Ireland’s Jessica Kurten, the world’s leading female rider, pulled off a brilliant piece of riding to win the £60,000 Rolex FEI World Cup qualifier presented by H & M. She took out strides on Castle Forbes Libertina and simply flew down the arena to beat former dual winner Nick Skelton and Arko by just 0.68sec. Malin Baryard-Johnsson and the 16-year-old mare Butterfly Flip, the reigning world and Olympic team silver medallists for Sweden, set an early standard in the seven-horse jump-off and eventually finished third.
Four of the seven to jump off were Britons, John Whitaker was fourth on Peppermill, Tim Stockdale fifth on Fresh Direct Corlato and Michael Whitaker seventh on Insultech Portofino. Unusually, there were four mares in the jump-off, Libertina, Corlato, Butterfly Flip and Portofino.
Jessica revealed that she had been suffering from a stomach upset. “I was relieved to jump clear because the mare was getting very strong and I wasn’t feeling very strong myself. She’s not the most bendable horse, but she is extremely fast, and I knew that I had to take a risk with Nick coming after me.”
Jessica now leads the FEI World Cup rankings with six more qualifiers to go before the final in Gothenburg, Sweden, in April. Nick is now ninth and best Briton.
All five of the Whitaker family – John, Michael, Robert, William and Ellen – have now won a class at Olympia, and Robert is in line to be leading rider. Young Amy Inglis, daughter of show jumper Duncan, had the thrill of a lifetime when winning the H & M Pony Club Mini-Major Relay with Ellen.
RESULTS
18 THE ROLEX FEI WORLD CUP QUALIFIER presented by H&M
Int. jumping competition with one initial course and one jump off (1.60 m, Table A)
1 Castle Forbes Libertina Kürten, Jessica IRL 20000 GBP 0 faults 38.54 sec
2 Arko III Skelton, Nick GBR 12140 GBP 0 faults 38.77 sec
3 Butterfly Flip Baryard-Johnsson, Malin SWE 7830 GBP 0 faults 39.09 sec
4 Peppermill Whitaker, John GBR 6130 GBP 0 faults 39.37 sec
5 Fresh Direct Corlato Stockdale, Tim GBR 4530 GBP 4 faults 40.23 sec
6 Oki Doki Zoer, Albert NED 3130 GBP 4 faults 40.69 sec
7 Suncal Portofino Whitaker, Michael GBR 2380 GBP 8 faults 40.68 sec
8 Quintero 4 Bonomelli, Omar ITA 1930 GBP 1 penalty 71.73 sec
9 Sefana Armstrong, Mark GBR 1930 GBP 1 penalty 73.69 sec
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