Kiwis take Nations Cup at Houghton Hall
Saturday, 24 May 2014

New Zealand has had a convincing win in the FEI Eventing Nations Cup competition at EQ Life Houghton International Horse Trials in the UK this morning, with Sir Mark Todd and Lizzie Brown taking first and second in the CICO3*.

Todd and his London Olympic mount NZB Campino (owned by New Zealand Bloodstock and Todd) held on to his lead through the showjumping, and added just 3.6 time faults to his dressage score to finish on 35.9 penalty points.

Brown and Henton Attorney General (owned by Tessa Grant and Brown) added a single time fault in the show jumping and were the only combination to go clear and inside time in the cross country, to finish on 40.8.

Brown was thrilled.

“It was great to be part of such a cool team,” she said. “The Nations Cup is a really fun concept and we kept the pressure on each other all weekend.”

Craig Nicolai and his own Just Ironic will be pleased with their efforts, seeing just 1.6 time faults added to their dressage score from the showjumping and cross country, to move from 62nd in the dressage to 21st.

Tim Price and Haddon Trump Card (owned by Varenna Allen and Bruce Haskell) moved up from 34th to 22nd with their 62 penalty point effort.

The Kiwi victory stopped the British getting a hat-trick of titles in the Nations Cup series. The hosts had to settle for third behind the Germans, who were second. The French team was fourth.

For more information head to www.houghtoninternational.co.uk .