In February this year we visited Oliver Townend at home in Shropshire at the end of a long, cold winter, not imagining that we would be seeing him in sunny Australia at the end of the year. But we will indeed be catching up with Oliver in Adelaide in November
This will be Oliver’s first trip to Australia and it came about when Australian rider Tim Boland, who has done a lot of business with Oliver in the past, suggested that it might be a good idea to head over to Adelaide at the end of the UK season. It has been yet another very good season for Oliver, especially at CIC3* level, and he will no doubt be finishing the year as British Eventing’s number one ranked rider yet again
Of course many UK based riders often visit the Australian International 3 Day Event – William Fox-Pitt came out in 2012 and Australian riders such as Andrew Hoy, Sam Griffiths and Chris Burton often make the trip home at this time of year – but few actually ride at the event.
For Oliver, the prospect of riding Tim Boland’s warmblood cross gelding Napoleon is one he is looking forward to “It doesn’t worry me that I don’t know the horse” he says “I’ll arrive a week before so hopefully I’ll have a chance to sit on him a few times before the actual event”
Napoleon will be competing in the RM Williams CIC3*and there is never any doubt that Oliver is there to make up numbers. The 11 year old gelding has won the Melbourne International 3 Day Event at CCI1* (ridden by Rob Palm) and CCI2* level (ridden by Tim) and should provide Oliver with a good catch ride in the Adelaide Parklands. Catch rides have been successful in the past with Chris Burton winning at 4* level in 2013 – can Oliver emulate him in this year’s new 3* class? We’ll have to wait and see... no pressure Oliver .....
However for the man who usually rides 12 horses a day, the trip to Australia will certainly be a relaxing one.
“I’m hoping to get a suntan!” he admits ( I have a feeling we’ll need to be following him around with a large bottle of Factor 50 sunscreen – we can’t have the visiting hero suffering from sunstroke. I don’t think there will be any lack of female volunteers to help applying it) and he’s planning a side trip to the famous Melbourne Cup Carnival too
The man who is known for being one of the most experienced cross country riders in the world will be tackling the unique course that runs through the centre of Adelaide for the first time and will no doubt find it very different to the many other 3* courses he has ridden
“I’ve heard it’s difficult to know what’s coming up, that it twists and turns. I’ll definitely be walking it a good few times”
We can’t wait to film his cross country ride in Adelaide and share it with you soon afterwards .....
The Australian International 3 Day Event takes place in Adelaide from 3rd – 6th November
