Australian team for the first time in the Ocala FEI Nations Cup in Florida
The Ocala Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping CSIO4* is set to run in Florida over the next four days 17-21 February, with Australia fielding a team of experienced and new combinations from the High Performance Jumping Squad.
Australia is one of eight invited countries with Scott Keach (Fedor) Matt Williams (Valinski S), Thaisa Erwin (Matilda), Harley Brown (Apex) and Tom McDermott (Quick Petite Folie) as team contenders supported by Chef d’Equipe Stevie Macken.
Macken holds no qualms that the FEI Nations Cup in Ocala will be of peak quality in terms of test. “The level of competition will be high this weekend. It will be a good opportunity to see some new combinations early in the season in our run to Rio. It will be an interesting gauge to where we are at early in the year with our USA based combinations.”
Olympian Matt Williams is no newcomer to team riding and looks forward to the challenge, “I’d like to thank the Australian High Performance team for including me as a member,” Matt commented. “It’s always the most important thing for me as a rider to be able to represent my country and I hope I can do Australia proud. It’s the second year Ocala has hosted the Nations Cup and Australia’s first time there and it’s a great opportunity for us riders to compete under pressure. I wish all the other teams good luck and hope for a great day of sport.”
Harley Brown has flown his horse Apex from the West Coast of USA to be part of the Nations Cup team. “Happy to be here and to be part of the Australian team. Apex is a new horse in my stable, I have had him for about 10 months now and I am pretty excited about him. We have had a few starts in World Cups and one 5* where we placed well. The plan is to stay here for a couple for weeks and then head back to do the $1 million class at Thermal. Our team is positive and we should acquit ourselves pretty well I feel. The USA has put in the best possible team they can and it will be a high level competition without a doubt.”
Other countries fielding teams include, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Ireland, Mexico, USA and New Zealand (see teams listed below).
Teams will consist of 4 riders in both the rounds with one score being dropped each round and the remaining three scores will be added to determine the total score. The top 8 teams will return for the second round. Those teams equal on penalties for eighth will be separated by the total times of the three best athletes of each team in the first round. Order of go of the Teams in the Second round will be reverse order of scores. In the case of a tie, the order will be the same as in the First round. The Riders will compete in the same order as in the first round. Scores from both rounds will be added to determine the winners. In the case of a tie for First Place after the Second round, there will be a jump-off with one athlete per team over a shortened course to break the tie.
Friday’s Nation Cup commences at 2pm (EST) offering a great prize cache of USD$112,000 while the USD$100,000 City of Ocala Grand Prix is scheduled to start on Sunday at 2.30pm (EST).
Both top-level 1.60m classes offer more than the dollars to be won as many riders aim for their Certificate of Capability for Rio 2016. The classes are also noted as FEI Ranking events and qualifiers for Gothenburg World Cup 2017.
Ocala is also the only official United States qualifier for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Final held in Barcelona, Spain on September 22-25 later this year.
The competition schedule, results and LIVE STREAMING can be found at hitsshows.com. And LIVE STREAMING also on FEI TV. For Australian time (AEDT), Nation Cup will be Saturday at 6am and Grand Prix will be Monday at 6.30am.
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Australia | Chef d’Équipe Stevie Macken
Thaisa Erwin
Tom McDermott
Scott Keach
Harley Brown
Matt Williams
Canada | Chef d’Équipe Mark Laskin
Ian Millar
Jonathon Millar
Amy Millar
Chris Sorensen
Mac Cone
Colombia | Chef d’Équipe Marcel Delestre
Roberto Teran
Daniel Bluman
Mark Bluman
Fernando Cardenas
Mauricio Guevara
El Salvador | Chef d’Équipe Cate Boon
Diego Muyshondt
Juan Manuel Bolanos
Paulo Santana
Ireland | Chef d’Équipe Robert Splaine
Kevin Babington
Cian O’Connor
Shane Sweetnam
Richie Moloney
David Blake
Mexico | Chef d’Équipe Norman Dello Joio
Alberto Michan
Eugenio Garza
Federico Fernandez
Jose Antonio Chedraui
Santiago Lambre
New Zealand | Chef d’Équipe Craig Martin
Luke Dee
Claudia Hay
Sharn Wordley
Kirk Webby
United States of America | Chef d’Équipe Robert Ridland
Mclain Ward
Elizabeth Madden
Lauren Hough
Laura Kraut
Todd Minikus
Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Series
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