Judy Clarke came home with exactly the same time faults as Amanda Ross
Local rider Sarah Clark was the first rider to gallop out into the central Adelaide parklands on the one Saturday in the year when Adelaide city dwellers wake to find horsepower of a different kind on their roads. Each year two major roads are closed to enable the horses to gallop from one park area to another and it sets the scene for a very unique cross country day.
46 of the CCI2* combinations completed the course on a day when South Australia turned on perfect conditions for eventing; sunny skies, a cool breeze and 24 degrees made it comfortable for horses, riders and spectators. 20 of the 46 jumped clear and were under the allotted time of 8m 44 seconds; in fact in the top ten, only two riders picked up time penalties and they were the two top ladies, Amanda Ross and Judy Clark. Amazingly they came in on exactly the same time with 2.4 penalties and both of their horses, Dicavalli Diesel (currently first on 39.80) and Diablito (second on 46.90) looked super on course
Amanda says that she found herself in ‘slapping banshee’ mode at the first fence when Dicavalli Diesel seemed to be a little distracted as they set out (listen to our interview here) but they soon set into a very good rhythm while Judy and Diablito laid to rest the demons of two years ago when they had two stops at the water.
“He hasn’t had a problem at any water since that happened here two years ago and we didn’t hesitate today” said Judy “He felt really great but I find it quite a difficult track, not so much the jumps but it’s so twisty and turning that it’s hard to see where you’re going. Unlike other courses you can’t really see the fence in the distance and aim for it”
The Start and Finish areas are both located in the main arena providing some interesting cross covers of riders - as Amanda came to the finish, Christine Bates was in the Start Box and could see Amanda approaching the finish flags
“I was thinking to myself, I don’t think Amanda’s made the time and then I had to stop watching and start focussing on what I was doing!”
Sam Lyle - the James Bond of the cool down area (above) and Glenorchy South Park seems to like the misting fans (below)
Christine and Ned O’Reilly had a great round, adding nothing to their dressage score of 50 to move up into fourth place while Sam Lyle, one of the busiest riders of the day with three horses in the CCI2*, took third place on Niki Rose’s Glenorchy South Park (47.30), tenth place on Satch Hill (53.70) and 28th place on Jimmy.
Sam Lyle
Two young riders who have travelled a way to be here, Madeline Wilson from Queensland and Shenae Lowings from Western Australia, both put in top class performances in this class today. Madeline finished with two horses in the top ten with Mumbo Jumbo in fifth place (51.60) and I’m Bruce is in ninth (53.60) and Shenae is in sixth place (52) on her off the track thoroughbred Ballyhoo. More to come about the Young Riders soon ...........
Andrew Cooper hops off his second ride, Toronto
Both of Andrew Cooper’s horses in this class jumped double clear rounds with the mare Fairbanks Cappucino currently in seventh place (52.30). Andrew’s girlfriend Isabel O’Loughlin unfortunately picked up 20 penalties on her horse Tasman Park Ovation but was pleased to be riding at all after picking up a tummy bug on Thursday
Another Western Australian rider, Cindy Lyall and her off the track thoroughbred GI Joe, round out the top ten in ninth place (52.60). GI Joe has his own fan club and, although Cindy is a long way from way from home, there is a whole support crew here cheering them on
Only four riders were eliminated on the course which proved to be challenging but also horse friendly at this level. Poor Rachel Lee suffered the only fall of the class from Cobra de Capello but at least they didn’t have far to get home with what looked like an injured arm as the fall happened at the very first fence
Amanda Ross heads into the show jumping tomorrow with 7.1 penalties in hand but for tonight the crew are just going to chill out with pizza and ‘let Diesel tell us what he wants to do. It’s all about him’
