ROTTERDAM, Netherlands--In a competition that showcased the most exciting aspects of show jumping, Great Britain, the U.S. and Switzerland tied for the win after two rounds in the Nations Cup in Rotterdam League of Nations on Friday, June 18.

Mariiyn Little on La Contessa (Photo by Shannon Brinkman)Then in the jump-off for the win, the three riders were separated by a mere four-tenths of a second.

Great Britain's Harry Charles on LT Holst Freda, a relatively new ride, was  first to go in the jump-off and finished in 31.18, then Marilyn Little on La Contessa finished just seven-one hundreds of a second back in 31.25

It looked like Jason Smith of Switzerland on Picobello van't Roosakker, with the advantage of going last, might win, but he finished in 31.64 to place third.

So the British team of Charles, Ben Maher on Catelly, Sienna Charles with Chawton and Jessica Mendoza on Summerhouse won with the U.S. team of Little, Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque, Katie Dinan on Out of the Blue SCF and Callie Schott on Garant second, and Switzerland third.

"We’ve got a great team here,” Britain's chef d'equipe Di Lampard said. “I think it was a wonderful day of sport and a fantastic course that was fair to the horses as well. To finish with three teams in the jump-off. Wow.”

It was a thrilling cliff-hanger all the way, as team scores changed with every rider in round one.

 

COOK WENT clean, but then Dinan and Schott both had eight faults, so Little had to go clean to ensure the U.S. would make the second round.

Little, under pressure and as the anchor, laid down a fast clear round to keep the team in the hunt for the second round of competition. 

Brazil on 12 faults, Great Britain and the U.S. on eight each, Belgium, Italy and Ireland on four each and Switzerland and the Netherlands on zero faults qualified for round two, with Germany and France the two teams that didn't make it.

With the U.S. sitting sixth on eight faults, it seemed a huge hill to climb. 

In League of Nations competitions, only three riders from each team go in round two, so there's no drop score.

Cook, Dinan and Little all went clean to stay on eight faults, and the British trio of the two Charles siblings and Maher also all went clean, to also stay on eight faults.

Rails kept falling for the other teams, and in the end it was a three way tie, necessitating a jump-off of one rider from each team to determine the win.

"That's what I love about this format," said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland.  "It makes it so exciting."

"Marilyn was amazing, all of her three clear rounds were delivered under immense pressure," said Ridland.

To make it more of a challenge, Little is relatively new to show jumping, as she competed in Eventing for most of her career, finishing a World Ranked fourth in Eventing before switching to jumping.

Not only was Little fighting for the team's place on the podium in Rotterdam, but also for a chance to make the Finals in Barcelona. 

The U.S was 10th of the 10 teams in the League after the first two competitions in Abu Dhabi and Ocala and had to have a very good placing to have any hope of being in the eight that make the Finals.

And there, too, was one of the vagaries of the sport.

If anyone had been asked which team had put the U.S. in the League's cellar and which team had pulled it out with a second place finish,,, the answer would have been unanimous.

The team of Lillie Keenan, Natalie Dean, Laura Kraut and Aaron Vale, all high World Ranked riders, would have certainly been the choice over Cook, Schott, Dinan and Little. 

But it was the latter group that pulled it off after the team of Keenan, Dean, Kraut and Vale had a disastrous Ocala to finish 10th.

“I’m very pleased with today’s performances, particularly with the consistency we saw from several of our combinations. We were knocking on the door in the first round with two clears, but what was most impressive was how we climbed back up the ladder in the second round,” said Ridland. “Karl, Katie and Marilyn putting three zeros on the board under pressure was the coup de grâce! The star of the day of course was Marilyn and her three clear rounds, narrowly missing the win by seven one-hundredths of a second! Bottom line, it’s always our aim to be on the podium in these major team events, and this is a result we can be very proud of.”

"It was a really fun group," said Ridland. "Three was great team spirit. It was nice getting on the podium."

Only four were double clear, and two of the four were American.

Cook, Little, Charles and Martin Fuchs of Switzerland were the four double clear.

The second place finish gave the U.S. Jumping Team 90 points towards the overall standings in Longines League of Nations competition, where they currently sit inside of the top eight teams who qualify for the FEI Longines League of Nations Final to be hosted in Barcelona, Spain, later this fall.

Germany leads on 230 points, followed by Great Britain, 225, Ireland, 205, Switzerland.190, France, 190, Brazil, 180, U.S., 175, Belgium, 165, Italy, 160 and Nethe4rlands, 155.

The series now moves to St Tropez-Gassin, France in September for the fourth and final qualifying leg.