Tomorrow morning (our time) the Australian Jumping Team will be in full swing at Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre in Florida for the FEI $150,000 Nations Cup CSIO 4*. After strong performances yesterday in the warm up classes, the Aussies are all set to give it their all tomorrow and we are looking forward to following all the action!

The Australian Team is comprised of:

James Arkins and Eurostar 1
David Cameron and Oaks Come by Chance
Lauren Balcomb and Verdini D’Houtveld Z
Katie Laurie and Django II

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Our High Performance Jumping Manager and Chef d’Equipe, Todd Hinde, flew into Wellington last week.

“It’s probably a greener team than the previous teams that we’ve had,” said Todd. “Katie Laurie is our experienced rider here and then we have three riders in their first Nations Cup team.” James Arkins riding Eurostar 1, Lauren Balcomb riding Verdini D’Houtveld Z and David Cameron riding Oaks Come by Chance .

“We’ve got plenty of riders around at the moment,” said Todd. “These three riders have got quality horses coming up and giving these riders exposure and experience in team environments and the chance to jump in a Nations Cup is always extremely important.”

ROUND ONE is set to start at 4.30pm Saturday Afternoon Wellington time (8.30am Sunday morning AEDT)
ROUND TWO is set to start at 7.30pm Saturday Night Wellington time (11.30am Sunday morning AEDT)

Live Stream can be viewed HERE.
Live Results can be found HERE.

The start order is below, with James Arkins and Eurostar 1 first out for the Aussies in 7th, David Cameron and Oaks Come by Chance will be 18th out followed by Lauren Balcomb and Verdini D’Houtveld Z out 29th and then finally starting 40th will be Katie Laurie and Django II.

Format and Scoring: The Nations Cup will feature two rounds of competition. The first round will feature 11 teams, each composed of three or four horse-and-rider pairs representing the same country.

At the end of the first round, the faults accrued by the four team members are added up, and the highest individual score is dropped. For example, if Team USA scores 0 faults, 1 fault, 4 faults, and 8 faults, their team total for the round would be 5 faults. The highest number of 8 faults is dropped – the “drop score.” If a team only has three riders, all three scores count towards the team total.

Round Two will invite the eight best-placing teams back to the ring to compete over the same course. Teams will start the round with the same score on which they finished from Round One. The same scoring rules apply, with the highest score dropped for four-person teams. At the end of the night, the lowest overall score wins.

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