Horse & Hound – 01 August 2019

54 Horse&Hound1 August 2019

Pictures by Peter Nixon

SHOWJUMPING

LONGINES ROYAL

INTERNATIONAL

National championships

DavidSimpsonandGentlemanVHVeldofcruisetoa speedywin,Laura Kraut

bubblestoB&Cvictory and defending champions triumph again

New pair seal the deal

“WHATEVERyouwinhere,it has

a bitofhistorytoit,”summedup

ScienceSupplementsBHSQueen

ElizabethIICupwinnerDavid

Simpsonaftertakinghissecond

victoryinthefamousclass.

Thewinwasparticularly

specialasGentlemanVH

Veldofis anexcitingnewride

forDavid.OwnedbyMaruska

Vitek,the13-year-oldgelding

arrived“theMondayoftheDerby

show”,whichwasDavid’sfirst

competitionwithhim.

“Thisis nowmyfourthandI

really,reallylikehim,”saidDavid,

whospedroundtofinishclear

in42.01sec.

“Ihavetosaythankyoutothe

Vitekfamilyfortheopportunity

toridea horseofthatcalibre.For

sucha shortperiodtogether,we

seemtohaveclickedquitewell.”

The pair jumped the first of six

clearsinthefirstroundandwere

thefirstoffivetogointhejump-

off.CressyNeadsandBaladine

DuChanujumpedclear,however

theywerenotpermittedtojump-

offduetodisqualificationunder

BritishShowjumping’sbootrules.

Davidsawanopenstrideto

thesecondfence,savingmore

precioussecondswitha fierceturn

betweentheuprightsfromseven

toeight.Hisboldnesspaidoffas

nobodywasabletocatchthepair,

whowonwithclosetoa second

inhand.

“Althoughtherewereonly

fiveinthejump-off,allofthem

areincrediblyfast,”saidDavid,

addingthatthehorse’scarefulness

atverticalfencesis oneofhisreal

strengths.“There’snosoftclass

anymore,whereveryougointhe

world.Notknowingthehorse

thatwell,I triedtodoeverythingI

could,butI wasprettysureI was

goingtobebeaten.”

Second-placedHelenTredwell

(Larksong)hadhereyeonthe

prize after finishing third in this

‘Weseemtohaveclicked

quitewell’:DavidSimpson

pilotshisnewride,Gentleman

VHVeldof,tovictoryinthe

Queen Elizabeth II Cup

‘There’snosoft

classanymore,

whereveryougo

intheworld’

DAVID SIMPSON