Dale Frew enjoys some Southern HIghlands sunshine
Berrima Horse Trials played host to the last event of 2012 in NSW and in typical Berrima fashion the weather ranged from a roasting 35 degrees on Saturday to a almost chilly 18 degrees on Sunday. But the changeable weather certainly did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the 300 or so riders who made their way to the Southern Highlands of NSW for the weekend.
Heath Ryan pushes towards a win in the Animal Company CNC*
The event ran classes from EvA60 up to CNC* with Heath Ryan taking home the winners rug (thanks to ‘The Animal Company) in the top class riding Aspire R. Lying fourth after dressage Heath moved up the order by being one of only two riders to go clear and under time around Vince Roche’s cross country course. Dressage leader, Niki Rose, lost her lead with Monty Who after picking up 20 penalties at the ‘Sumit’ fence, which was situated at top of the dam wall. Meanwhile five riders, in the 14 strong 1* field, suffered problems at fence 7 the Horsewerks Keyhole where riders had to jump through the keyhole, drop down and bank and then negotiate a skinny fence. It was here that Jacqueline Basquil had a fall riding Kelecyn Covergirl. Although Jacqueline was taken off in the Ambulance to hospital she was released that night feeling a little battered and bruised.
(Leica Gilbert suffered a fall in the cross country warm up area which resulted in a broken finger – but otherwise she was give the all clear by the hospital.)
Judy Clark’s ride in the Foxhill Farm EvA105 open class was pretty much summed up by the name of her horse ‘Our Dreamtime’ as the pair cruised through the weekend adding nothing to their leading dressage score of 43.2.
In the junior section of the EvA105, sponsored by Highland Drilling, the winners rug came close to going to the sponsor’s daughter, Kirby Delemont, riding the New Zealand bred horse Topper II. Kirby led the dressage ahead of Gemma Tinney and had she had to add just her two rails down from show jumping she would have held on to her lead, but finishing 2 seconds over the optimum time cross country allowed Gemma to take home the blue ribbon. Gemma was kept busy with two horses to ride in this class. She won the event on Scenicwood and finished fourth riding Murrabong Kinganui – not a bad weekends work!
The EvA95 class was divided into three section with the open section sponsored by Prydes Feed. This was won by Elizabeth Reid-Philip riding Mr Trinidad who moved up from eighth after dressage and finished on a score of 56.2, just 0.2 marks ahead of second place Kathy McKinnon. In the Saddleworld Mittagong EvA95 division B Leah Smith and Witch Doctor led the class from start to finish, adding nothing to their dressage score of 40.2 while the Main Event Junior division was won by Emma Cottle on her dressage score of 42.
Emma Cottle riding Play It Again Sam on their way to a win in the EvA95 junior class
The cross country course for the EvA80 class caused a few problems and while some riders picked up the odd 20 penalties, others got eliminated for missing a fence. Local rider and coach Kim Leibowitz won the Equiscape division riding Armani Ace while Sharon Palmeiri, riding Grand Lil Stash moved up from second to first in the Gladiator Float section, thanks to faultless jumping performances in both the show jumping and cross country phases. One of Berrima Horse Trials long standing committee members, Neatie Malcolm, won the Coolaroo Amateur division riding Throsby Park Sonnet much to the delight of her fellow committee members. “Sonnet is quite an amazing little horse,” said Neatie. “He has now won events with both my daughters and now me.” In true determined junior fashion Emma Bickley led the Bowral Co-op junior section from dressage day and despite Ben Quirico being hot on her heels she held on to that lead for the rest of the weekend to win on a score of 41.2.
Quite a few of the lower level riders who took part in the EvA60 class struggled to make it round the cross country without picking up penalties. Several had problems at fence seven (the lane crossing) with the rest of the problems spread out over the course. Again a few riders were eliminated for missing fences, which hopefully will be a mistake they wont make again in the future. At this level it is all about learning about eventing and it is all too easy in the heat of the moment to simply forget a fence. Ask any top level rider if they have ever made a similar mistake and you pretty much guarantee the answer will be yes.
In the Grosvenor Park section Kristian Draxl led from start to finish riding Royal Burkeshire, while Criag Bailey and Willie Wagtail did exactly the same thing in the Equissentials section. Craig scored an amazing 23.3 in his dressage test and even a rail down in the show jumping saw him finish in the sub thirties. Winning must run in the family (or at least in the name) as Bridie Bailey took out the junior A section ahead of Isabella Burnett while the dressage judge of section B was treated to a lovely test by Kate McLennan which earned them 25.5 penalties and with only time penalties to add they won the class easily, nearly 25 marks ahead of Matilda McCarroll.
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For full results CLICK HERE
