The Domaine Chandon jump at Wandin Park - are those bottles drunk?
Yesterday, the beautiful property of Wandin Park in the Yarra Valley, Victoria was a picture of serenity. Apart from the fact that a series of pristine grass dressage arenas (lovingly top dressed with sand) could be seen laid out like soldiers as I drove in, there was little indication that approximately 250 riders were about to descend on the venue this weekend. Many of the feature fences, such as the Domaine Chandon bottle, are permanent fixtures and therefore always there as you drive in but it wasn’t long before I heard the unmistakeable tractor noise associated with fence building and ran into course designers Tony Symonds and Ewan Kellett and owner John Anker
Tony is visiting from the UK where he is involved in the course design and building at events such as Aston-le-Walls and Hartpury, not to mention the big one coming up, London 2012. The guys were hard at work but took a few moments out to fill me in on some of the changes to the course
Course designers Ewan Kellett and Tony Symonds
The Quarry is of course the major feature of the Wandin Park course and much work has been done recently to make it more horse and rider friendly. The Quarry has claimed some big names in the past including Mark Todd, Megan Jones, Wendy Schaeffer and John’s own daughter, Emily Anker who, like everyone else, is not allowed to ride on the Wandin Park courses outside of competition.
John’s aim is to make the whole course very attractive to all levels of competitor. The area around the Quarry has had lots of trees and shrubs removed to open it up and it will be interesting to see how the competitors this weekend enjoy the changes to make this part of the course less daunting. Having said that, it is still an imposing challenge, especially for those who have not encountered it before (you wouldn’t get me going down on foot, never mind a horse! However, I am undoubtedly a coward)
A few very privileged riders have been allowed to school at Wandin Park such as Indian rider Imtiaz Anees in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics and today four Japanese riders were also lucky to have the chance to ride some of the areas around ‘Big Wandin’, as the higher level course is known.
The four riders are Joe Matsumoto, Kazuhiro Yoshizawa, Keiichiroh Nagamatsu and Masanobu Ito who are training with Australian eventing riders Emily Anker and her husband, Will Enzinger. Will and Emily have been coaching some Japanese riders, both in Japan and here in Australia, for the past six years after being introduced by Barry Roycroft. Each of the riders will be riding around the ‘Little Wandin’ course at Preliminary level on the weekend and therefore are able to check out the ‘Big Wandin’ course on horseback without contravening any rules. The riders are riding at higher levels at home but, as they are on borrowed horses and are only here for a week, they are sticking to the lower level for the competition.
The four Japanese riders will competing at Wandin Park this weekend
Joe Matsumoto is the youngest at 17 years and he will be riding Penrose Firedance, owned by Ian and Narelle Walker; Kazuhiro Yoshizawa, aged 26, will be riding Flynn, owned by Rosemarie Hazard-Elis; Keiichiroh Nagamatsu is the oldest at 31 and will be riding Satchmo, owned by Jackie Priestly and Masanobu Ito, 21 and recently graduated from university will ride ESB Irish Event, owned by Elaine Kellett (pictured left to right above, with Daisuke Kato, Yasukazu Chatani and Emily Anker)
The riders are supported by Daisuke Kato, Vice President of the Japanese Equestrian Federation and Yasukazu Chatani of Riding Club Crane Australia. Keiichiroh works for Riding Club Crane, one of the largest equestrian riding organisations in Japan while Kazuhiro and Masanobu work for the Japan Racing Association. The riders seemed very comfortable with their new mounts, having had a few days of flat work and showjumping lessons with Will and Emily (at times in very inclement weather!).
We’ll follow their progress during the weekend, along with all the other riders heading to Wandin Park this weekend. If you can’t make it to this lovely spot in Victoria you can stay up to date with the photographs, articles, interviews and results (we’ll be updating results regularly throughout the event) here on An Eventful Life
It all kicks off with the cocktail party tonight........................
