Izzy Taylor has won gold and silver at the 2017 FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses at Mondial du Lion (19 – 22 October).
Exciting horses
The competition attracts the world’s most exciting young event horses to Le Lion d’Angers in western France each year.
Izzy and her own and Charlie Sands’ Monkeying Around were crowned six-year-old champions after completing on a dressage score of 37.6pens. Australia’s Paul Tapner was just 0.5 penalties behind them with Bob Chaplin (owned by Fred and Penny Barker and Paul) to take the runner-up spot, while third place went to French rider Thomas Carlile and Birmane.
Impressive performance
In addition to Izzy’s gold medal there were impressive performances from two other British combinations, with Sarah Bullimore and British-bred Corouet finishing in sixth place, after they had one pole in the showjumping, while Hayden Hankey came tenth with his own Youve Got The Lux.
Ireland was also well represented, with Elizabeth Power and the Irish Sport Horse DSL The Entertainer coming fifth and Rio Olympian Jonty Evans taking ninth place with John The Bull, who was also bred in Ireland.
Five Brits in top ten
Izzy Taylor went on to win silver in the seven-year-old championship with yet another Irish horse, Direct Cassino, owned by Jocelyn Riley. A clear round on the final day moved them up seven places after the cross-country, to finish 2.5 penalties behind French winner Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’or.
There were five Brits in total in the top ten with 2015 champion Laura Collett coming fourth on her own Sir Papillon, and Gemma Tattersall and Christopher Stone’s British-bred Chilli Knight seventh. Kylie Roddy and the Fox Family’s SRS Kan Do were eighth, while Ben Hobday placed tenth riding his own and Jane Chambers’ Shadow Man II.
Eventing Studbook rankings
It’s been a great year for Horse Sport Ireland, as the Irish Sport Horse Studbook was once again crowned the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) leading Eventing Studbook in the world. Since the WBFSH rankings were established in 1994, the Irish Sport Horse Studbook has won the coveted Eventing Studbook rankings an incredible 22 times in the last 24 years.
Don’t miss highlights of the Mondial du Lion d’Angers when it premieres on 4 November at 9pm on Sky 253. Or you can watch online via H&C Play or Amazon Video.