Andrew Barnett and Bradgate Park Dante
When Andrew Barnett was told he was to be the first rider and handed the number one bib at the Australian International 3 Day Event it could have been a portent for the win to come but, at the time, Andrew couldn’t help but think that it was not a great position to be in.
As it turned out, the first rider into the arena for the Horseland CCI2* riding Bradgate Park Dante, he held on to the top spot for the main part of the day and again as the trailblazer on the cross country Andrew showed that a double clear round was achievable. At the Melbourne International 3 Day Event earlier in the year this pair went into the show jumping in the lead of the CCI1* but one rail cost them the win; in Adelaide the pressure was off slightly with Andrew in fourth place but within striking distance of the leaders as he cantered into the show jumping arena.
“I thought that maybe this was a better spot to be in as I could just concentrate on doing the best I can” said Andrew in our video interview “He had a really good warm up and I was just over the moon with him. He just tried his heart out, he was very tired after the ten minutes cross country yesterday so I couldn’t be happier with him”
Bradgate Park Dante will be having a little break now after his 2* win here and a very successful season, possibly to step up to 4* level next year if all goes well. If so it will be the first horse at that level for Andrew, whose riding career started out in show jumping.
A few years ago he turned his hand to eventing when his partner, well known coach and eventing rider Tarsha Hammond had their first child Henry. They now also have a daughter Phoebe, born in 2014, and while Tarsha has been busy with coaching and the children, Andrew has steadily been bringing their eventing horses through the grades. Tarsha originally rode for Bradgate Park, a small stud in Orange where Bradgate Park Dante (an unusual cross of an Appaloosa mare with the warmblood stallion Dutchman) was bred, but Andrew took over the rides when Tarsha was pregnant and hasn’t returned to show jumping much since!
Tarsha, who was short-listed for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and the World Equestrian Games in 2002, was on the sidelines for this event as Andrew’s coach but he says we’ll be seeing her back in competition soon with some very nice young horses
Katja Weimann and BP Escapade
While Andrew was expecting the three riders in front of him to jump clear, it was not the case. Young Shenae Lowings on Venture Sky High had three rails down to drop them to fifth place; she was obviously disappointed but this combination was very impressive in the other phases and Shenae also finished second in the Bates Young Rider Championship
Katja Weimann had one rail down on BP Escapade to finish in second place but ‘we left most of them up!’ said Katja when we spoke to her afterwards
Katja Weimann
The last rider in was Gemma Tinney on Annapurna (above). To win would have been a fairy tale ending for the 19 year old rider, who just started riding professionally after finishing school last year, but it was not to be. They had two rails down, however it was still a podium finish in third place of the CCI2* and Gemma also won the Bates Young Rider Championship title to finish what has been a very good debut season
Gemma Tinney with proud dad and Olympic medallist Stuart (and another Bates saddle heading to the Tinney stable)
Nine riders jumped clear including the fourth placed Emma Mason on Currabeha and the sixth placed Olivia Barton on APH Bertie Bad (more to come about these riders soon). Olivia was also third in the Bates Young Rider Championship and, with five riders of the top ten being Young Riders, this was certainly a CCI2* class full of promise for the future ...........
Horseland CCI2* and Bates Young Rider Championship results here
