Craig jumps in to the water on Sandhills Brillaire
HSBC CCI4*
“There have been several occasions when I’ve been first horse out with Sparkle (Sandhills Brillaire) and it hasn’t always gone to plan but this time it worked out well,” said a very happy Craig Barrett after his round on Julie and Keith Osborne’s ten year old mare.
We spoke to Julie and Keith (pictured below with Sparkle) at the end of the day. CLICK HERE to hear what they had to say about the team effort that goes in to the success they enjoyed today.
Watch Craig and Sparke over the Hayracks below
However not everyone came home with a smile on their face after tackling a course which saw six of the 14 starters walk home. The main problem came at fence 13 the SATC Water Crossing, a skinny roll top with brush on top. After jumping two fences into the water riders cantered on to an island before going back in to the water to jump the skinny fence. This fence proved to be undoing of six riders including Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio who, after two run offs, opted to retire. John Twomey’s Highly Recommended was another to run past the skinny but the pair managed it second time round and went on to finish the rest of the course clear and moved into fourth place.
John Twomey looking in great shape here but they were another combination to fall victim to fence 13
The other problems were scattered round the Wayne Copping course with dressage leader Shane Rose and APH Moritz picking up 20 penalties when they ran out of space at the B element of the Prydes Easifeed Hayracks. Shane picked up another 20 towards the end of the course and at that stage decided to retire.
Although Craig enjoyed success with Brillaire the story wasn’t so good for his second ride of the day, Wendela Jamie. “I just didn’t do him justice at all,” admitted Craig. “After I had a run off at the skinny in the water I was busy kicking myself and thinking about what I had done wrong instead of getting on with the job and then I found myself on the wrong side of the ropes going on the wrong track. The horse jumped really well – it was definitely pilot error. Then just to make matters worse I did the same thing again towards the end of the course so I decided to retire. I feel really sorry for Jamie’s owners, Helen and Henry Hicks because he is a super horse and really didn’t deserve a ride like that.”
One little horse who positively buzzed around was the ever enthusiastic Algebra, ridden by Natalie Blundell (pictured above). Algebra found an extra leg when necessary, jumped higher if he had to and finished looking just as cheeky as usual.
Hear what Natalie had to say about her round by clicking HERE and take a look at her jumping into the water below
Murray Lampard admits he is a bit rusty at 4* level having not ridden at Adelaide for several years but he rode Under the Clocks in determined fashion to go into show jumping day in third place, despite having run out at fence 17 The Horseland Possum and Tail. “The round may have been a little wild in places but he was really great. The run off was my fault - I think I had my rings a little short, which didn’t help at the skinny fences and I just wasn’t as accurate as I wanted to be. But I’m really happy to be sitting up in third place.”
Murray Lampard on his way to fourth place
Although the temperatures today must have been in the thirties there was a little cloud cover, which made it a bit more bearable. All the horses seemed to recover well no doubt thanks to the cooling area and the close attention of the vets to every horse that came in.
Enjoying the misting fans
Horseland CCI2*
Shane rides CP Qualified into first place going into show jumping day
Earlier in the day Shane Rose had enjoyed a great ride on the grey gelding CP Qualified. Although still green at this level CP Qualified really tried as he made his way round the testing 2* track and finished just four seconds over the optimum time. This performance meant Shane held on to his dressage lead and is now on a score of 41.4.
Shane was a happy man after the CCI2*
Emma Mason, who should have been riding in the CCI2* herself with Poker Face but who sadly had to withdraw prior to the competition because of an over reach asked Shane about his ride.
CLICK HERE to hear Shane’s chat with Emma. Bear in mind he had just stepped off his horse and was standing beside a somewhat noisy misting fan!
Will Enzinger (above) was one of 11 riders in the 70 strong CCI2* field to finish clear and inside the time. Riding the warmblood Flowervale Maserati Will thought that time could be an issue but that certainly wasn’t the case and the pair finished 15 seconds under time remaining on their dressage score of 44.3
CLICK HERE to find out what Will thought about his round.
Moving up from 18th in to third place is Natalie Siiankoski riding Smart Show Off (pictured below). Like Will they finished clear and under time and remain on their dressage score of 53.1.
Photos: Thanks to Libby Law Photography and ESJ Photography
