Will Megan Jones be back at Tonimbuk to defend her title?
Event Name: Cardinia Shire Tonimbuk International Horse Trials
Location: Tonimbuk Equestrian Centre, Tonimbuk, VIC, AUS
Date: Friday 8th - Sunday 10th March 2019
Organisers: Tonimbuk Horse Trials Inc
Entries Open: 7th February 2019
Find out more: Tonimbuk Facebook Page
An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at Tonimbuk International – find out more here
The Victorian eventing community had a lot to thank the multi-national corporate Hanson for when the Tonimbuk International Horse Trials returned to the Australian eventing calendar in 2015. The event that heralds the start of the Australian eventing season in March was cancelled in 2014 after the sale of the 160-acre property, previously owned and run as Tonimbuk Equestrian Centre, but since the new owners Hanson and a forward-thinking committee re-started the event, things are constantly on the improve. It is a very popular event with entries running high from the moment they open - even crashing the Nominate entry system website!
However entries are now again open for the Victorian event to be held from 8th – 10th March and the big news this year is that New Zealand’s John Nicholson, renowned for his feature fences such as those at Kihikihi, will be designing the 3* and 4* cross country tracks with the aim of ‘revitalising the current foundations of the course with a fresh perspective and some new concepts’, building on the good work done by Ewan Kellett in recent years
The venue is well known for its quintessential ‘Aussie bush’ section of the course and John’s focus this year will include providing a better flow through this part of the course to allow horses to travel more economically through the winding tracks. We hope to be catching up with the big man soon at Tonimbuk and bring you more of his thoughts and plans …..
South Australia’s Olympic medallist Megan Jones is a big fan of the event and has dominated the top class recently, winning on Kirby Park Impress in 2018 and 2017 but she was chased by local rider Rob Palm, taking second place in both years. The big question this year is, will Megan be back in the competition saddle in time for Tonimbuk following the birth of baby Finnley in January, and if not, will a Victorian rider take the new CCI4*-S title for the first time since 2016 when Bek McDougall won the then 3* on her honeymoon!
We will be there to bring you daily updates and we are delighted to be filming all competitors on cross country on Sunday – it’s a great event and we’re looking forward to kicking off our international 2019 coverage at the Cardinia Shire Tonimbuk International Horse Trials
