FEI European Eventing Championship Tidbits

•    Tina Cook’s mother, Althea Roger-Smith, was an international show jumper, and Cook’s empathy with Thoroughbreds comes from a strong racing background. Her father, Josh Gifford, was a legendary National Hunt trainer.

•    Cook now splits her time between riding and assisting her brother, Nick, who has taken over his father’s training base at Findon, Sussex, in the south of England.

•    Individual silver medalist Piggy French got the Championships call-up during the Burghley CCI****, where Some Day Soon was well placed after dressage, when Mary King was forced to withdraw Imperial Cavalier with a suspected suspensory ligament problem.

•    French was christened with the name Georgina, but her childhood nickname of “Piggy” has stuck. She had a long relationship with Oliver Townend, but since their break-up and his move to the Welsh borders, she has run a barn in Leicestershire.

•    Other than French, only Malin Larsson of Sweden, riding Picadilly Z, show jumped double-clear on the final day.