Gemma Tattersall set two new records at the opening leg of the 2017 Event Rider Masters (ERM), becoming the first female winner and achieving the series’ lowest ever score.
Top names
This first leg was held at the Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials, which welcomed some of the top names in eventing. The line-up included recent Badminton winner Andrew Nicholson, alongside Mark Todd, Pippa Funnell and Nicola Wilson.
Gemma was riding her talented mare Quicklook V, who was competing at this level for the first time since the 2016 Rio Olympics. The pair went into the lead following a faultless showjumping round, and held onto the top spot after jumping clear again on the cross-country. They added 3.2 time penalties to finish on a winning score of 36.9, which was a personal best for the pair at this level and also the lowest score in the ERM series to date.
Foot perfect
“Quicklook V was absolutely foot perfect in all three phases,” said Gemma. “I am so proud of her. My main aim is to win the Event Rider Masters series, and I have set out this year to do just that. I have some top classes horses to aim at it and can’t wait for the next one”.
Germany’s Bettina Hoy was second with Designer 10, which gave her some compensation following a disappointing Badminton last week. The pair jumped a double clear, but added one time penalty in the showjumping phase and 1.2 time penalties on the cross-country to finish on 40.6.
“I do believe things happen for a reason, and I am very happy to be here following this result,” said Bettina. “I wanted to be competitive today and I had to go for it. Designer responded brilliantly and I am delighted with him”.
Impressive clear
The overnight dressage leaders Thomas Carlile and Upsilon had a refusal in the showjumping and slipped down to fifth place. However, they jumped an impressive clear on the cross-country and were one of only three combinations to finish inside the optimum time, to move back up to third.
The next leg of the Event Rider Masters is at the Internationales Wiesbadener PfingstTurnier in Germany on 2-3 June.
You can watch highlights from the Event Rider Masters series on H&C. ERM 2017: Chatsworth House premieres on Sky 253 on 24 May at 9pm or you can watch online by subscribing to H&C Play.