The final day of The London International Horse Show (19 December) featured some of the world’s best equestrian athletes, including seven of the top 10 showjumpers. Joseph Trunkfield followed up on his puissance win with victory in The Lemieux Six Bar and Julien Epaillard claimed The Mistletoe Speed Stakes.
The Turkish Airlines London Grand Prix provided a fitting conclusion to the five-day show, with Matthew Sampson taking the spoils with the only double clear. Jodie Hall McAteer was crowned Leading Rider of the Show following a string of consistent performances throughout the week, which included finishing third in The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup.
The boys team beat the girls team in The Markel Jockeys Jumping in aid of The Injured Jockeys Fund, and earlier The BSPS Ridden Mountain and Moorland Championship sponsored by New Horizons Plastics was won by Lucy Glover with her Connemara stallion Castle Kestrel.
Home win for Matthew
The Turkish Airlines London Grand Prix featured Bernardo Costa Cabral’s challenging course, which proved to be a tough test, with only four of the 31 starters going through to the jump-off.
Great Britain’s Matthew Sampson, who has taken the North American circuit by storm over the last few months, produced a faultless round, posting a time to beat of 31.88 seconds. Sweden’s Angelie von Essen and Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca both accrued four faults trying to beat Sampson’s time, leaving Denis Lynch as the only remaining rider to go. The Irish rider was piloting eight-year-old Dark Chocolate in the horse’s first ever 5* Grand Prix, however Sampson’s round proved too difficult to match, with Lynch finishing on eight faults.
“It’s absolutely incredible, honestly I can’t believe it, it’s a dream come true,” said Matthew. “It’s special for my owners, the Evison family too. They’ve had Ebolensky from a foal and I’ve ridden her since she was seven. She grew up in England and has been in England for most of her career, so to win this class is absolutely amazing.
“You see all the best riders from around the world here: for us, especially being British, it’s the best place there is. Competing here is what we dream of when we’re growing up and to actually win is unbelievable.”
Image by The London International Horse Show
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