Wills Goodhew and Gaby Cooke qualify for the British Open Indoor Cross Country Competition through the British Eventing JAS Final

Posted by admin | Filed under General | Mar 2, 2010 | No Comments

 

Tuesday 2nd March 2010 


Wills and Gaby will now join leading British and foreign eventers at the British Open Show Jumping Championships at Birmingham’s NEC (7th – 10th April) on Thursday 8th April after securing their place at the British Eventing JAS 2010 Final at Addington Manor Equestrian Centre qualifier last Saturday (27th February).  

The Bailey’s Jumping and Style series (JAS) is an ‘Indoor Eventing’ competition run from January to February to provide competition experience in preparation for the start of the British Eventing season. Horse and rider compete over a show jumping course followed by a second round against the clock over a series of indoor cross country style fences. Riders are also given a ‘style’ mark by the judges which is combined with penalties to arrive at the final score. The winner will be the horse with the lowest penalty score at the end of the competition. The penalty score will consist of: a style mark for the horse and rider judged by an accredited trainer or elite rider over the show jumps and cross country fences, awarded out of 60 and converted to penalty marks. This will be added to the cross country time penalties and jumping penalties incurred during both phases.

18 year old Wills Goodhew, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, finished on an impressive total score of only 5.0 penalties with his aptly named, nine year old gelding, More Luck. ‘Lucky’ (stable name) jumped foot perfectly on the night to take the title from an impressive start list including former British Open Indoor Cross Country winner, Georgie Spence. Lucky can be nervous and spooky occasionally but showed his quality to comfortably take the lead finishing with only two time penalties to add to his style score. This bodes very well for Wills’ plans to campaign the Young Rider classes with him this season.
Wills Goodhew riding More Luck in the Bailey’s JAS Final – A high resolution version of this image is available in request

Wills’ mother, Pella Goodhew commented ‘We are thrilled to qualify for the British Open! Wills and Lucky took the lead with ten more still to jump so it was extremely nerve wracking watching the competition, fearing Wills would be pipped to the post at any time!’’

Third placed Gaby Cooke, from Oakham, Leicestershire, also qualified after David Doel chose to withdraw from the British Open Final with other commitments lined up. Gabby and her 15 year old gelding, Northcroft Frontier, finished on a final score of 10.0 penalties and are now on course for the British Open Indoor Cross Country Final!   

The Indoor Cross Country competition at the British Open Show Jumping Championships is a competition not to be missed. Britain’s top equestrian course designer, Bob Ellis, and Eventing guru Mike Tucker will create the course of approximately 16 jumps consisting of show jumps and cross country fences – some of which will be jumped in both directions. The show jumps will be set at near maximum height allowed in Eventing and will form the first phase of the course. The exhilarating event was launched to great acclaim at the 2006 British Open Show Jumping Championships continuing each year to provide visitors the only opportunity in the UK to witness top-level indoor cross country alongside world-class show jumping and thrilling equestrian entertainment.

The British Open Show Jumping Championships takes place at the NEC, Birmingham from Wednesday 7th – Saturday 10th April 2010. For tickets, call the Box Office on 0844 581 1301 or visit the official website at www.britishopenshowjumping.com

 

ENDS 

 

For more information, images or quotes regarding the British Open Show Jumping Championships 2010 please contact:

British Open Press Office

Grandstand Event Management

Tel: 01582 711411

Email: press@grandstand.co.uk

Notes to Editors

 

Background information on the British Open Show Jumping Championships

World-class riders from Britain and abroad will be invited to compete in this unique Championship competition held over four days next April. Leading British rider and three times Champion, Robert Whitaker will return to defend his title as the 2009 British Open Show Jumping Champion and compete in the top speed and jump-off international classes on offer at this FEI 4* event. The crowd favourite Puissance competition, featuring the legendary red wall, will also take place during Friday’s performance.

 

The unique format of the British Open Championship involves four competitions held over consecutive days with each competition designed to test the riders’ skill and ability in different ways. Round one commences on Wednesday with two further rounds on Thursday and  Friday, after which a ‘cut’ will decide the top twenty riders who will go forward to contest Saturday’s Final.

In addition, the jam-packed British Open also features a range of national show jumping and showing classes.

New classes for 2010:

Ponies UK Super League

John Whitaker International JA Championship

BS British Riding & Pony Club Team Competition

BS Winter Grade C

Entertainment includes:

The H Factor

British Open Indoor Cross Country

Dressage Lecture Demonstration with Richard Davidson

Dakota

Parelli Zone

Osborne Refrigerators Scurry Racing

Plus The Shopping Pavilion featuring over 100 trade stands, catering for you and your horse’s every need!

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