Ready for the first horse inspection at Houghton
An Eventful Life will be filming all competitors on cross country at
Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International - find out more here
Visitors to this year's Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International, 24th - 27th May will enjoy the international competition of the FEI Nations Cup eventing with teams from five countries taking part. Houghton hosts the only British leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup, where five nations will be vying to wrestle the title from three-times-consecutive winner Germany.
In total 19 nations are represented in the eventing classes, with cross country and show jumping taking place on both Saturday and Sunday.
With only one fixture in the eight leg series complete, France lead the way on 100 points after a win in Italy last month ahead of Sweden in second for 90 points, Italy third for 80 points and Switzerland in fourth place collecting 70 points.
The four ‘man’ squad of that will represent Great Britain at the home leg of this year’s FEI Nations Cup series are;
- Katie Bleloch with her own 12 year old bay gelding Bulano
- Chuffy Clarke and Jonathan and Jane Clarke’s 16 year old gelding Second Supreme
- Matthew Heath on his own and Hazel Livesey’s 11 year old bay gelding One Of A Kind II
- Holly Woodhead and Parkfield Breeding’s 10 year old chestnut gelding Parkfield Quintessential
Twenty-two year old Chuffy Clarke and Katie Bleloch, 21, both make their senior Nations Cup team debut at the British leg of the series alongside Matthew Heath and Holly Woodhead who appeared for the first time on the Nations Cup roster in 2017.
The Irish team for Houghton Hall Natins Cup is as follows:
- Austin O’Connor with Colorado Blue – owned by The Salty Syndicate
- Aidan Keogh with Pride of Tredstep (ISH) – owned by Patrick Hughes
- Michelle Kenny with RLE Aspe – owned by Spencer Goulding
- Declan Cullen with Seavaghan Ash (ISH)(TIH) – owned by Becky Cullen
First reserve will be Jim Newsam on Magennis (ISH) – owned by Jim Newsam & Carole Hawthorne
The Irish Chef d’Equipe for Houghton Hall Nations Cup will be Rodney Powell. Irish Eventing High Performance Director Sally Corscadden says that
“As part of our development plan we are aiming to have teams at more Nation Cup competitions, so we are pleased to have a selection of experienced and new horse and rider combinations as part of the Team for Houghton Hall. Three of the team were members of the Boekelo Nations Cup squad and are joined by Aidan Keogh making his international team debut, riding his home produced Pride of Tredstep. All the horses on the team are quite young and this is an opportunity to gain valuable experience at this level and type of competition. We wish them the best of luck!”
USA-Christina Henrikson presents JTH Zest during the CCI1* First Horse Inspection
The U.S. Nations Cup team has a team of three ladies;
- Katherine Coleman and Billy Bandit, her 10-year-old Anglo European gelding, or Monte Classico, Kalai, LLC’s 9-year-old German Sporthorse gelding
- Hallie Coon and Celien, her own and Helen Coon’s 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare
- Caroline Martin and Danger Mouse, her own and Sherrie Martin’s 10-year-old Dutch gelding, or The Apprentice, Sherrie Martin’s 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding
Caroline Martin and Hallie Coon both received funding to compete at Houghton Hall, as well as Bramham CCI3* Under 25 in June as part of the USET Karen Stives Endowment Emerging Athletes Tour. Leslie Law will serve as Chef d’Equipe for the U.S. team at Houghton Hall, in addition to his role as the USEF Emerging Athlete Coach for the Karen Stives Endowment Emerging Athletes Tour.
GER-Dirk Schrade presents Dajara 4 during the CCI1* First Horse Inspection
The German team are;
Dirk Schrade and Unteam De La Cense
Hanna Knueppel and Carismo 22
Peter Thomsen and Sir Boggles
Ben Leuwer and BGS Urlanmore Prince
NZL-Jesse Campbell presents Diachello II during the CCI1* First Horse Inspection
The New Zealand team are;
Jesse Campbell and Amsterdam II
Caroline Powell and Sinatra Frank Baby
Neil Spratt and Galwaybay Echo
SWE-Pontus Hugosson presents Quadro Pop during the CCI1* First Horse Inspection
The Swedish team are;
Hanna Berg and Quite Survivor
Pontus Hugosson and Cut the Cuteness
Therese Viklund and Diabolique
Riders and spectators can look forward to an unusual blend of world class sport set against a backdrop of modern art. Houghton Hall currently has a Damien Hirst exhibition of new paintings alongside some of his most celebrated sculptures. The Colour Space paintings have never been shown in public before and are a development of Hirst's iconic Spot Paintings, while the sculptures include Virgin Mother and Anatomy of an Angel.
