Oliver who stables are based in Ellesmere, Shropshire said:
“We hope to aim Cillnabradden Evo at the remaining ERM competitions this year, as on his day he is a very competitive horse, which he has just proven. He was very good today and I feel built for this sort of class, I am delighted for him.
Gatcombe is a special place, I’ve been coming here since I was eight years old and I love it. It’s been a lucky event for me as I think it’s my eighth championship win here. The prize money is pretty good to – I need to make a living and the £16,000 today certainly helps”!
It was a case of every cloud has a silver lining for ERM debutant and second placed Tom Carlile. After not being named on the French Olympic squad, Tom who is based in France and has not competed in the UK this year decided to make the trip across the channel for a stab at the £50,000 prize money pot up for grabs in the ERM class at Gatcombe Park. Tom after securing his cheque for £12,000 for second place said:
“This is a real consolation for us after missing the ticket to Rio and as it turns out I was obviously a lot better off coming here!” There were some big cross-country questions for Upsilon as he’s so young, but he coped so well. He’s fast, although I think he was feeling the burn on the last hill but he tried his heart out today, I’m very proud of him”
Quick cross-country rounds were predicted to shake up the leaders and Elizabeth Power proved this after completing the fastest cross-country round of the day. This performance shot her and Soladoun from seventeenth place after showjumping to finish eventual third. Elizabeth commented visibly delighted:
“I can’t fault my horse today, he tried his heart out and was absolutely brilliant”
Australian Paul Tapner earned himself valuable series points finishing in fourth place riding Yogi Bear VIII. Tapner now has a commanding lead the Event Rider Masters with 87 points and is clearly hungry for the £30,000 leading series rider bonus. In second is Gemma Tattersall (66 points) and in third is Astier Nicolas (59 points).
The ERM leader board, results of all previous ERM legs and competition can be viewed for free on all platforms from anywhere in the world at Eventridermasters.tv
