Andrew Barnett and Cause For Applause, 4th in the EvA105A
Watch the full cross country video ride of Andrew Barnett and Perfect Partner - CIC1* NSW Champions at Lynton, Goulburn here
All riders know that eventing is a roller coaster – one minute you are winning everything and the next minute either you or your horses are injured
Andrew Barnett, who moved from Grand Prix show jumping to eventing when his partner Tarsha Hammond was pregnant, has experienced the ups and downs of eventing in his first few years of competition. He started to compete at international level competition in 2013 and it soon became obvious that both he and his horses had a talent for the sport
Bradgate Park Dante and Bradgate Park Fonzie went through the grades with ease and a string of success, culminating in the CCI2* win at the Australian International 3 Day Event in 2016 for Bradgate Park Dante and a win in the CCI2* at Melbourne International 3 Day Event in 2017 for Bradgate Park Fonzie. They were joined in the winners’ circle by APH Sparky, who won the CIC2* at Camden and Sydney Internationals in 2017 and all was looking rosy.
APH Sparky had always been destined for sale by his owners and went on to compete at the 2018 Asian Games with the Thai rider Korntawat Samran, after winning a 2* with the Thai Team coach, none other than France’s Maxime Livio. Bradgate Park Dante and Fonzie were also out of eventing competition with Dante having colic surgery and an injury to Fonzie taking him out of top level competition so, as Andrew says ‘this time last year I didn’t have a horse to bring to Goulburn’
But you can’t keep a good man down (especially when he has a good woman behind him!) and at Goulburn this year Andrew not only won the CIC1* NSW State Championship but also came second
The winner, the seven-year-old Perfect Partner, started in second place after the dressage with a score of 25.50 and added just four penalties in the show jumping while Bradgate Park Galileo, an eight year old gelding out of the same mare as Bradgate Park Dante, added just one time penalty in the show jumping to finish close behind on 30.9. Both horses had already had a good start to the international careers with Bradgate Park Galileo having won his first 1* start at Tamworth in August where Perfect Partner also took third place
Andrew also competed Go Tosca, owned by the Burnheim family who owned APH Sparky, in the CIC1* at Goulburn for 12th place and Cause For Applause, a six year old thoroughbred, who finished fourth in the EvA105.
It seems that Andrew is certainly on the way back up that roller coaster …..
Andrew Barnett
Andrew and Perfect Partner
