Two casualties in Gothenburg

BRITIAN’S John Whitaker was ruled out of competing at the FEI World Cup Finals in Gothenburg this weekend after a fall in Wednesday’s 1.40m resulted in a suspected broken collar bone.

The 63-year-old was riding the 17-year-old stallion Argento when he stumbled after landing and both horse and rider fell. The combination were not qualified for the final but were competing in the non-world cup classes at the Swedish venue.

Belgium’s Gudrun Patteet’s Sea Coast Pebbles Z failed to pass the vet check and has been ruled out. The combination were considered among the front runners after winning the qualifier in Helsinki and finishing sixth and seventh in two other qualifying rounds.

Writing on social media, Patteet said: “I’m very sad to announce that Pebbles and I will not be competing in the World Cup final.

“The vet at this show has decided not to accept him as fit to compete because of his stringhalt. (Pebbles always lifts up his right hind leg much higher then the left one.)

“All winter he has passed vet checks, moving this way, at all five-star shows and World Cup qualifiers. He did great results and qualified us for this final.

“But, unfortunately here they decided not to accept him. I am trying to understand why they accepted him at all the other vet checks, where he was moving the same way, but not here at the final...

“I will stay here the rest of the week to compete in the other classes with my two other horses and to support my Belgian teammates for the final.”