Ellen leads the way as Great Britain make flying start

THERE was a welcome boost for British Showjumping at the weekend when the British team won the Longines Nations Cup at the inaugural CS105* at Abu Dhabi.

The GB squad, led by chef d'equipe Tim Stockdale, beat Germany and Holland to finish on a zero score.

Ellen Whitaker, riding Equimax Occolado, was the pathfinder for Britain and chalked up the first of the team's clear rounds. She was followed by Guy Williams riding Torinto van de Middlestede and Ben Maher with Robin Hood W.

Robert Smith and Talan finished with just five penalties.

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Ellen returned to produce another clear in the second round as did Guy and Robert. This meant that anchorman Ben was not required to jump again and Robert's earlier score could be discarded.

Germany came second with six penalties and Holland third with nine.

Tim Stockdale said: "What a fantastic start to 2010. I knew we had a strong team and a great team spirit. We had a plan right from the start and everything went to plan. All the horses jumped out of their skins. It feels great to come away with a win."

NORTHALLERTON'S Paul Barker and Tina Fletcher, who is based in Faringdon, were successful in the recent wild card qualifier for the British Open, held at the Addington Manor equestrian centre.

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Paul, riding Amadeus V, and Tina, with Hallo Sailor, finished just one point ahead of third-placed Lynne Bevan. The two riders seem to thrive on such intense competition as they both also won wild card places to qualify for the Horse of the Year Show last year. Now they will join other leading riders at the British Open Show Jumping Championships in April.

THE Sinnington Hunt holds its point-to-point at Duncombe Park on Sunday. There are 143 entries, with the largest number being for the Confined Hunts race. The hunt members' race has nine entries, including last year's winner Cop Howe.

The fifth race is a new addition to the Sinnington hunt's race card and is a Point-to-Point Owners and Riders Club Members race for novice and veteran jockeys. A novice jockey must not have won more than three races before the start of the season and a veteran jockey must be over the age of 45.

Last weekend's Old Raby Hunt Club meeting at Witton Castle saw members of the Greenall and Dawson families riding all the winners apart from in the last race, which was won by Mark Walford.

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At the Burton meeting at North Carlton, Lincolnshire, there were two winners for Yorkshire's Mason family with Laura winning her first race on Well Presented.

THE row over the use of Greenwich Park for equestrian events, including the cross-country course, at the 2012 Olympics has escalated with protesters claiming that the organisers have admitted in a planning application that damage could be caused to "heritage features."

Greenwich Council will rule on London 2012's application next month and the protest group, NOGOE, says the submission from organisers includes the admission that "some heritage features could suffer permanent loss or partial loss."

That is denied by the London Organising Committee, who say that anything of archeological significance will be protected. NOGOE say the risk of damage and the disruption are too much.

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John Hines, NOGOE's co-ordinator said: "The risks to a leading World Heritage site are disproportionate. The disruption to the lives of local residents and the inconvenience to the millions who visit the Park every year is unreasonable. There are perfectly satisfactory alternative venues where the Games could be hosted without the massive inconvenience that the Olympic authorities would inflict on Greenwich."

NOGOE say that the recent find of foundations in the park could be the remains of a Tudor building.

BRAMHAM International Horse Trials have nominated Breakthrough Breast Cancer as their charity this year.

Event director Nichols Pritchard said: "We wanted to support a charity which many of us can relate to and with nearly 46,000 women and around 300 men diagnosed with breast cancer annually in Britain, Breakthrough was an obvious choice. I hope all our visitors will get behind the charity and support them in any way possible during the event."

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If anybody can spare some time during the four days to help collect money, the charity would love to hear from you at www.breakthrough.org.uk or on 08080 100 200.

The event runs from June 3-6 and tickets are available through the on-line box office: www.bramham-horse.co.uk.

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