Horse_amp_amp_Hound__06_February_2018
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SHOWJUMPING<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
31 January-4 <strong>February</strong><br />
Amanda Derbyshire lands the WEF<br />
Challenge Cup on the ‘adjustable’<br />
Luibanta H, by Luidam<br />
Cita<br />
Daniel Coyle and<br />
Ben Maher post<br />
some impressive<br />
wins for this side<br />
of the Atlantic<br />
CSI4* CP Palm Beach Masters,<br />
Deeridge Farms, Wellington, USA<br />
Derbyshire<br />
banks a win<br />
British rider<br />
Amanda<br />
Derbyshire takes<br />
the spoils on<br />
American soil<br />
CSI4* Winter Equestrian<br />
Festival week 4, Palm Beach<br />
International EC, Florida, USA<br />
GREAT BRITAIN’S Amanda<br />
Derbyshire, fresh from a return<br />
to home soil to compete at<br />
Olympia and Liverpool, notched<br />
up a superb victory in the<br />
$70,000 (£62,000) Equinimity<br />
WEF Challenge Cup riding<br />
Luibanta BH.<br />
Jumping on the venue’s turf<br />
arena, Amanda and the 10-yearold<br />
Irish sport horse (Luidam x<br />
Abantos), who was bought from<br />
Ellen Whitaker, held off nine<br />
jump-off rivals for victory, but<br />
there was a nerve-racking run<br />
to the finish.<br />
“I planned seven strides to<br />
the last and I turned really tight<br />
into the double, which made her<br />
land a little shallow coming out,”<br />
Amanda said. “I decided still to try<br />
to do seven, so I was just telling<br />
her we could do it!”<br />
Ireland’s Kevin Babington took<br />
the runner-up spot with another<br />
Irish-bred, Super Chilled, by<br />
Gelvin Clover, while Amber Harte<br />
(USA) and Cafino came third.<br />
“At the end of last summer<br />
Luibanta really stepped up to<br />
doing whatever grands prix<br />
we have asked of her,” said<br />
30-year-old Amanda, who hopes<br />
‘Even if you<br />
really let her<br />
go, she will<br />
always come<br />
back to you’<br />
AMANDA DERBYSHIRE<br />
to represent Great Britain in<br />
the Nations Cup at WEF at the<br />
beginning of March. “We’re going<br />
to save her, and hopefully she’ll<br />
last a long time.<br />
“She’s really fast because she’s<br />
so easy to turn and so athletic and<br />
adjustable; even if you really let<br />
her go, she’ll always come back to<br />
you, which is a huge advantage so<br />
I can open her up and then ask her<br />
to turn tightly.”<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
BIG WINS AND A<br />
NEWBORN BABY<br />
IN Europe, the penultimate leg<br />
of the World Cup series went<br />
to Belgium’s Pieter Devos<br />
(Espoir). In Sunday’s grand<br />
prix, Harrie Smolders took top<br />
spot with Emerald NOP, while<br />
Robert Whitaker and Catwalk<br />
IV collected fourth, just 1.5<br />
seconds off the pace, after<br />
JUST down the road from WEF,<br />
US-based Irishman Daniel<br />
Coyle secured victory in the<br />
$220,000 (£195,000) Longines<br />
FEI World Cup qualifier at the<br />
CSI3* in Deerridge, Wellington,<br />
with the 12-year-old mare Cita<br />
(Casall x Pik Ramiro).<br />
The 23-year-old collected the<br />
$72,600 (£64,300) top prize —<br />
his first World Cup — by 0.35sec<br />
from USA’s last drawn Laura<br />
Kraut (Confu) and Margie<br />
Goldstein-Engle (Royce) in a<br />
five-way jump-off over a track<br />
designed by Irishman Alan Wade.<br />
“It’s an amazing feeling to<br />
beat any one of these two women,<br />
and everybody in that jump-off,”<br />
he said. “I saw Margie’s round<br />
and thought that was going to be<br />
tough to beat, let alone McLain<br />
[Ward] and Laura, [who were<br />
jumping] after me.<br />
“I did one less stride [than<br />
Laura] in the first line and I think<br />
that’s only the real place that I got<br />
her,” he said. “I was really tight<br />
back to the third jump, and then<br />
I just tried to smooth out the<br />
finish instead of trying to do<br />
something crazy.”<br />
British number two rider<br />
Ben Maher teamed up with his<br />
own and Jane Clark’s 15-year-old<br />
stallion Tic Tac for victory in the<br />
1.60m qualifier, snatching an<br />
$11,550 paycheque, just days after<br />
his 35th birthday.<br />
a 14-strong jump-off.<br />
Mark McAuley took just<br />
four days to record his first win<br />
since becoming a first-time<br />
dad. His new wife Charlotte<br />
gave birth on Wednesday and,<br />
having soared into the lead on<br />
Sunday’s accumulator with her<br />
nine-year-old Valentino Tuiliere,<br />
Mark jumped on a plane home,<br />
leaving his team-mate Bertram<br />
Allen to attend the prizegiving<br />
on his behalf. A week to<br />
remember for Mark!<br />
Pictures by Thierry Billet and Kathy Russell Photography<br />
58 <strong>Horse</strong> & <strong>Hound</strong> 8 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2018</strong>