News

Stars shine bright in Deauville

  • Written By: British Dressage
  • Published: Mon, 09 Apr 2018 09:27 GMT

Our para stars were out in force last week at the CPEDI*** Deaville, France (6 – 8 April 2018).

Sophie Wells, Sophie Christiansen, Lee Pearson and Suzanna Hext each contributed outstanding scores to propel Great Britain to victory in the Nations Cup competition with a four percent victory over the team from the Netherlands.

Proving invincible once again, Sophie Christiansen took home first place in the Grade I Team, Individual and Freestyle classes scoring 73.28%, 75.67% and 78.06% with her own Amazing Romance. This marks an outstanding international debut for Sophie and ‘Harry’, a nine-year-old chestnut gelding standing at 17hh. Speaking on her Facebook page Sophie enthused, ‘Secretly I hoped for over 75% to stamp my mark again after being out for a year but wasn't sure he [Harry] was ready yet, but he proved me wrong! He's also been amazingly behaved in prize giving with all the clapping and noise.’

After her third victory in the Freestyle Sophie added, ' 78% - I'll take that for our first international! Today I just went in there and had fun as I had nothing else left to prove and I wanted Harry to relax. He felt amazing. I did feel an element of pressure showing that I had made the right decision to change my whole team. Our results are a real testament to Rob Trobridge Dressage and Anna Miller Equestrian. Who would have thought we'd be here 8 months ago? And there's still more to come! Thank you for putting the smile back on my face!’

Sophie Wells also took home a trio of international victories with Charlotte Hogg’s C Fatal Attraction. The superstar duo earned 77.83% to win the Individual test before going on to blow the competition away in the Freestyle scoring a magnificent 80.52%, the highest score of the show. Sophie and ‘Jorge’ also earned 77.04% in the team test, this alongside their Individual score marks two personal bests in the straight tests.

Lee Pearson and his Olympic partner Zion earned two second place finishes in the Grade II Individual and Freestyle tests with fellow team member Suzanna Hext placing fourth and fifth with the Lady Joseph Trust’s Engaards Solitaire after having topped the class in the Team test with 71.72%.

Also representing Great Britain, Heather Bennett and Isobel Palmer earned a one-two in the Grade IV Freestyle earning 73.45% and 72.40% respectively, whilst Natasha Adkinson and Georgia Wilson enjoyed several great results in the Grade II tests.

Congratulations to all who travelled to Deauville on a highly successful competition.

Results

Nations Cup
1st GBR, 445.67
2nd NED, 424.11
3rd BEL, 409.70

Team test grade I
1st Sophie Christiansen with Amazing Romance, 73.28% (GBR)

Team test grade II
1st Suzanna Hext with LJT Engaards Solitaire, 71.72% (GBR)
3rd Lee Pearson with Zion, 71.18% (GBR)

Team test grade IV
1st Jose Letartre with Swing Royal ENE-HN, 70.72% (FRA)
3rd Heather Bennett with Zavailantika, 69.67% (GBR)
5th Isobelle Palmer with Touchdown M, 69.22% (GBR)

Team test grade V
1st Sophie Wells with C Fatal Attraction, 76.04% (GBR)

Individual test grade I
1st Sophie Christiansen with Amazing Romance, 75.67% (GBR)

Individual test grade II
1st Nicole Den Dulk with Wallace N.O.P, 72.52% (NED)
2nd Lee Pearson with Zion, 71.64% (GBR)
3rd Georgia Wilson with Chico III, 69.73% (GBR)
4th Suzanna Hext with LJT Engaards Solitaire, 71.72% (GBR)
7th Natasha Adkinson with Highlander, 68.00% (GBR)

Individual test grade IV
1st Jose Letartre with Swing Royal ENE-HN, 72.68% (FRA)
3rd Heather Bennett with Zavailantika, 70.41% (GBR)
5th Isobelle Palmer with Touchdown M, 68.80% (GBR)

Individual test grade V
1st Sophie Wells with C Fatal Attraction, 77.83% (GBR)

Freestyle grade I
1st Sophie Christiansen with Amazing Romance, 78.06% (GBR)

Freestyle grade II
1st Nicole Den Dulk with Wallace N.O.P, 76.06% (NED)
2nd Lee Pearson with Zion, 75.73% (GBR)
3rd Georgia Wilson with Chico III, 72.30% (GBR)
4th Natasha Adkinson with Highlander, 70.10% (GBR)
5th Suzanna Hext with LJT Engaards Solitaire, 68.36% (GBR)

Freestyle grade IV
1st Heather Bennett with Zavailantika, 73.45% (GBR)
2nd Isobelle Palmer with Touchdown M, 72.40% (GBR)

Freestyle grade V
1st Sophie Wells with C Fatal Attraction, 80.52% (GBR)