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Thank goodness the torrential rain didn't appear until we were all back at the stables
Sometimes organising committee’s just need the weather gods to be on their side and thankfully at Sydney they were. For the majority of cross country day the weather was humid although when the showers came and went they sent everyone diving for cover but it was only at end of the day when the heavens really opened up and the pathways around the stable complex became little rivers.
On Friday night 18mm of rain had fallen and this no doubt made up the minds of some riders, especially those in the last class of the day (the CIC2*) to withdraw from cross country and save their horse for another day.
The day got underway with the Berrima Horse Trials CCI* where Christine Bates (above) held onto her overnight lead riding Brightnight. But the pair have no room for error in tomorrow’s showjumping phase with Shaun Dillon and TS Fantasia just 0.1 behind. Not content with a second placing Shaun is also lying fourth place with Kinnordy Ribino. Sadly Shaun’s good fortune didn’t carry through to the CCI3* when, after looking super on the early part of the course, GV Anzac suffered a fall at the Hay Rack and the pair walked home.
Sam Lyle and Satch Hill on their way to a win in the Visy CIC*
In the Visy CIC* Sam Lyle finished first and third riding Satch Hill and Cleddau Von Zipper while dressage leader, Jessica Ray, dropped back to second after taking a rail down show jumping. Sam also enjoyed a good ride in the CIC2* on Jimmy who was having his first 2* star. “I couldn’t be happier with Jimmy,” Sam said. “He really took the job on and even after I have slipped my reins, coming into the first water he just locked onto the fences coming out of the complex.”
We spoke to Sam after the CIC* class but prior to his CIC2* ride
Sam Lyle
Due to the predicted weather conditions it was decided to run the 3* horses before the 2*. This worked well for the top horses although it did mean that the 2* horses had to cope with the worst of the going. “You can’t really choose a ‘different’ line from everyone else when you are coming into a skinny fence,” said Tim Boland, who is lying third in the CCI2* on Napoleon. “So it means you are riding in horrible going but I was really pleased with how Napoleon coped and when Gorsehill Star was getting tired at the end of the course and picked up 20 penalties I decided it was time to retire.”
Back to the Equestrian NSW CCI3* where the first combination out, Isabel English and Feldale Mouse, (above) made the track look easy. However 18.4 time penalties meant the pair remained in third place at the end of cross country while Libby Lowery and KL Kismet moved up from fourth to second with just 9.6 penalties. Isabel didn’t have as much fun on her second ride in the CCI3*, Grand Andi, when the pair were eliminated for three stops as they made their way around the course.
The ride of the class came from CCI3* first timer Makayla Wood and Early Days (below) who, despite having a few ‘moments’, went on to go clear, finishing with just six time penalties on 61.4, less than a rail ahead of Libby. Despite her great performance Makayla was still being quite critical of herself as you can hear below.
In the words of course designer Mike Etherington-Smith the CCI3* track had actually come out a little softer than he had hoped. “The horses were going to running through the centre of the steeplechase track over a new complex but the fresh earthworks didn’t stand up to the rain we have had so a decision was made on Tuesday to pull them out for today. But they will be ready to use for future events.”
The only other change to the 3* track was the removal of the skinny B element which followed a drop fence, where again ground conditions may not have held up to the wet weather.
The third rider to have problems in the CCI3* was dressage leader, Heath Ryan, who suffered a run off at the Agnew Bank Equine Clinic Dray and Apexes complex which dropped him to sixth place.
Hayley Frielick and My Happiness
Shane Rose is well known for not ‘hanging around’ on the cross country course but today in the Tarraleah Park CCI2* he slipped back to second after picking up 16.8 time penalties with Purbeck Diesel. All the other riders in the class also picked up several time penalties apart from Hayley Frielick who flew around the course riding My Happiness to finish 12 seconds under the optimum time of 8 minutes 20. This moved Hayley up from 10th after dressage into first place although looking to tomorrow she has less than a rail in hand to Shane.
Stuart Tinney, course designer for the 1* and 2* tracks, spent much of his day checking the going
Nine riders in the IRT CIC2* class chose to withdraw prior to cross country and of those 21 who did start no one made the optimum time. This was a good thing to see as by that time of the day the track had deteriorated to the point where anyone who simply managed to produce a clear round deserved an extra carrot!
John Twomey and Highly Recomended jump the Sydney Opera House on the CIC2* course
Walking through the stables at the end of the day we spoke to Prue Barrett and John Twomey who had both ridden in the CIC2* class and while one told us (off tape) they were really getting too old to be eventing in the rain the other stated there was no way they were going to go any faster than they had gone. We’ll let you work out which rider said what and which rider discovers during our interview that they had in fact won the class.
Sandhills Special gets a well deserved pat from his mum Prue
Good to see that John knows what is expected of a rider at the end of the day!
Many thanks to Allira Fontana for her great photos - don't forget to check out her gallery too!
