The rain fell heavily during the 4Star cross country today but it didn't seem to deter many of the riders on course at the Australian 3 Day Event today. The second rider out, Olympian Wendy Schaeffer on Koyuna Sun Dancer just breezed around the course and made it look like a walk in the park! Finishing clear with just 0.4 time faults on Dancer in 3rd place, Wendy followed this up with another excellent ride on her second horse Koyuna Sun Shine who also went clear with 4 time faults finishing 6th place. "" It was a great galloping track" said Wendy "Tough to make the time (obviously as I didn't!) but I had a really good ride on both horses and it's lovely to be back riding on home soil"
Another rider featured in An Eventful Life, Stuart Tinney also had a great ride on Watermark Grayson and was one of only two riders to go clear and under time (the other one being Chris Burton on Newsprint). Stuart said "The course really well - the time was tight so I had to push on hard towards the end of the course but when I asked for more, he moved up a gear. It was really slippery in places but Grayson stayed really focused. When I got back, I discovered that two studs on the inside of each back hoof had sheared off but he has pulled fit and well and I'm really happy with him". This was Watermark Grayson's first 4 Star cross country and it was certainly impressive with them finishing in 2nd place with less than one rail between him and the leader after the cross country, Emma Mason on the very handsome F1 Pharinelli. With Stuart and Wendy - both cool customers under pressure and good showjumpers - breathing down her neck Emma has a big job ahead of her tomorrow.
The very popular and talented rider Heath Ryan lost his overnight lead despite a clear round due to 19.2 time faults and finished in 5th position so tomorrow's showjumping should be an exciting finale.
In the CIC Two Star, Shane Rose (also featured in An Eventful Life) held his lead on the impressive young black stallion Statford Neo. With an uncharacteristic 1.2 time faults he heads into the showjumping with less than a rail ahead of Robert Palm on Koko Black ( a horse that Shane used to ride!). There were some impressive near misses on course during this class - Jade Kluske on the coloured horse Lakota did a great job of hanging on through the water complex, much to the delight of everyone in the VIP marquee who were watching on the large screen and who gave a mighty cheer when she managed to stay onboard! I watched Cassie Lowe on Contango Columbus with interest - I first saw this horse (BJ) when he was rising 3 at his breeder in Queensland and it is great to see him looking so promising.
