An evening of thrills and spills results in Britain’s first showjumping World Championship medal in 24 years

After a nail-biting evening of showjumping action, the British team of Scott Brash, Harry Charles, Ben Maher and Joe Stockdale finish in bronze medal position at the World Championships

The last time that Britain won a medal at a World Championship was in Rome in 1998. Collecting a bronze medal alongside John Whitaker, Geoff Billington and Nick Skelton was Di Lampard, who would go on to become Showjumping Performance Manager for British Equestrian’s World Class Programme. Tonight (Friday 12 August), history would repeat itself, as the team collected another bronze, their first world championship medal in 24 years, but this time with Di at the helm.

Ben Maher and the 12-year-old Faltic HB were once again pathfinders for the British team. Unfortunately, their round didn’t get off to the best start when Faltic touched the back bar of the opening oxer, earning them a very early four faults. A start like that that would rattle some riders – especially with a tightly packed scoreboard to add extra pressure – but certainly not Ben.

The rest of the round was pure perfection – smooth, rhythmic and perfectly judged against the clock. They crossed the last with just the early four penalties to add to the British tally and a new personal score of 5.42.

“It was a terrible start, the first fence down – normally he’s very, very focused on the first fence, so maybe he just needed a little bit of an adjustment in the light between outside and in,” Ben pondered following his round. “It was just a minor judgement error – he just threw a toe and knocked it down.

“He jumped unbelievably, he jumped fantastic,” Ben continued. “Faltic’s done an amazing job this week and he’s really proved that he’s a championship horse”

Next up was Joe Stockdale. Jumping at a senior championship takes incredible mental strength – with three rounds of jumping in the team competition, the ability not to let mistakes affect your future performance is essential. Yesterday wasn’t Joe and Equine America Cacharel’s day – one tiny mistake caused a domino effect that brought down three fences, and a despondent Joe was left feeling as though he’d let his team down.

What’s done was done, though, and Joe had no choice but to put yesterday behind him and focus on the challenge ahead.

“It was a long competition yesterday, and I think I watched one or two too many rounds and just started to over-analyse the course and my plan,” said Joe. “Today, I walked the course twice, made a plan, watched the first two and didn’t watch any more go.”

Joe had made his plan and it was time to put it into action. He and 10-year-old Cash set off, seemingly unfazed by the biggest atmosphere they’ve ever experienced. Just one unlucky pole on the second part of the combination at fence nine marred an otherwise perfect round, and Joe left the arena with a look of satisfaction on his face.

“I’m so proud of [Cash]. She was all over it today and she was good enough yesterday to jump a clear, it was only my error that caused those few fences. The whole week, she’s jumped far better than the scores will look. It was nice to come back today and sort of put it to right – nearly.

Joe’s crucial round – which would act as a counting score on account of being faster than Ben’s four-faulter – was made even more poignant because today would have been his dad’s 58th birthday. When Tim died in 2018, Joe gave up a promising career in cricket to concentrate on jumping in honour of his dad, and he admitted that his round on Thursday made him question if it was the right decision. However, the outcome of today will have surely laid those doubts to rest.

As the competition entered its third rotation, the fight for a podium placing was showing no signs of abating. The pressure was on for Great Britain as Harry Charles and Romeo 88 came under the floodlights. The first two rounds of the competition hadn’t been quite what they were hoping for, with an uncharacteristic two down yesterday and one in the speed round, and so they were hoping to change their fortunes this evening.

And change them, they did. Romeo looked full of fire as he set off, with Harry expertly channelling him through tight, punchy lines that set him up well for the fences. Fence by fence, they flew round without ever looking as though they’d touch a fence – the pair were back on form. They crossed the line with time to spare and all the poles still in the cups, adding nothing to the British tally.

“That was definitely better than yesterday. It couldn’t be better,” said an elated Harry afterwards. “To be honest, the whole week’s been so unlucky, even yesterday was one tiny mistake that made us have two down. The horse has jumped amazing all week, really.

“It certainly feels like one of the hardest courses in the world to jump tonight, but it felt fantastic. It wasn’t the easiest ride we’ve ever had. He was quite strong today – after three days, he was still somehow absolutely wild in the warm-up, bucking and kicking, so he was quite fresh. He needed that a bit of zip for how high the jumps were and he fought so hard for me.”

Being in the third rotation gave Harry the advantage of feedback from his teammates, meaning he could adjust his plan accordingly.

“We knew the time was going to be very tight. He’s not the quickest horse in the world, but he’s not the slowest either. All the distances came up perfectly – I think the biggest thing was getting to that double [fence nine] as slow as you can, waiting to jump those two verticals before you even think about the oxer. That’s what I was being told by Ben and Joe, so that’s what I tried to do, but he was pulling me down to it and he managed to get over it well. He jumped it super.

While Harry was pleased with his round tonight and being able to deliver an all-important clear for the team, the problems earlier in the week meant qualification for the individual final was looking uncertain.

It was then down to Scott Brash and Hello Jefferson to sew up the British efforts. The 13-year-old gelding has looked class all week and the pair were sitting second in the individual standings, so Scott’s sights were firmly fixed on continuing that trend. They set off well, but the heightened atmosphere behind the scenes had put Jefferson in a feisty mood and Scott was clearly having to work hard to keep the round smooth. A touch on the third fence had the crowd gasping, but it stayed up and they carried on. However, their luck ran out at the second part of the combination at nine – the bogey fence of the evening – and the back bar hit the sand.

“The lads were brilliant – Joe, Harry and Ben really dug deep,” said Scott. “It’s great for the two young lads pulling out great scores there today – I’m delighted for the team.”

“I’m disappointed [in my own round]. The warm-up was bad. There were a lot of guys getting excited at the practice fences and he’s a sharp horse – he doesn’t need that sort of thing going on. I was pretty disappointed with that, he came in tense and I wasn’t really happy with it. I think the tension came through into the ring and we didn’t do our best round – it wasn’t bad considering, though. Jefferson has been amazing – he still is amazing.”

Full results and what’s next?

Today’s team standings were as follows…

1. Sweden – 7.69 penalties
2. Netherlands – 19.31 penalties
3. Great Britain – 22.66 penalties
4. Ireland – 23.15 penalties
5. Germany – 24.76 penalties
6. France – 26.44 penalties
7. Belgium – 26.49 penalties
8. Switzerland – 26.83 penalties
9. Brazil – 32.29 penalties
10. Canada – 43.56 penalties

The thrilling showjumping finale on Sunday afternoon will see the top 25 come forward and the individual World Champion will be crowned. Two British riders have qualified – Ben Maher and Faltic HB lie in eighth on a score of 5.72, while Scott Brash and Hello Jefferson drop to 13th but are still in contention with a score of 8.23.

Photo credit: The British showjumping team collect their bronze medals with Performance Manager Di Lampard © British Equestrian / Jon Stroud Media