British riders tie in the Five Fence Challenge

Five riders made it through to the final round of the Five Fence Challenge at Horse of the Year Show and it was a British tie for Robert Whitaker and Emma Stoker as the only two riders to keep all five fences standing. With the Abbey Road fence at number three catching out the other challengers, it left just Robert and Emma to tackle the final vertical which stood at 1.85m.

Emma Stoker rode a spectacular round with Kontador VDM owned by Lisa Bruggeman and Walter Lelie as the first rider clear in round five. Originally from Durham, Emma has recently made the move to Belgium to ride with Axel Verlooy. Having only been riding the nine-year-old bay gelding for six weeks, it is just the start of things to come from this superstar combination. “He’s been fantastic all week; he was second in the Grandstand Welcome Stakes on Friday and just had a fence down last night in the Accumulator. I’ve never jumped a course that big before in my life and he just couldn’t wait to jump it. He’s only nine but he always tried his best; he is definitely in the right job.”

Yesterday’s winner of the Accumulator and the renowned Puissance class, Robert Whitaker, was last to go. Shrugging off the pressure, Robert took his third win of the week riding 12-year-old gelding Cash Sent, owned by Elaine Wood. A man who knows how to ride the big tracks, Robert set the horse up perfectly to each jump making little fuss of the towering fences. “He performed really well. The first round was a bit touch and go but he got better each round. He’s used to jumping Grand Prix classes, so this was a bit different for him. I’ve been riding him for a while now, so I know him well and he is good at the bigger fences. I’m having a great week; usually at these shows you hope to have at least one horse going well, so to have all three in good form is fantastic.”

Image by 1st Class Images.