Megan Jones KP Irish Jester
With the promise of rain, which never materialised, dressage day at the Deloitte Australian three day event was hot and windy. At the end of the day it was crowd favorite, Megan Jones, who was leading the field with Kirby Park Irish Jester on a score of 43.3. Megan was obviously delighted to have her long term partner back on centre stage. “He came out here today and felt as good as ever. Tomorrow is another day and it’s a big course out there so we’ll just see what happens.” Lying second to Megan is Stuart Tinney and the talented mare, Panemera on a score of 44.5. Stuart managed to get through a busy day as he not only has two horses in the CCI4* (the other being Pluto Mio – lying 16th) but his daughter Jaymee is riding in the CCI2*. “I was pleased enough with the horses today, and Jaymee is pretty cool in the dressage phase so that was pretty easy to get through. But tomorrow I will certainly be more nervous when Jaymee leaves the start box than when I do.”
Shane Rose has two horses, APH Moritz and Taurus, in the CCI4*. Riding APH Moritz earlier in the day the test got a little tense at times leaving him on a score of 50.7, which left him in 12th place. A little later it was the turn of Taurus who produced a test which took the lead for a while on a score of 45.5. “I was really happy with the trot,” said Shane, “but I backed off the canter a little as he felt a little fragile. Looking back I should have kept going and maybe these other two guys wouldn’t be in front of me now!”
Other notable performances from today were equal fourth placed riders, Emma Scott riding Jenbern Monyana and the Italian rider, Fabio Magni riding Watermark Grayson- the former ride of Stuart Tinney. Emma rode a good solid test on Monyana just as she had done earlier in the day with Mustang, who finished the day in sixth place. Moving onto the Italian rider I’m not sure whether it was the Italian uniform or the interest in how Greyson’s new rider would go there was a hush as the pair entered the arena. The test was lovely and Fabio, who by all accounts really loves this horse, certainly looked to be enjoying himself. The changes were good, the trot expressive and the crowd showed their appreciation at the end of the test with huge applause. Although it is always sad when an Australian horse is sold overseas the fact that Fabio has kept the horse with the Tinneys since the sale and is riding him at Adelaide, puts a different slant on the story. So todays test seemed to give Fabio the crowds approval that this good looking Italian, who rides beautifully, was ‘allowed’ to take on one of ‘their horses’. After walking round the course, which is big and bold with some testing lines, it was clear that Adelaide will not be a dressage competition. This is just the way it should be and with less than six marks between the top ten horses tomorrow looks like being a great day for all the hundreds of spectators who will flood into Victoria Park.
Photos: courtesy Toni-anne Collins
