Great Britain finished in seventh place in the Belgian Nations Cup in Lummen last Friday.
Finishing the first round on a total of just four penalties, with faultless rounds from both Mark Armstrong and Philip Spivey, Rob Hoekstra’s quartet started the second round in equal third place with France, both nations just a single fence behind Ireland and Australia.
In the second round Ellen and Ocolado emulated their first round score, lowering a single pole for just four faults. Mark and Thesaura jumped a superb round to leave all the fences standing, yet clocked up a single time fault and an uncharacteristic 26 faults from Philip and Romanov II saw the British team slip to seventh place in the final rankings.
Ireland and Australia both finished the second round on a zero score, therefore a jump off ensued to decide the victor. Australia’s Chris Chugg produced a very fast time but sadly a pole on the floor left the door wide open for Ireland’s Billy Twomey who jumped a perfect clear round to take the victory for Ireland.
RESULTS
1st Ireland
2nd Australia
3rd Norway
4th France
5th Germany
6th Sweden
7th Great Britain
Ellen Whitaker & Ocolado – 4/4
Mark Armstrong & Thesaura – 0/1
Philip Spivey & Romanov II – 0/26
Ben Maher & Wonderboy III – (12)
8th Belgium
=9th Italy
=9th Spain
11th Canada
12th Finland
13th Brazil
Full results can be viewed at www.scg-nl.nl




After a couple of recent visits to Musselburgh racecourse, I am of the view that it is a worthy contender for a racecourse of the year award.

