three Drivers go through to a drive-off which had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Germany’s Mareike Harm set the pace with an accurate round, finishing with clear in a time of 143.70. Koos De Ronde from The Netherlands was second in and put in an impressive performance to cross the line in 137.25 seconds, however with four penalties to add, his score of 141.25 left the window open for last to go, World No. 1, Boyd Exell. The Australian was down on the time in the first half, however a spectacular second section saw him make up over three seconds with no penalties to add, to win by a wide margin.
Exell said: “This is such a fabulous arena, the sound system is great, the crowd sound even clearer and they are really with you for every turn. We had a change from yesterday, we were resting one of the wheelers as he had done three shows in a row. It was a tactic because we are wildcards, Annabel and Simon Brooks-Ward invited me to be here, so it’s a chance to do well but also to try some different things and it worked out today.”
Great Britain’s Daniel Naprous added: “I just want to say thank you to The London International Horse Show for being brave enough to put on the event and give us somewhere incredible to compete at. The atmosphere has been amazing tonight and I am so grateful to be here.”
Jack’s the King of the Pack
Nine combinations went through to the jump-off of The Longines Christmas Cracker. Eager to set an unattainable target, the first four to go against the clock all picked up penalties en route. Great Britain’s Jack Whitaker was the first to post a clear, jumping a smooth but relatively conservative round aboard Valmy de la Lande to ensure his place in the prizes. With those who followed also accumulating faults in their attempts to increase the pace, Finland’s Noora Forsten was rewarded for her tactics in jumping a steady clear round, finishing in second, with Harry Charles back in third, the fastest of the four faulters.
A delighted Whitaker said: “It’s difficult to put into words to be honest, I’ve been wanting to compete here since I was a little kid. I’ve been coming to this show for as long as I can remember, it’s what I’ve always dreamed of and I got lucky tonight. It wasn’t a great jump-off course for me tonight and so when I saw the ones ahead of me knocking jumps down I thought I might get away with just jumping a nice clear, and I did.”
The world’s best show jumpers battled it out in The Global Herbs Snowflake Stakes. The top 10 from the first round went through to the jump-off, carrying forward any penalties incurred. The first to secure the coveted first double clear, Austria’s Max Kühner, set the pace of 39.28 seconds, however Martin Fuchs, already a double winner at the Show this week, pulled out all the stops to take the lead with an impressive time of 36.20 aboard Tam Tam du Valon.
The Swiss World No. 4 was looking hard to beat. Dutchman Harrie Smolders came close with a beautifully smooth round in a time of 37.72, as did Germany’s Christian Ahlmann, however their efforts were only good enough for third and second place respectively, leaving Fuchs with his third London International Horse Show 2021 victory.
The Lemieux Six Bar provided top-class entertainment. 13 starters lined up to face the six-obstacle course, run over a knock-out format, whereby those jumping clear in the first rounds went through to face the increasingly imposing course. Just two combinations made it to the fifth round, with the final fence standing at an incredible 1.90m – Austria’s Max Kühner riding EIC Coriolis des Isles and Great Britain’s Aflie Bradstock aboard H. d’Or.
Up first, Kühner put on a foot perfect performance to secure his place at the top of the leaderboard and placing the pressure on Bradstock. The Brit rose to the occasion with a fine display of athleticism to match Kühner’s feat and share the honours, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Celebrating his first London International Horse Show victory, Bradstock said: “It’s amazing just to even compete here, and to win something is a real dream come true. This horse is a Puissance specialist, and the Six Bar was a something extra that we thought we may as well give a go while we’re here. I never expected him to do that, but with the support of the audience he just got better and better. The crowd were fantastic, to have the home crowd cheering like that was unbelievable.”
Kühner added: “I’m really enjoying the Show, it’s fantastic because the crowd is still the same, they give us such a boost, it almost feels like we have wings. The London crowd really are stunning, it was really special. My horse is only nine, but he is incredibly talented already, and has achieved a lot this year. He’s done a great job today and I have a good feeling about tomorrow too.”
Results here.
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