Gemma Tattersall and Santiago Bay. Photo courtesy of the Equerry Bolesworth International Horse Show.
Great Britain’s Equerry Bolesworth International Horse Show is an extravaganza of equestrian sport, featuring five days of top multi-discipline competition along with exhibitions and entertainment. There’s Grand Prix dressage, Grand Prix show jumping and — yes — Grand Prix eventing, a speed event over show jumps and cross country fences in a single round.
A five-star lineup of riders headed to Thursday evening’s Cazenove Capital Eventing Grand Prix at Bolesworth, one of what is now a three-leg Eventing Grand Prix series. Gemma Tattersall emerged as the ultimate winner, tackling the course at a blistering pace aboard Santiago Bay to win by a staggering eight-second margin. Their victory earned the Sussex-based rider the £2,000 top prize and qualification for a place in the final at the Theraplate UK Liverpool International Horse Show later this year.
“It was a fantastic class,” said Gemma. “It is my first time here at Bolesworth — I aim to be back for the Young Horse Championship in August — and Santiago Bay is a very special horse. We have a great partnership.”
Santiago Bay, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare (Ars Vivendi x Zantus, by Aldatus Z) owned by Caroline Teltsch, completed the Pau CCI5* last year and has had top three finishes at Chatsworth, Blair Castle and Barbury Castle. Gemma is on a roll herself, fresh off a win in the Bramham CCI4*-S last week with Quicklook V.
A last-jump joker fence — which added or subtracted five seconds from the rider’s final time, depending on whether it was cleared or not — proved influential throughout, but Gemma and Santiago won the gamble with ease.
“She always says yes to every question, and I had a fantastic time in there. She gave me a great ride,” Gemma said. “I do quite a lot of show jumping as well as eventing, and so does this horse. She is very used to going against the clock, and I basically rode a show jumping round against the clock over cross country fences, if that makes sense.
“She is a very fast horse, and we have got a great partnership. We are kind of on wheels, really, the pair of us. Every fence and line came up perfectly.”
Watch Gemma and Santiago’s winning ride:
Worth the drive winner eventers Grand Prix bolesworth
Posted by Gary Stevens on Thursday, June 13, 2019
The course was designed by Mark Phillips, who will also build the challenges for the Liverpool finalists in December.
“We saw some great sport,” he said. “This type of class takes the sport of eventing to a different audience, and I think it has a great role to play. Gemma was fantastic, wasn’t she? She is on flying form at the moment, and she continued it tonight.
He explained that Liverpool will be a different type of competition: “It is a smaller arena, and there won’t be so much galloping between the fences, but hopefully we can make it just as exciting.”
“I only had 30 minutes to set the course up. When I go to other events, I have got six months! Hopefully, we did a good job tonight.”
View complete results at the website here.
