The 18 riders to qualify for the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Series Final in Sweden next month has been announced, with Laura Renwick the only Brit.
Early lead
Laura took an early lead with Bintang ll in the last leg of the FEI World Cup series, with a jump-off time of 42.35sec. However, with 15 still left to jump, the 41-year-old from Essex slipped to sixth place in the final line-up.
France took the top two spots, with Kevin Staut and Reveur de Hurtebise HDC winning the class (39.86sec) and Simon Delestre the runner-up riding Qlassic Bois Margot (40.74sec).
Edwina Tops-Alexander was third with Caretina de Joter (40.90sec), while three-time World Cup champion Marcus Ehning was fourth on board Cornado NRW (41.97sec).
Valuable points
Just ahead of Laura was Ireland’s Denis Lynch riding All Star 5 (42.03sec) who took the fifth spot. Laura’s result was enough for her to gain a place in the final in Gothenburg on 23-28 March.
She is in 13th place on the leaderboard with a score of 39 points, while Denis is Ireland’s only rider to qualify with 46 points in eighth place.
Scott Brash and Michael Whitaker were also in contention for a place in the final, but missed out on valuable points. Michael had one down in the jump off with Viking, while Scott and Hello Forever had four faults in the first round.
‘Absolute star’
It was a good weekend for Laura who also came second the Grand Prix.
“Bintang was an absolute star again finishing second in the 1.60m Land Rover Grand Prix just half a second behind Penelope Leprevost,” Laura posted on her Facebook page.
“After his achievement of qualifying for the World Cup Final as well – just couldn’t be happier! Thanks so much to Emily Mason for all her brilliant work with all the horses – roll on Gothenburg.”
Germany’s Christian Ahlmann is at the top of the Western European League with a massive 86 points after securing three wins this season. However, all riders start on zero for the final, so any of the 18 riders could take the title.