The sun shone, and 50 of the 51 combinations contesting the CCI4* at Luhmuhlen, Germany, were accepted at today’s first horse inspection.
Jonelle Price heads the pack for the New Zealanders, and kept her style record intact as she stepped out in a gorgeous peacock blue dress, which had a lace overlay and was embroidered with flowers, complementing the equally pretty Faerie Dianimo perfectly.
Jesse Campbell cut a dashing figure on the trot-up track as well, with his two lovely horses, the grey Amsterdam 21 and the bay Cleveland.
And the always-dapper Blyth Tait was in perfect sync with his stunning chestnut mare Havanna, who is having her first four-star start.
Fresh from her Badminton win, Jonelle is one of the hot contenders for the Luhmuhlen title, though some commentators are picking the event will be dominated by the Brits; Equiratings’ Sam Watson going so far as to predict a blitz, with Brits taking the top five spots.
Kiwi Andrew Bennie is the president of the Ground Jury; he is joined by Sandy Phillips (GBR) and Christoph Hess (GER). The trio sent three horses to the holding box, and Irish rider Aidan Keogh’s mount Master Tredstep was not accepted on re-presenting.
Jesse and Amsterdam are the first pair in the dressage arena; their test will kick off at 11.30pm (NZ time). All the action from the event is being streamed live on Luhmuhlen’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKADiOVJLMRbJwa89FnzLBg
Go Kiwis!
