FEI World Jumping Challenge Competitions Held
The first two competitions of the 2016 FEI World Jumping Challenge were recently held at the National Equestrian Centre, with last year’s winner of Category B – Kirista Rabain – holding a clear lead in Category A, having moved up to the higher level this year.
A spokesperson said, “Kirista Rabain on her mount Helsinki completed the two day competitions with four clear rounds, giving her a 16 point margin ahead of last year’s category A winner Philip Correia on his mount Emerson.
“Philip has two rails down in the first round on Saturday morning but responded with a clear in the second, and then on Sunday morning had two uncharacteristic rails down in each of his two rounds giving him a total of sixteen faults over the two days.
“Kirista however held her cool over both days completing the four rounds with near perfect accuracy, ending with a healthy lead which will take her to the final day of competition on Saturday 12th March at the same venue.
“Although Kirista and Helsinki placed first in category A in 2014, thus giving her the opportunity to travel to Bulgaria last July for the final in which competitors rode on borrowed horses loaned by the host country, the FEI changed the rules in 2015 and raised the heights, so Kirista decided to compete last year in the lower category B, the height of which was about the same as the previous A.
“This year Kirista proved that this was a wise decision to bring on her horse slowly, and she is now in a good position to repeat her 2014 success.
“The decision by the FEI to raise the bar of this world wide competition has seemingly reduced the number of potential competitors, but we did manage to have one competitor in category B where Carla Stempel on Laredo had five faults and a clear on day one, but was less successful on day two with eight faults in round one and two refusals in round two resulting in an elimination.
“However as the revised rules now allow a drop score Carla and Laredo will be eligible to compete on the final day.
“Category C saw four competitors starting with two of them being Juniors competing at this level for the first time. Unfortunately both Courtney Bromby and Kristen Bean had two refusals in the first round, but returned to compete again on the second day where they had six faults and twelve faults respectively before again having two refusals in the second round.
“The two adults riding in category C had a more successful competition with Dale Rochester on Caroline Gold completing the day with four clear rounds, and Vicki Steele on All in One close behind with three clear rounds and one rail down in the fourth round leaving her with four faults.
“The final day on 12th March promises some exciting competition. Course builder and BEF President Ian Truran said that it is a lot of work putting on the competition for seven riders but the effort is worth it as it gives an opportunity for our local riders to compete against other countries in our region without having to travel overseas.
“Also the top rider in each FEI region is invited to compete in the final held in a different country each year and this year Philip Correia as the winner in our region in 2015 will travel to Morocco in April.”
