Show Report: 2020 Knight Frank Western Cape Showjumping Championships

The 2020 Adult Western Cape Showjumping Championships took place over the weekend of the 13th to 15th November, hosted by the Stellenbosch District Riding Club. With the headline sponsor, Knight Frank, and several other sponsors all joining in, the prizes, rosettes and winners blankets were all ready to go to their new owners.

In the build-up to the crowning of a new WC Champion, the 1.30/1.35m handicapped 2-phase competition saw 17 competitors tackle the Brendan Silen and Dave van der Byl-designed tracks in which 9 riders crossed the finish line with zero faults. The podium positions were decided by the time in the second phase in which the quickest rider, Tori Coughlan, claimed top spot riding her mare Callaho Fiesta in a time of 34.45 seconds. The remaining two podium places were secured by Hayley Preen on Voigstkirch Dunmore in 2nd and Shannon Greyvenstein on Glam Rock in 3rd.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The 2nd competition of the day for the riders was the 1.30m/1.35m handicapped A2 competition, a competition that sees riders compete over a single round in the quickest time to claim victory.  With 15 riders entered and some speedy combinations in the listed field, the competition was set to be as exciting as anyone could imagine. Tori Coughlan set an incredible time of 69.22 but suffered an unfortunate 4 penalties which knocked her off the podiums into 4th place. Claiming both the winner’s spot and third position was Shannon Greyvenstein on Glam Rock and Disa’s Esperanto, respectively, while in 2nd place was Georgia Biet and Barberg Savoy Affair.

The final day of the Knight Frank-sponsored competition would see the 1.30m and 1.35m classes, previously handicapped, run separately to crown 1 horse and rider combination the 2020 Western Cape Adult Showjumping Champion. The 1.35m Championship was run under FEI Article 273: a typical Grand Prix, 2 rounds without a potential jump-off. With only 2 combinations heading into the second round with zero penalties, Shannon Greyvenstein on both her horses, 3rd place was awarded to Georgia Biet riding Barberg Savoy Affair with a total of 8 penalties in a time of 54.14 seconds. With both of Shannon’s rides picking up 6 penalties each in the 2nd round, the time from the second round would be the deciding factor. Glam Rock was the slower of Shannon’s 2 rides in a time of 63.49 which put them into second place while taking the top step on the podium and the title of 2020 Western Cape Adult Showjumping Champion, Disa’s Esperanto, the KWPN stallion produced by Liam Stevens.

-The JumpOff-

Advertisement