Tough start for Britain at Blenheim eventing Europeans after pathfinder rider falls on cross-country

The pressure is on the home team in the Agria Blenheim European Championships cross-country phase after Britain’s first rider Yasmin Ingham had a fall from Rehy DJ two-thirds of the way round the course.

This leaves Britain with no room for error as the scores for all three of the remaining combinations (Tom McEwen, Piggy March and Laura Collett) will count.

Yasmin was the third rider out of the startbox after the withdrawal of Senne Vervaecke, with the target set by the trailblazer Nadja Minder and 18-year-old Toblerone jumping clear for 12.8 time-faults over Mark Phillips’ 5,710m track.

It started well for the British pairing. They jumped neatly through the Suregrow Dewpond at fence six, adding a tidy extra stride, and were copybook through the technical angled and corner fences in the arena and on the front lawn. Rehy DJ is such a straight, honest horse, Yasmin was able to present him on fences on tight angles – particularly coming over the angled brush out of the water at fence 19 –and the horse kept rising to the task.

But they had a problem at the tricky combination at fence 22, the FEI Mounds, an oxer on a mound turning left-handed to a corner also on a mound, causing a rider fall.

Yasmin, the pathfinder for the British team, running in partnership with Agria, was lying ninth after dressage on Rehy DJ on a score of 29. Fourth at the young rider Europeans in 2018 together, this was their first senior championship as a partnership.

Yasmin’s score was counting, so Piggy’s score of 29.4 will now come into play for the British team result.

Update:  Yasmin gave her reflections on her fall at the end of cross-country day

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Martha Terry

H&H features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.