All of the six riders (Shane, Megan, Sonja, Stuart, Wendy and Emma) featured in the book An Eventful Life will be competing at the Deloitte Australian 3-Day Event this weekend. The event, which hosts the only 4-star eventing class south of the equator, for the first time this year is also joining the HSBC FEI Classics™, a series which includes the six CCI4-star events held worldwide.
The event, which also runs a two star level competition, will boast a total of 99 horses with 35 in the elite CCI4-star. Seven Australian Olympians, including six medallists (Shane Rose, Megan Jones, Stuart Tinney, Clayton Fredericks, Sonja Johnson and Wendy Schaeffer) will compete across the two classes alongside riders from New Zealand, USA, Australia, United Kingdom and Italy for a total prize pool of more than $100,000.
Five of the above medallists are of course riders featured in the book An Eventful Life (we would have loved to have Clayton included but couldn’t get to the UK to do the interviews!)
Shane Rose, who has just announced that he is to be a father in May next year, will be riding his up and coming stars APH Moritz and Taurus in the CCI4* and Virgil in the CCI2*
Megan Jones will be riding her great horse Kirby Park Irish Jester in his first 4* since his illness during the WEG 2010 and everyone will be cheering for this popular combination on their home turf. She also has another very strong contender with Kirby Park Allofasudden in the CCI4*
Stuart Tinney, one of Australia’s most experienced riders also has two top class horses in the CCI4*; Pluto Mio and Panamera while one of Stuart’s previous rides Watermark Grayson will be competed by his new owner from Italy, Fabio Magni. Stuart’s daughter, 16 year old Jaymee, will also be competing in her first Australian International 3 Day Event, riding Murrabong Kinganui so it will be a busy weekend for the Tinney family
Sonja Johnson has made the trip over from WA with her 4* horse, Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison and a very promising young horse in the CCI2*, Belfast Mojito. Sonja has just come back to competition following a fractured pelvis but there is no stopping this girl!
Wendy Schaeffer has returned from Europe for a brief stint to attend her local event – after all, she is the current Australian 3 Day Event champion until next week. As her top horses are in Europe, Wendy is only riding in the CCI2* on Sun Showers but she is a huge supporter of this event and it is great to see her back home for a while
In addition to these Olympic medallists, Emma Scott is competing in the CCI4* on her very talented young horse Jenbern Monyana so it will be a real Eventful Life event!
There are many other fantastic Australian riders competing at the event such as Heath Ryan, Christine Bates, Tim Boland, Craig Barrett and Clayton Fredericks to mention just a few. In addition to the strong field competing, the event is always popular with spectators, being held in the middle of the city of Adelaide and has a great atmosphere. The Market Place Trade Village is sold out so there will be plenty to buy (including your copy of An Eventful Life on sale at Bonnet’s Saddleworld; with all of the riders around, perfect to get your copy signed!), the Party with the Stars is sold out, the Coopers Eventer’s Bar is stocked and ready to party throughout the event and the VIP marquees ready to receive guests from around the world. The French Horsemen Team we saw at the Melbourne 3 Day Event are back Down Under ready to show their jumping skills on foot and GeeGee, the new Equestrian Australia mascot will be around the Ponies in the Park area.
There will be a LOT happening this weekend so follow us on Twitter, Facebook and the website each day from tomorrow. The cross country action will be shown on FEI TV on Saturday and we will try to bring you some feel of one of the best events in the world, right here in Adelaide, Australia throughout the event
