We dropped by the Australian 3DE for an hour before heading to the coast for lunch at the Star of Greece Cafe. Despite the rain which started earlier than forecast, the Danson Dressage girls (Heather Currie on Donnerblitz and Angela Donaldson on Danson Destiny) put on a good show in the Dressage Masterclass with visiting judge Sandy Philips before the start of the 4 Star dressage in the main arena.
The rain then held off for most of the day apparantly and the crowd were treated to some solid Australian eventing dressage according to Victorian event rider Edith Kane who was sitting this one out. Edith watched some of the afternoon tests and commented that the riders seemed to run in batches of 'good tests' and 'not-so-good tests'! The current Australian Dressage champion HeathRyan showed how it should be done on the wonderful Mystery Whisper - taking no risks, he rode a technically excellent test which was beautiful to watch but Edith thought he had plenty up his sleeve he didn't even ask for. Not that he needed it - he leads the dressage on 42.30 and goes into the cross country phase with almost 10 points up his sleeve. Former pupil of Heath, Emma Mason on F1 Pharinelli lies in second place on 52 and Olympian Stuart Tinney on Sarah Ingham's lovely big grey horse,Watermark Grayson third on 56.70. Stuart's WEG mount Vettori is still in quarantine in New Zealand but he was very happy with Grayson today ' He tried really hard and although there were a few small glitches in the test he is starting to feel very comfortable and confident at this level. I was really happy with the test'.
Another Olympian we are delighted to see back in the eventing arena is Wendy Schaeffer who is 4th on Koyuna Sun Dancer (56.80) and 7th on Koyuna SunShine (59.20) after the dressage - great job Wendy! According to Edith, it was the best test she had seen Wendy do in recent times and the test was very smooth and neat and included a ten from one judge!
But as we all know, eventing is not just a dressage test. Tomorrow the riders head out on the cross country which Stuart thinks looks much less tricky than last year and should not pose too many problems. The ground looks great (especially compared to last year!) so we can look forward to a good day on the cross country course tomorrow.
