British show jumping has taken a big gamble on a 19-year-old senior team debutante in its last ditch bid to qualify for Rio.
On Monday, the British squad for next week’s mega-critical European jumping championships in Aachen was named, and it includes Jessica Mendoza, a former pony jumping star who only started competing in senior five-star Nations Cup this season. She impressed with Spirit T in the winning squad in Rotterdam, and in the King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead eight days ago, where she was fourth, best-placed Brit and jumped a double clear, earning fulsome praise from the winner, Beezie Madden.
The rest of the squad is rather more experienced – Michael Whitaker (Cassionato), Ben Maher (Diva II) and Joe Clee (Utamaro d’Ecaussines). Mendoza has clearly earned her place on merit, as she has been named for the main four, with Guy Williams (Titus II) the “fifth man” and travelling reserve.
It also has to be said, though, that our Aachen squad more or less picked itself, following a number of high profile drop-outs.
This plucky quintet now has the onerous task of qualifying Britain, the London 2012 champions, for Rio, and it isn’t going to be easy. More strong European teams are still vying for the 2016 Olympics than the number of places available for them – a mere three.
Britain, Belgium, Ireland and Switzerland still have to qualify, not to mention Finland, currently flying in Furussiya European division 2, and Spain, who can so often pull off a surprise. I would have thought that Switzerland still had a good chance of getting a Rio slot, despite today’s failure by their federation to get the suspensions lifted on Steve Guerdat’s top strings Nino de Buissonets and Nasa, following their positive dope tests from La Baule in May.
Britain had an early run of wins and decent placings in first half of the 2015 Nations Cups, but anxiety about Rio qualification does seem to be getting to our riders. Britain finished a dismal sixth in the Nations Cups at both Hickstead and Dublin in the past 10 days, venues at which we usually perform really well. Another outstanding young rider, Holly Gillott, has fantastic form on Dougie Douglas at previous Hicksteads, but ended up the discard score in our home Nations Cup, while Spencer Roe and Wonder Why, the saving graces of our WEG squad last August, scattered poles left, right and centre in Dublin.
The biggest single handicap, of course, is the non-availability of Scott Brash. This must be the first time any country has boasted the world number one in any discipline yet failed to field him in their championship team!
I discussed Scott’s decision to target the Rolex Grand Slam at Spruce instead of Aachen a few weeks ago here, https://horsesport.com/cuckson-report/did-they-really-mean-to-say-that/
Interestingly, now that the possibility of failure at Aachen is sinking in, and we have also lost John Whitaker with Argento and Maher’s top string Cella, elements of the British show jumping community have become more vociferous about the Scott situation. He was wheeled out to defend his decision during the Sky sports TV coverage of Hickstead last week, even though it has been common knowledge for some while.
Officialdom remains bullish, but there could be future funding issues if the jumpers don’t get to Rio. When we failed to qualify a jumping team for Athens 2004, UK Sport pulled the jumpers’ money straight away. It later partially relented and provided about $60,000 for the two individuals – Nick Skelton and Robert Smith. Both roundly justified their existence in Athens – Nick came tantalisingly close to gold with Arko, while Robert finished an often forgotten fourth with Mr Springfield. I remember this hiatus particularly well, as I was asked to write a lengthy narrative (which I did, free of charge) as part of the BEF’s submission to UK Sport on behalf of Nick and Robert.
I am told that the criteria for deciding team funding has altered since then, so apart from the embarrassment of our absence from Rio, all may not be lost in the longer term.
Nonetheless there is another elephant in the room which no one over here has really aired yet, so I will, at the risk of being unpopular (no change there, then). It is this: how can someone remain on a publicly-funded world class/elite sports squad and then voluntarily absent a sound, in-form horse from a medal-event team?
Equestrianism is a rather odd fit within the wider raft of state-funded sports. Jumping in particular relies wholly on private owners to invest massively in horsepower and to support several horses, invariably at a loss, through the one-, two- and three-star ranks for several years until one of them is talent-spotted and plonked on a team potential programme. That then opens the door to previously closed four- and five-star show opportunities where the really serious money can now be won, leading to a sharp escalation in a horse’s value, often to the point where it is sold abroad for a life-changing sum before it has even done it’s bit for its country.
Of course, all kinds of human athletes on state-funded elite sports programmes are free to negotiate fantastic sponsorship deals and endorsements, but equestrian is unique in being the only one where athletes can sell on their “equipment” for millions with no obligation to pay back any of the state funding where it may have indirectly contributed to a massively profitable sale. I don’t know what the solution is, or even if anyone thinks there needs to be a solution, but it’s still kinda interesting.
Meanwhile, whither the decline of British show jumping? We all had such high hopes after that magical fortnight at Greenwich, but there has been zero legacy in terms of the development of the elite jumping sport.
It’s always been hard to sustain a new four- or five-star jumping show on our small island where the up-and-coming can gain vital experience. It’s also likely that the four-stars been launched since Greenwich – at Bolesworth and Liverpool, both by entrepreneur Nina Barbour who is a long-term equestrienne – plus the London leg of Global Champions Tour would have happened anyway, without London having hosted the Games.
Interestingly, three of the Aachen squad – Mendoza (Holland), Clee (Belgium) and Williams (France) are permanently resident in northern Europe, where they can hop onto the auto-routes and be at a five-star venue within three or four hours every week of the year. Maher, with an American backer, spends many months a year in Florida.
Get well soon, Andrew!
From one top rider who doesn’t seem keen to be on his national team to one that desperately does, but isn’t wanted: Andrew Nicholson’s rift with the Kiwi high performance squad has rumbled on all this year, with the first really significant practical effect being his omission from the squad for this coming weekend’s Aachen CIC***. In the years they don’t have a world or OIympic games, the Kiwis always treat Aachen as a proper championship.
However, all this now seems spectacularly unimportant with news of Andrew’s nasty cross-country fall at Gatcombe on Sunday. He was well in contention in the British Open with Cillnabradden Evo until the horse crumpled on landing over the last fence. To start with it looked none too serious, as the horse seemed only winded and Andrew was able to get up.
However, Andrew was taken to hospital for precautionary tests, and then, as a result of concerns about his neck, transferred to the John Radcliffe infirmary at Oxford, one of the top units in the UK for this type of injury. Let’s hope for better news very soon.
