Podium Placing for Australian Jumping Team at CSIO4* Saturday Night Lights Nations Cup at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center
The Australian Team jumped their way to third place last night in Wellington, Florida at the CSIO4* Saturday Night Lights Nations Cup held at the prestigious Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre.
The competition was a culmination of a three-week campaign where the Australian riders competed in two Nations Cup events in the United States.
The Australian Nations Cup Team riders included World Equestrian Games 2018 Team members and mounts Rowan Willis riding Blue Movie and Scott Keach riding Fedor, as well as Amy Graham riding Coleraine des Bergeries and Hilary Scott riding Oaks Milky Way, who made the journey from Europe to take part in the Nations Cup Events.
The pinnacle class commenced at 7:00pm and took place under the lights in the main arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, home of the infamous Winter Equestrian Festival. Spectators gathered to watch nine Nations start in the event – USA, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and Chile.
The Nations Cup competition consisted of two rounds over a course designed by the USA’s Ken Krome. After the first round, each team dropped their highest score, and the top-six teams returned in order of highest to lowest total faults in the second round.
The six teams that returned for the second round included the United States on zero faults, Ireland on five faults, Brazil and Canada on a tally of 13 faults apiece, and Australia and Israel with 17 faults each.
In an impressive second round the Australian Team found a new gear and shone in the arena recording two clear rounds by Scott Keach and Rowan Willis. Hilary Scott finished the second round with only five faults and Amy Graham ended with nine faults, which was the drop score, seeing the Australian Team finish on a total combined score of 22 and standing on the podium in 3rd place.
"Tonight was tough and the standings kept changing throughout the class. We knew when we made the second round we had to have good scores to move up the ranks. To finish the second round on only five faults moved us quickly from 6th to 3rd. I’m very proud of the team and their camaraderie. Thank-you to all the owners of these horses to support their riders in the nations cups" said Australian Jumping Team Chef d'Equipe, Todd Hinde.
The success comes off the back of an earlier Nations Cup competition in Wellington two weeks prior, where the same team competed at the CSIO5* Nations Cup at the Palm Beach Masters where the team finished in 7th position.
For Hilary Scott this campaign was her first time competing on a Nations Cup Team “Being my first Nations Cup, I’m really happy to have the opportunity and experience with these riders and share in the team environment and the buzz that comes with it.” described Scott.
The Australian Team was also fortunate to have American based jumping coach Chris Keppler available to support the team throughout the three weeks of competition.
The Australian Jumping Team secured qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the World Equestrian Games in 2018 in a history making first and as the Australian High Performance Jumping program continues to get stronger the future is bright for Australian Jumping success.
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