• Great Britain’s para-dressage team win Team Silver and secure qualification for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
• British showjumpers finish eighth in the team competition
• Showjumper Amanda Derbyshire goes forward to contest Sunday’s individual final

PARA-DRESSAGE

The British para-dressage team have won Team Silver and secured qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on the conclusion of the team tests earlier today, with just 0.64% separating the team from The Netherlands who won Team Gold.

Both of Great Britain’s remaining competitors, Natasha Baker MBE (Middlesex) and Erin Orford (Buckinghamshire) were in action in the Grade III class today, with Natasha with Mount St John Diva Dannebrog, owned by the Mount St John Stud, first to go.

Building on from their silver medal winning performance from Wednesday the duo produced another superb performance to score 74.118%, a Personal Best, which kept them at the top of the standings in the class.

Competing at their first World Equestrian Games, the final rider for the British team was Erin Orford and Dior, owned by Annabel Whittet. Improving on their individual test of Wednesday, the duo put in a lovely performance to receive a confirmed score of 69.029%, bettering their mark from last year’s European Championships.

Following the completion of the final class, the Grade I, Great Britain’s final team score of 222.957% was confirmed which saw them finish in silver medal position and seal their place at Tokyo in two years’ time.

To read the full para-dressage report from today please click here

JUMPING

In a tense and exciting end to the team showjumping competition, Great Britain finished in eighth place in the overall rankings, with the gold medal going to the hosts after a thrilling jump-off.

First into the arena, William Funnell (Surre), with The Billy Stud’s Billy Buckingham, produced a solid round for the team, but were unlucky to have two poles down, to add eight penalties to their score, finishing on a total of 23.46 penalties.

Commenting, William said; “It’s the fourth day that they’ve been jumping and he’s a big horse but it’s the same for everybody; it would have been nice to finish on a better note but I am still pleased with him.”

Holly Smith (Leicestershire) with Graham Smith, T J Hall Limited and her own Hearts Destiny were next in, and produced some great jumping, to post a clear round, with just a single time fault added to see them onto 14.42 penalties overall.

Speaking after her round she said; “The horse was jumping the best he has all week, I just let him down with the time fault. I’m completely delighted with him; he’s shown how world class he is today and so much to build-on for next year.”

Producing a fast start to her round, Amanda Derbyshire (Florida) with Gochman Sport Horse LLC’s Luibanta BH, delivered a stunning clear round for the British team, to see them finish on 9.48 penalties, ending 15^th individually.

A delighted Amanda said after her round; “The first half of the round she was jumping great; I got a little lucky, she rubbed the combination [fence], I didn’t know whether it fell or not, so I just thought keep going for the time, I didn’t want to get a time fault, and we really rattled the last jump but somehow it stayed up. She just did brilliant.”

Last to go for the British team, William Whitaker (West Yorkshire) with Ludwig and Yasmine Criel’s Utamaro D’Ecaussines, were unlucky to have two fences down in an otherwise great round to give them a final total of 19.14 penalties.

“We’re very disappointed,” said William “I came here with a lot of confidence and my horse has had a really good season but it’s just been one of those weeks where it hasn’t come up for us. I have high standards for myself and my horse and I don’t think we’ve met those standards this week but my horse did his best, he always does, and I couldn’t have asked for more. We were in a situation today where we had to jump a clear round but we haven’t managed to do it. We’ll try and work out what went wrong and look ahead to next year.”

Reflecting on the week’s events, Jumping Performance Manager, Di Lampard said; “It’s been a tough week in the office but they’ve been a great team. The spirit has been fantastic and everyday they’ve gone back and re-grouped and helped each other and I am really proud of the team.

“We were so close today. We came here to qualify for Tokyo [2020 Olympic Games], that has been the main aim and we were so close. We’ve got some young horses on the team and some young riders on the team and for three of them this is their first world championships. The future is looking really good and we will look to next year.”

Amanda now goes forward to Sunday’s individual showjumping final, which will see the top 25 individuals battle it out for the coveted title.

Equestrian Team GBR is supported by the UK Sport National Lottery funded World Class Programme; the British teams are very grateful to the support they receive from the British Equestrian Federation Fund and official partners Dodson and Horrell, Equi-Trek, FALPRO England, Musto, NAF and Point Two.

Full results from Tryon can be found online at: https://tryon2018.com/officialresults