Amanda Derbyshire, Ben Maher, Emily Mason, Emily Moffitt, and Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard take Double Clear to Win $150,000 Nations Cup
Amanda Derbyshire, Ben Maher, Emily Mason, Emily Moffitt, and Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard finish on a score of 0 to win the $150,000 Nations Cup on Saturday, March 3, for week 8 the 2018 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF).
The two rounds were hotly contested by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, United States, and Venezuela. After the first round, each team dropped their highest score. In the second round, the top six teams returned in order of highest to lowest total faults. The winner was determined by the lowest total of each team’s top three riders from each round.
The second half welcome Great Britain along with Chile, Venezuela, Ireland, Brazil and Mexico. Great Britain led in the first round with a zero fault total after Amanda Derbyshire, Emily Mason, and Ben Maher went clear. Emily Moffitt finished with 13 faults. In round two however, Moffitt came back strong with a clear round, and Emily Mason and Ben Maher also contributed clears. On this occassion Amanda Derbyshire, was rider to finish on eight faults.
It all came down to anchor rider Ben Maher, to produce the win for Great Britain. Team Ireland was waiting with five faults after three clears in the second round. Ben Maher rode Tic Tac, a 15-year-old Belgian Sport Horse by Clinton x Panama du Seigneur. It was a satisfying return to the top of the podium for the rider;
“We had a long talk before the weekend that we needed Great Britain to get off to a good start,” he said. “We’ve been losing for too long and I think that for any rider or any team, you can’t just go on a run of bad luck or bad results and all of a sudden come out and win a championship, so I think this year we have to start strong as a country, as a team, within the riders that we have and get off to a positive start. Now we can take this result back to Europe with us for the Super League division and look forward to Tryon for the Olympic qualification.
Mason, 26, who was riding for the first time ever in a Senior Nations Cup for Great Britain, was thrilled with her horse’s performance.
“Personally, for me it was an honor even to be picked for the team to start with and the fact that we managed to get a double clear out today is mind blowing really, but I’m so happy with the horse,” she said of the nine-year-old KWPN gelding by Chacco Blue x Baloubet du Rouet. “He’s inexperienced with this level and he jumped absolutely phenomenal tonight.”
At only 19 years of age Emily Moffitt, riding Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve, said;
“The first round was not great; it did not go to plan and the second round I definitely had to take a deep breath and focus on what I needed to do. I rode as well as I could and ‘Tommy’ was definitely more with me the second round and he flew over the course. He really knows when he has to do his job,” she said of the 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding by Dulf van den Bisschop x Querlybet Hero.
In a concentrated effort to bring a win back for Great Britain, said Chef d’Equipe Di Lampard, “It was all down to the last round, but it is fantastic that everything came together. Every rider put their corner in. They put in a great performance, they dug deep and the plan was, as Ben said, to come and get off to a good start so we were well-focused on this weekend.”
Ireland finished second with five faults after double clear rounds from Shane Sweetnam and Paul O’Shea, and a second round clear from Denis Lynch. Their three clear performances in round two led to anchor Cian O’Connor not having to return.
Mexico finished in third with faults for team members Eugenio Garza, Mario Onate, Andres Azcarraga, and Nicolas Pizarro.
