It was a busy weekend of eventing, so let’s start with a few of the New Zealand competitions, before we cover the international ones in Australia, US, Belgium and the UK. We’ve got plenty of coverage of the South Island Three Day Event on this link.
No frills but plenty of thrills at Arran Station
There were good entries for the “No Frills” classes at Arran Station in Hawke’s Bay, especially in the lower levels, and feedback from the riders was very positive about this event. The water jump was a dry one this year, though, reflecting the state of the stream usually used to fill it!
In the CNC1*, Bryce Newman cleaned up, first on Bates Pierre and second on Bates Our Entourage. Ellie Braddock on Braxton Boy was third. ESNZ High Performance Manager Sarah Dalziel won the CNC1* on Benrose Super Star, with Francesca Silver second on Case in Point. Aiden Furkert on Pin M Down came out on top in the big class for the CNC105, with Hilary Samuel (Sparky Malarkey) second, Ruby MacGillivray third on Tree Tops.
In the CNC95 over 21, Georgie Pullins and In the Know had a good win from Matthew Grayling on Crusader Xtreme and Catarina Strom on Ashbury Skywalker. The under 21 section was won by Kendyll Miller on Chekkera, with Olivia Ahlborn on Aorangi Kashka and Rebecca Rowe on Diego Woods second and third respectively.
Helen Bruce was first and second on Davey and Kalo in the CNC80, 21+ with Mason Taylor on Tharness Xtreme third. The under-21 section was won by Emma Dunderdale on Alonzo Fanticy, Caitlin McGregor on Thrillseeker was second and Caroline Howell on Freestyle Apache Sunrise third.
Our Te Rapa report is coming soon to go with the lovely photos from Take the Moment in our Gallery. The full results are at the end of this post.
Belton, United Kingdom
Belton International Horse Trials was another UK event nearly thwarted by the weather, and some classes had to be cancelled. Those in the Advanced, three-star and two-star classes had to endure snow on the ground in the morning! It did improve, however.
The main class was the CIC3* for the Grantham Cup. Christopher Burton from Australia won this convincingly, being one of the two riders who were under the time, so finished on his dressage score of 34.5. Ollie Townend on Cillnabradden Evo (ex-Andrew Nicholson) was the other.
The best-placed Kiwi in this class was Sir Mark Todd on his Badminton-bound Leonidas II. He added 5.6 time faults to his 38.90 dressage. Jock Paget withdrew Clifton Lush but started Allora 3 though didn’t have the best of dressage tests and added quite a few time faults, so was well off the pace. Jesse Campbell’s two horses, Kaapachino and Amsterdam II, were also well down the list, having collected a few rails and time faults. Dan Jocelyn had a 20 on the cross-country on Beaucatcher. Better news for Dan is that he is now off the wait list and into the start list for Badminton.
Jonelle Price had a good Badminton warm-up on Classic Moet. They won one of the Advanced classes by just over 5pen from Laura Collett on Cooley Again. Jonelle had two time faults, the second fastest in the class. Speedy Ollie Townend on Samuel Thomas II was the only one to go under the time. Andrew Nicholson was 10th on Jet Set IV after a lovely dressage but a rail and time faults cross-country. He was also 14th on Teseo. Jock on Clifton Signature, who is heading to Rolex Kentucky, was 13th, after two show jumping rails and a bunch of time faults. There’s a video of the Advanced cross-country on this link.
Another horse having a run before Rolex was Bango with Tim Price. Show jumping rails and time faults added to his good dressage score. It was interesting to see that Tim ended up riding Cloud Dancer at this event, and it was a good move, as it adds another Olympic-qualified horse to his stable. Cloud Dancer was already qualified with Jonelle but it’s great that they can share their horses! While Tim may have a little work on his dressage with the horse, the jumping was no problem and they achieved their mission of gaining those qualifications. With Wesko now out of Kentucky (and we don’t know why at this point), this seemed to us to be very good planning on Tim’s part.
Blyth Tait had Bear Necessity in for a run before Badminton but picked up 20 faults on the cross-country plus three rails, so has a bit of homework to do before The Big One!
Ollie Townend really is on fire at the moment. He took the quinella in the other Advanced class, again with no cross-country time faults. He pushed Andrew Nicholson from his leading position after dressage and show jumping to third place, as Andrew picked up a few time faults. Jock was 14th on Angus Blue and Tim had a good but slow run on Ringwood Sky Boy, who is heading to Badminton.
Sir Mark elected to withdraw NZB Campino who is due to travel to Kentucky for Rolex.
Clarke Johnstone had his first start in the UK on Balmoral Sensation, electing for the CIC2* competition. He had a competitive dressage score, but unusually incurred four faults in the show jumping, and added 12.8 faults for time but clear across country to finish 12th. Jonelle was 14th on Ascona M, with Tim Price on Cloud Dancer 22nd. In the other CIC2*, Jonelle was fifth on Cooley Showtime.
Australia
In Camden, New South Wales, Equestriad was on. This is a huge event with about 700 entries and is run by a committee headed by Shane and Niki Rose. Shane managed to ride (and win) and Niki is expecting twins in July! To get through all the entries, there were one-minute intervals for all classes across country, 20 rings of dressage and the international horses jumped the John Vallance show jumping courses under lights!
