‘We have to pick ourselves up and do better tomorrow’: more British ‘disappointment’ at showjumping Europeans

Great Britain’s second team rider Tim Gredley said he was “very disappointed” with his 12-fault round on day one of the European Showjumping Championships at the San Siro racecourse in Milan, Italy (30 August-3 September).

Riding the Unex Competition Yard’s 11-year-old Medoc De Toxandria, Tim hit the second fence then quickly toppled another pole coming into the first of the three doubles on Uliano Vezzani’s track. The combination, who were part of the winning Nations Cup team at Hickstead recently, then picked up a further four faults at the Longines oxer before finishing very well in a decent enough time of 76.95sec.

The faults are converted into seconds to add in this first qualifying competition for teams and individual athletes at the European Showjumping Championships, leaving Tim with a total of 88.95sec. That left him floundering in the lower half of the leaderboard at this early stage.

“I’m very disappointed,” said the Newmarket-based British team rider, competing at his first championships for 17 years, and following pathfinder Sam Hutton’s eight-fault round.

“Already at the first fence, Medoc just didn’t really make the jump like he normally makes. Then he made two mistakes that he never normally makes. In hindsight he felt a bit tired – he’s had a long year – but he’s been jumping so good up till now.

“Hopefully the other guys on the team can get a couple of scores in.”

Tim said that the way Medoc finished his opening round “is maybe the only positive”.

“Tomorrow’s another day, but yes, I’m very disappointed and I wasn’t really expecting it to be honest. If I didn’t know who I was riding, I would have thought they were just two very green mistakes at the beginning,” added Tim. “He really wasn’t even looking at where he was going. These table C speeds don’t really suit him. He’s not a fast horse.

“It didn’t go as planned and we have to pick ourselves up and do better tomorrow.”

Tim added that the gelding has taken him from “two-stars last year to a championship this year”, and said: “So you know, you have to look on the bright side. He’s been amazing for my career. I’m loving it and this is what I wanted to do. But when you come to these championships, you know where you need to be. And today I wasn’t.”

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