Bad News for Britain! Ben Maher’s Cella to Miss out on European Championships…
Bad news for Britain! Team selectors received more bad news this week as a third top horse has been ruled out of this month’s European Showjumping Championships in Aachen, Germany. Ben Maher’s Cella has picked up a “minor injury” and will unavailable for Britain’s Championship Team. Hopes of qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are certainly looking to be more and more challenging for Team GBR.
This is a major blow to Team GBR as Maher and Cella helped Britain win team gold at the European Championships in Denmark in 2013, as well as taking individual silver. Team GBR performance manager Di Lampard confirmed to Horse & Hound that Cella was definitely off the list, but that the injury was “not career ending”.
“This is obviously another huge loss and sad for Ben who had planned Cella’s preparations for the Euros to a tee,”
“This is obviously another huge loss and sad for Ben who had planned Cella’s preparations for the Euros to a tee,” she added to Horse & Hound.
Jane Forbes Clark’s 13-year-old grey mare competed successfully at the Global Champions Tour event in London last month at the prestigious Syon Park and prior to that was seen in Paris and Cannes, as part of the 2015 GCT Season. The pair began their summer at the British Horse Show in Windsor and then went on to compete at the annual Rolex event in Aachen, Germany.
This is very disappointing news for Ben Maher, making this his second championship disappointment. Maher and Cella were ruled out of last summer’s World Equestrian Games just days before the competition started as the mare picked up a “small overreach injury”.
Last month John Whitaker ruled out his top mount Argento for the European Championships and just a week before that, Scott Brash revealed he would not make Hello Sanctos available for team selection. Instead Brash will prepare Hello Sanctos for the final leg of the Rolex Grand Slam in Calgary (9-13 September), where the pair stand to win the €1 million bonus.
The Europeans team is expected to be revealed after the Dublin Horse Show, which ends on August 8th.
Source: Horse & Hound