Winner of the CCI3* Madeline Wilson and I'm Bruce jump into the Australian Sport Commission water
“Everything came together this weekend, although I didn’t expect this result” said Madeline Wilson, winner of the Horseware CCI3* at the Sydney International Horse Trials.
Madeline’s aim at Sydney had ‘simply’ been to get a qualifier for I’m Bruce, her 8 year old TB gelding so that she could run at the Australian International 3 Day Event CCI4* later this year but, as the only combination to go clear around Mike Etherington-Smith's 3* track, Madeline found herself in the top spot going into show jumping day.
It was drama to the last minute as the pair had a ‘miss’ at the second fence, which saw them ploughing through the rails. But 22 year old Madeline was quick to compose both herself and I'm Bruce, going on to jump an otherwise foot perfect round to emerge the winner ahead of Soigne Jackson riding Warrego Collateral Damage.
We spoke to a somewhat overwhelmed Madeline after the prize giving
Disappointingly the CCI3* only attracted a small field of nine starters. This could have been partly due to Melbourne CCI3* running just a few weeks after Sydney and, with the Victorian event this year playing host to the Oceania Championships (Trans-Tasman),several top horses gave Sydney a miss.
The dressage leader, Megan Jones, riding Kirby Park Impress had a problem with a skinny brush complex early on in the course at Fence 9 (Equestrian NSW Pond) and chose to retire. At the same fence Hayley Frielick and My Happiness picked up 20 penalties but continued on and finished third overall.
Soigne’s problems with Warrego Collateral Damage came at the Bates Saddles Offset Brushes where she picked up 20 penalties. But it was a blip in what was otherwise a lovely round for a horse, which Soigne describes as ‘super keen and inexperienced, which is a tricky mix.’
Mike Etherington-Smith and Wayne Roycroft take a walk round the course on cross country day
The 3* tracks were once again designed by Mike Etherington Smith while Stuart Tinney designed the rest and all the courses were well received by the riders. They jumped really well and good riding was rewarded with the horses gaining confidence as they made their way around the testing, hilly terrain. The Sydney track is always a good fitness test for horses and although the majority of horses pulled up really well a few in the higher levels were looking a little tired as they galloped away from the final water complex.
The riders in the Equestrian Australia CIC3* seemed to jump a lot better with just three picking up 20 penalties and a couple being eliminated. However the majority of those riders admitted they had made ‘silly’ mistakes and praised the course which they felt had jumped well.
“I think I’m making a habit of running off skinny brush fences” laughed Hamish Cargill who was riding his own Legolas KPH, “But he jumped well round the rest of the course so I can’t be too unhappy.”
Tim Boland led the dressage on GV Billy Elliot but a steady cross country round (the pair are aiming for Melbourne 3DE) saw him drop down the leaderboard to finish in seventh place. Meanwhile Katie Taliana (nee Roots) riding Trevalgar II, second placed after dressage, enjoyed a fantastic cross country, which put her into first place going into show jumping day.
“I’m so pleased to have Trevalgar back in action,” said Katie, who had also had a clear round on the younger, less experienced ‘Friday Street’.
Katie (seen here on Trevalgar II) enjoyed great cross country rounds on both her horses
We spoke to Katie as she settled her horses down for a good night's sleep on Saturday night
On show jumping day there was less than a rail separating the first three riders with New Zealand rider, Virginia Thompson, lying second to Katie and Adelaide CCI4* winners, Hazel Shannon and Clifford, lying third. Sadly for Virginia, Star Nouveau took three rails down dropping them behind Stuart Tinney who had jumped a clear round on War Hawk.
Hazel and Clifford were unlucky to have one rail down but it was still a good enough performance to leave them in second place. As you will have heard in the interview Katie hadn’t put herself under any pressure on show jumping day and she certainly rode both her horses beautifully producing two clear rounds which saw her finish fifth on Friday Street and winning the class on Trevalgar II.
As her family and friends gathered round to congratulate Katie we discovered that not only had Katie been working hard this weekend but her husband Nick had also been very much involved with the event as part of the cross country course building team.
We grabbed a few words with both Katie and Nick (pictured above) after the prize giving
The elegant Andrew Cooper and Hunters Hill
Some might say that the Tarraleah Park CCI2* became a ‘one horse race’ as the weekend progressed and yes the fact of the matter is that there was only one horse and rider at the prize giving. But that was more to do with the fact that only three horses entered this class and certainly nothing to do with the quality of winner’s performance.
That performance came from Victorian rider, Andrew Cooper riding Hunters Hill who finished the event on his dressage score of 52.8. Andrew enjoyed a very successful event as he took out the Bucas Horse Rugs CCI* as well this time riding Doubled Vision – a horse with a very interesting background as Andrew told us in this interview below.
The young junior rider, Thea Horsley, had two rides in the CCI* finishing second on Kelecyn Supernatural, which gave her the CCI* Juniors winners rug, and fourth (okay on the interview I did say third but maths was never my strong point!) on Fairview Rembrant.
Thea Horsley with support parents Louise and Patrick along with the very photogenic Fairview Rembrant and the less photogenic Kelecyn Supernatural
It was a great achievement for a young girl who splits her time between riding and doing her HSC.
“It’s not too bad,” said Thea “after all you can’t study all the time so having the horses gives me a good break and then I’m a bit fresher to go back to the studying. But I couldn’t do it all without my mum.” Just the right thing to say considering it was Mothers Day when we spoke to Thea!
Speaking of Mothers Day we also caught up with Gemma Tinney and her mum Karen (above) on Sunday morning to find out how their weekend was going and to discover what Karen would like on this special day.
Andrew Barnett and APH Sparky scored their second 2* win in three weeks
Thankfully the Kelvin Grove CIC2* attracted a good field of 36 combinations with the consistent Andrew Barnett and APH Sparky taking home the winners rug.
This win came on the back of a win at Equestriad a couple of weeks previously where the pair again won the CIC2* class. However there was a marked improvement in the dressage score at Sydney where the pair scored what we believe was a PB of 43, which left them in second place behind dressage leader Sam Fasher riding Sulitanos.
But when Sam picked up some time penalties on cross country day the opportunity was there for Andrew to move into the lead, which he did by adding nothing to his dressage score and wining the class over three marks ahead of Brett Cantle riding Premonition.
Christine Bates (above) seemed somewhat relieved to win the Emcee Apparel CIC* with Jimmy O’Reilly.
“It feels like it’s been a very long time since I won anything,” said Christine, who also finished 10th in the same class on board Ned O’Reilly. Second to Christine was Charlie Brister riding San Suki. On cross country morning, whilst walking the course, Charlie posted a lovely sunrise photo (below) on his facebook page of the Sydney Horse Trials' own opera house with the comment ‘ready to go clear and under time’ and that’s just what Charlie managed to do! The power of positive thinking ........
The two EvA105 classes were won by their dressage leaders with rider and course designer Stuart Tinney (pictured below) winning section A and Shenae Lowing wining section B.
Photos by Amber Greening of Equine Focus and Alison Duthie
