Boekelo has always been a favourite event for our Northern Hemisphere riders, and it will remain a firm favourite after the performance of the New Zealand team this weekend. The team won the final round of the Nations Cup competition and Tim Price was the overall individual winner of the CCI03* class on Cekatinka.
Cekatinka, until this season, had been ridden Tim’s wife, Jonelle. Tim will be keen to keep the ride on the lovely mare, but may not have much luck there!
Sir Mark Todd was seventh, a great achievement given that it was McClaren’s first three-star competition. Sir Mark, of course, has probably lost count of how many he has completed now!
It was a tough course, with only 50% of the riders making it through without jumping penalties, and only the world’s fastest eventer, Christopher Burton, managed to finish with no time faults! The very wet conditions certainly contributed to the number of errors made.
Sir Mark was very nearly one of those who came to grief when McClaren slipped right into the second element of a downhill combination but got over it somehow. Probably thanks to those long legs and amazing sense of balance, Sir Mark managed to recover and lost little time getting back into it.
Tim had been fifth after dressage, and added just four cross-country time faults to his dressage score after the two jumping phases. He finished 1.8 penalties in front of Tim Lips on Bayro, who was therefore named as the Dutch National Champion. Frenchman Alexis Goury on Trompe l’Oeil d’Emery was third.
Daniel Jocelyn and Grovine de Reve were 26th, with Blyth Tait and Havanna van’t Castaneahof in 28th place. Blyth has done a great job filling in for the mare’s usual rider, Lizzie Green, who was out competing at Taupo horse trials as she waits for her visa to come through. Lizzie won Boekelo on Henton Attorney General, in 2013.
The team score was 160.9, a good margin ahead of second-placed (and series winner) Germany on 174.3. Australia finished third on 203.7.
