Tim Boland was a happy man after finishing his cross country at Melbourne International 3DE in the Bates Saddles CCI3* class. He led yesterday after dressage on a score of 35 and added just 6.8 time penalties to that score to finish nearly seven marks ahead of second placed Craig Barrett riding Helen and Henry Hicks' Wendela Jamie.
Hear what Tim says about his round by clicking on the icon below.
Craig Barrett won this class last year and is very keen to repeat the performance and attacked the course from the start. However, coming through the double of corners, a slip before the B element took Craig a little off line but Jamie knew what was needed and quickly got his eye on the second corner and jumped it well. Craig was kicking himself for picking up 4.4 time penalties but that was a lot less that the majority of the class.
Craig and Jamie coming home
Murray Lamperd moved up from seventh after dressage into third place by scooting round the course, finishing just three seconds outside the optimum time on the almost appropriately named Under the Clocks. Murray goes into tomorrow two fences behind Craig. The fastest time of the day came from Katja Weimann and BP Gallantry who finished a second outside the time and consequently pulled up from 11th to fifth.
APH Moritz jumped well but looked to struggle a bit with the ground and Shane Rose had to use all his skill to encourage the horse the open up. The result was that they picked up 12 time penalties and dropped back from fourth to fifth.
Of the 18 strong field who started the CCI3* 15 finished, while two riders, Crystal Conning and Lauren Balcombe opted to retire and Rebel Morrow, who came off in the water had to walk home. The majority of problems were at fence 6ABC, the Ariat Big Leap where riders had to jump an upright brush, shuffle to a big drop and then onto a narrow toothbrush fence.
CNC3*
The choice of whether to run cross country in the CNC3* was left up to the riders and only four of the seven riders in the class opted to do that. Of those four it would appear that two riders jumped different fences to the others but at the end of the day the scores don't really matter as this class was really designed to give these potential Olympic horses a nice run. That said Pluto Mio and Stuart Tinney (pictured below) are leading the four riders and they managed that by picking up 2.4 time penalites, while the others were a little slower.
Logan Floats Australia CCI2*
When overnight leader Emma Mason and Poker Face had a run out at the Rose Garden Robert Palm (above) was happy to take the lead after a faultless performance on Koko Black. But the scores at the top of the leader board are tight, with just over a point separating Robert and Mattea Davidson riding Fairbanks Cargo.
It was good day all round for the Boland team as Tim’s girlfriend Sophie Adams riding Mercator Du Ry (pictured below) had a great round going clear and under time pulling up from fifth to third.
RACV Farm Insurance CCI*
The smile from Amanda Ross (above) as she crossed the finish line told the story long before the commentator announced that she had finished clear and under time. Amanda had been second after dressage but her great round put her into the lead when dressage leader Adam Benson had a problem at fence eight (The Dublin Dare) and the AIS Stumps at 14ABC. Chelsea Priestly and Blameitonthebear, who had also enjoyed a foot perfect round remained behind Amanda, while Cooper Oborn and He’s Patrick moved up from fifth to third after another great round.
Equitak Excel CCIJ*
In the Junior class Naomi White and Mighty Tosca, despite picking up 4.4 time penalties, held onto her dressage lead and is now sitting with just over a fence in hand going into tomorrow's show jumping phase. Sheridan Sullivan and Talent Thyme finished five seconds over the time to finish second, while Isabella Walsh went clear and under time on TS Swampfox to pull up from seventh to third.
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