Shane won the Bates CIC3* on Glenorchy South Park with New Zealander Blair Richardson fifth on Mavrick. Two notable New Zealand horses were also competing with their new riders at one-star level, both jumping clear across country. LV Elf was produced by Jess Woods and SE Godswalk by Brent Jury.
Helen Christie, from Southland, served on the Ground Jury at the event.
US News
Joe Meyer had a start in the CCI1* on Johnny Royale and finished 14th in a large field. This lovely young grey gelding is a New Zealand thoroughbred, by His Royal Highness out of Chivaney (a Tights mare) and was produced by Lizzie Brown before being sold to America where Joe is now riding him. There’s a video of some of his cross-country round on this link. Joe was also 12th on South Paw in the CCI2* – that event was won by Clayton Fredericks on FE Money Made. On Clip Clop, Joe is recorded as having a rider fall in the show jumping which isn’t the ideal Rolex preparation for this combination! We checked out with Joe what happened. “I did not get a great stride to second last, a triple bar to vertical double. Chippy couldn’t jump second and I popped off. Pretty pony club but least it’s out of the way!”
Joe did go better in one of the Preliminary classes where he placed third on Jay of Diamonds.
Belgium
Fraser King, now a Dutchman but really a New Zealander, competed in Arville, Belgium in a CCI2* on Quantum Warrior. They finished 10th in a field of 35 at their first attempt at this level – an excellent result, as competition is fierce in Europe. It was also a very wet event (but hopefully the Belgium chocolate – or beer – helped make conditions better.) Andreas Dibowski from Germany was first and second in the CIC3* class on FRH Butts Alvedon and Its Me, with Camille Lejeune from France third on R’Du Temps Bliniere.
Course Building News
Rolex Kentucky CCI4* course designer Derek di Grazia has been confirmed as the cross-country course designer for the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. He will be also be designing the course for the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Bromont, Canada.
Results of the International Animal Health Products One-Day Horse Trials Te Rapa
Hamilton Veterinary Services, CNC1*
- Olivia Pogan, Pintado Paragon
- Shannon Galloway, Airthrey Jean Genie
- Brittany Welsh, City Blues
Hamilton Veterinary Services CNC1*
- Olivia Pogan, Pintado Paragon
- Shannon Galloway, Airthrey Jean Genie
- Brittany Welsh, City Blues
- Rebecca Paterson, Swanky
- Devon Prangley, Blazer
- Laura McGregor, Pure Bling
Superior Rubber Surfaces NZ – CNC105
- Catherine Cleghorn, My Distraction
- Denise Rushbrook, McCor
- Samantha Felton, BV Illusionist
- Richard Otto, Soul Mate
- Rowan Dixon, Belmont Bolero
Harrison Lane – CNC105 Amateur
- Shannon Galloway, Day Walker
- Jane Callaghan, Weiti West End
- Lesley Going,Moochi
- Rebecca Ward, Bellissima
- Christina Janse Van Rensburg, Turkish Delight
The Animal Feed Barn – CNC105 Young Rider
- Paige Harris, Rainbow Impulse
- Gemma Hampson, Pintado Prima Rosa
- Danielle Amon, Te Urewera Star Dust
- Elise Quin, Secret Trick
- Jenny Bevege, Ngatamahine JJ Airtime
Clean Co Truckwash, Hamilton – CNC95 A
- Samantha Felton, Beluga
- Jeffrey Amon, Danny
- Patrea ter Steege, Simply Bobby
- Jeffrey Amon, Matches
- Tim Bruce, Maybe Magic
- Zoie Gray, Centavito
The Plant Depot – CNC95 Amateur
- Georgie Smith, Mr Clyde
- Annette McPherson, Ellie
- Bev Mulder, Mr Strauss
- Monique Reid, Fellini
- Sarah Boles, Tom Kitten
Spot On Photo – CNC95 Junior Rider
- Shelby Davys Olsen, Final Wishful
- Vicky Browne-Cole, Chrialka Soleil
- Bayley Coster, Anakin
- Estella Loughlin, Skibbereen Kentucky
- Niamh Walsh, Lacrosse
Garrard’s Horse & Hound – CNC80 A
- Jen Buchanan, Zippy
- Ashra McAvinue, Wanderlust
- Rachel Cave, Roy
- Paula Brocklehurst, Squire Bert
- Bryar Kirkeby, HNS Supreme
Garrard’s Horse & Hound – CNC80 B
- Sophie Hobbs, GE Prides Freedom
- Julia Wykes, Kabo Golliwog
- Bella Jones, Our Black Tie Affair
- Rachel Edwards, Bella Sophia
- Jacinda Baker-Singh, Mr Parkes
Take the Moment’s CNC80 Grassroots
- Nicola Watson, Al Fyre
- Katie Jones, Lets Skedaddle
- Janet Gifford-Bryan, Flying Circus
- Tara Henderson, Guaranteed
- Lauren Cooney, Thomas
