Leader at the end of the day Shane Rose riding CP Qualified
It took until late in the day for any of the judges to press the buttons above a seven and the occasional eight, but when Shane Rose entered the arena on CP Qualified and scored a nine for his first movement it was clear that this was going to a test worth watching. The good marks continued and then an elusive ten appeared from the judge at C, Ernst Topp for the medium walk, movement 12.
However it appears this must have been a ‘typo’ because when the movement results were published later in the day the ten had been changed to a seven. When I spoke to Shane immediatly after his test, telling him about the ten I had seen he was pretty happy saying 'well that would be the first ten I have ever scored!" and now I'm feeling rather deflated that he didn't actually score a ten! - Must make mental note to myself to never trust the instant scoreboard in the future.
Regardless of the 'ten turned seven' at the end of the day Shane and CP Qualified were the only combination to break into the thirties, scoring a 39.7. "I was really happy with him," said Shane "he is getting stronger all the time and as he gets stronger his tests are just going to get better and better."
There is no doubt that CP Qualified is looking much more like an event horse than he did 12 months ago when, after leading the CCI2* class on dressage day and going clear cross country he failed to trot up the following day. But tomorrow will be a big test for the impressive grey who will tackle the 11.11 minute course.
“He is pretty green at this level and I may find I have to change from plan A to plan B as we go around the course but it would be nice to think that I could be sitting in the same place tomorrow night as I am tonight.”
Shane also rode Taurus (above) earlier in the day to finish on a score of 45.7, which put him into third place just 0.2 penalties behind Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio. “I thought the scores between my two horses would be a lot closer because I was very pleased with the test that Taurus gave me, but obviously the judges didn’t agree.”
It was only when the crowd clapped at the end of Stuart Tinney’s test with Pluto Mio and the grey horse got very agitated that many people realised what a good job Stuart had done on keeping a ‘lid’ on Pluto’s enthusiasm. The first part of the test scored well but when it came to the canter work the tension showed and the marks went down accordingly. Nevertheless the overall marks of 45.5 has left him in a handy position going into tomorrow.
To hear what Stuart had to say about his test click below:
Craig Barrett and Sandhills Brilaire are lying in fourth place going into tomorrows cross country
Last year's winners Craig Barrett and Sandhills Brillaire were back at Adelaide to defend their title and are lying fourth on a score of 46.8. Before going into the arena Craig’s sister-in-law Felicity Cribb commented that Craig had done all he could do and now it was up to ‘Sparkle’ to do her bit and the smile on Felicity’s face after the test told the story that Sparkle had indeed done her bit. As the happy ‘Sandhills’ team congratulated Craig I asked him what he thought of his test.
Christine Bates and Adelaide Hill looking good
Considering the ‘unique’ preparation that both Christine Bates and her horse Adelaide Hill have had for this event they were pleased to be lying fifth on a score of 48.2. The movement of Adelaide Hill is impressive but Christine was kicking herself for a break in the extended trot which she put down to ‘bumping on his back too much.’
Christine broke her finger earlier in the season and hadn’t planned to be riding at Adelaide but when the ‘stand in rider’ wasn’t able to ride she decided to get fit quickly and jump on board. We caught up with Christine after her test:
As spectators in the grandstand avoid the worst of the 'willy willy' other hold onto anything that looks likely to blow away
The day threw up some interesting moments not least for poor Seumas Marwood who was riding a super test with Wild Oats until a ‘willy willy’ (which basically looked like a mini tornado) swept across Victoria Park. The wind caused barriers and signs to blow over and even lifted the front of one of the judge's boxes onto the grass. As the wind made it way down the arena Seumas did a great job of keeping Wild Oats focused on the job in hand but the damage was done and Seumas emerged from the arena with a look of disbelief and could only contemplate what could have been.
Sonja Johnsona and the beautifully marked Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison
Sonja Johnson rode two horses and was given an error of course with both of them. On her first ride, Belfast Mojito, the problem came at the end of the test when she halted at too early on the centre line instead of at X. After completing a lovely test on her second horse, Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison, the bell was rung and the ground jury explained to Sonja that she had received two penalties for taking too long to enter the arena. Sonja was understandly unhappy but at the time of writing the two penalties stand leaving Sonja in sixth place on 49.5.
Despite his hand gestures Andrew was actually happy with Natalie's test on Algebra
Algebra and Natalie Blundell have been receiving some help from Andrew Hoy lately and we caught up with the two of them after a test which scored 53 and left them in 11th place.
Chris Burton (above) did a terrific job on his catch ride, TS Jamaimo, having taken over the ride from Will Enzinger, who broke his leg at an event last weekend. The pair scored 49.7, which left him in seventh place. There was a little bit of anticipation in some moments of the test and a little jogging in the walk but considering the amount of time that Chris has spent with TS Jamaimo it was a great result.
We spoke to Chris after his test:
