Great Britain’s Rachel Proudley continued her meteoric success with a dazzling performance to win individual gold at the young rider European Showjumping Championships, in Germany (8-13 July).
She and the 14-year-old mare Quality Street, owned by HK Horses, came into Sunday’s final at Riesenbeck International in pole position and brushed off immense pressure as last to jump across the final two rounds to claim the European crown at her debut championship. The duo maintained a remarkable clean sheet throughout a week of fierce competition.
“What a great buzz – it was amazing just to be a part of it, but to win gold for Team GB is even better. It hasn’t really sunk in yet!” said Rachel, who followed in the footsteps of last year’s British young riders European champion, Olli Fletcher.
She topped the podium just days after celebrating her 20th birthday and had helped Great Britain win team bronze en route to the individual crown.
“That was amazing, too – we were down to three riders, but we all stuck together as a team and it was fantastic for GB to get bronze,” she said. “Thankfully it all paid off.”
Rachel Proudley on the European Championships: “I had no room for error!”
Just fractions of a penalty separated the leading riders coming into Sunday’s two-round decider but Rachel had complete faith in the phenomenal Quality Street, AKA “Sweetie”, who didn’t look like touching a pole across the championship’s five rounds.
“She was on top class form – she jumped so well,” said Rachel.”There was quite a bit of pressure coming into the final as the leader and I had to jump two clears in Sunday’s final. There was huge pressure in the second round, but she was phenomenal once again, she was so consistent in every round.”
Snapping at her heels were France’s Eden Leprevost Blinlebreton (Barbie De La Roque Z) – daughter of French Olympian Penelope Leprevost – and Belgium’s Mathieu Guery (Time-Breaker S Z), who is the son of Olympic rider Jerome Guery. When both maintained their clean sheets into the final leg of the contest, Rachel didn’t even have the cushion of a single time-fault.
“The course for the last round I thought was so technical and big, with a tough last line with the water tray underneath at the second last vertical,” she said. “It caught a lot of people out but thankfully Sweetie was still in flying form. It was so close at the top as well, I had no room for error!
“Before my round, I tried to keep myself to myself and not worry about what everyone else was doing – just concentrate on my own round. I had a plan and stuck with it and thankfully it all paid off.”
Rachel, who is based with and trains with Richard Howley and Morgan Kent of HK Horses in West Yorkshire, has been on an extraordinary journey over the past 12 months, winning the speed horse of the year final at Horse Of The Year Show and a brace of international puissance successes. She offered a “massive thank you” to the whole team at home.
“None of this would be possible without them,” she said.
The individual medallists for the children’s European Showjumping Championships.
A glorious medal haul for Great Britain and Ireland at European Championships
Also celebrating medal success on the final day was Great Britain’s Eleonora Ljungman, who secured individual silver in the children’s championships riding Jamaica EBH.
“I wasn’t expecting this result at all and was just taking it one round at a time,” she said. “Jamaica has been unbelievable and I couldn’t have asked for any more from her. She jumped foot-perfect all week and tried her heart out. I truly believe she loves it just as much as me.”
Ireland’s junior riders were also crowned European champions in both the team and individual finals, where they led home a superb one-two.
Emily Moloney took individual gold riding the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse Temple Alice, bred by Susan McDonald by the stallion Foxglen Cruise Control, with Tabitha Kyle sporting the green jacket to claim silver with BP Goodfellas (Stakkato Gold x OBOS Quality 004).
Emily Moloney and Tabitha Kyle lead home a one-two for Ireland in the junior European Showjumping Championships.
You can read the full report from the junior, young rider and children’s European Championships in this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, in the shops Thursday 17 July.
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