Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation
An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Mitsubishi Motors Australian International 3 Day Event - find out more here
“I had to work harder on this course today than I did at the Olympic Games” said Clarke Johnstone who, despite having to work hard, maintained his top spot in the CCI4* at the Mitsubishi Motors Australian International 3 Day Event in Adelaide
Clarke’s Olympic mount Balmoral Sensation was full of beans as he waited for the Start Box countdown but, once Clarke got underway the impressive grey horse was totally focussed and came home with just 8.8 time penalties to finish the day on 54.70
The fence that everyone was talking about leading up to the cross country was Fence 8abc (watch our video walk through with Jock Paget here) and the concerns proved to be real. Four of the first six riders picked up penalties here and Rohan Luxmoore had a fall from Bells ‘N Whistles but Clarke enjoyed a smooth ride through the three elements
Clarke Johnstone
Megan Jones too picked up exactly 8.8 time penalties on the nine year Kirby Park Impress, competing at her first CCI4* and Megan could not have been happier with the mare (listen to our interview with Megan after the CIC3* here) but in a later development, she discovered that they had been given 50 penalties for jumping outside the flag at Fence 26.
Sonja Johnson and Misty Isle Valentino
That means that Sonja Johnson, initially in third place is now in second place (60.70) riding Misty Isle Valentino but it was a dramatic day for Sonja too. Her first ride on Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison suddenly finished close to home when the chestnut gelding became badly lame behind just before the final fence.
Sonja jumped off the horse as quickly as she could and Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison was walked through the finish flags; luckily the prognosis is good and, although we may not be seeing the chestnut with flashy white socks at 4* level again, hopefully he will be having fun at lower levels in future
Stuart Tinney and War Hawk
While Megan was moved down due to her 50 penalties, Stuart Tinney came up to third place after the 50 penalties he had initially been given were removed. Stuart and War Hawk produced the first double clear round of the day on a course that was causing all sorts of problems and, although Stuart may not have set his physical watch, the internal one was on the mark
Andrew Cooper and Tasman Park Ovation
The only other double clear came from Emily Gray and Jocular Vision, now in ninth place, although Andrew Cooper had a good go on the big mare Tasman Park Ovation, finishing with just 0.4 time penalties for fourth place
Andrew had a busy day with a horse in each class and we talked to him after all of his cross country rides
The recently introduced 50 penalty rule was certainly influential in this class today with Hazel Shannon and Willinga Park Clifford also picking up 50 and New Zealand’s Ginny Thompson successfully defending the 50 penalties she incurred, to now sit in sixth place. Their round was fast, with just 4.4 time penalties and they nailed the troublesome Fence 8, putting them just 0.60 penalties behind Katie Taliana and Trevalgar II in fifth place (62)
Sonja Johnson wasn’t the only one to have problems at the end of the course with Sam Felton’s Ricker Ridge Pico Boo falling at the very last fence while Yona Lloyd fell prey to the pesky first fence which also caused the elimination of two riders in the CCI2* class
Rob Palm wasn’t terribly happy with the dressage score for Koko Story yesterday but today they showed that cross country is certainly their forte, moving up 10 places into seventh with a clear jumping round and four time penalties
It was an interesting day and there may still be some movement in the scores before the final phase of this class so stay tuned for any updates .......
We are finally blessed with some more Adelaide-like weather!
