Shane Rose was last years CIC3* winner
It’s going to be a big weekend at Albury, Thurgoona, as more than 400 riders make their way down, or up, the freeway to the Albury Wodonga Equestrian Centre to take part in the WHK Albury Wodonga International Horse Trials. “We have got record entries,” said Bradley Hayden the event’s secretary. “We have attracted riders from the very top of eventing to those who are just starting off in this great sport and we are looking forward to providing all of them with a great weekend of eventing.”
The turning of the first sod
The event at the Albury Wodonga Equestrian Centre began some 15 years ago with seven time Olympian Andrew Hoy turning the first sod – indeed the course was named at that time as the ‘Andrew Hoy Cross Country Course’. Andrew’s father, Jim Hoy, recently came out to look at the cross country course and said “It’s a course that has been improving every year. I think they (the organisers) are doing a very good job and I admire so much what they have done. They put a lot of time and thought into it.”
Michael Crebber and Andrew Hoy look at the Master Plan back in 1997
Course designer, Michael Crebber, was originally commissioned to draw up the Master plan for the whole site back in 1997 and has since been an integral part of the event and how it has evolved.
As with most clubs over the years there have been good years and not so good years and Ross Spalding who, like Michael, has also been with the club for a long time can remember an interesting year. “It was when we were running a long format three day event and we had roads and tracks and steeplechase, with the latter taking place on the Albury Racecourse, which some of the local trainers were not impressed with. In the early hours of cross country day some of the locals set fire to one steeplechase fences, which left rather a large black area of burnt grass. But we weren’t going to be knocked down – little did they know we had built a spare steeplechase fence, so we just pulled it out from the shed, put it in position and very few people even knew there had been a problem.”
All levels are catered for at Albury from elite riders to those just dipping their feet in the water of eventing
In Australia the 3* fields can often be small, but that’s certainly not the case in this year’s WHK Financial Advisors CIC3* class at Albury where 33 combinations are fronting up. All these riders will be keen to show off their talents in the hope of being chosen for the up-coming Trans-Tasman competition to be run at Sydney three day event. Shane Rose and Tim Boland, who both made the trip to UK last year in the hope of running at the London Olympics, will be riding those same horses this weekend while Megan Jones and Wendy Schaeffer have made the long trip over from their home in SA to ride at Albury.
The Albury event is also proud to be part of the Alltech Series for one star riders and is hoping many riders will take part in what is a fantastic opportunity to not only win a substantial amount of prize money but to also be in with a chance of winning a trip to the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France.
The bareback Puissance
For many years the Saturday night of the event has seen the running, under lights, of the Puissance Show Jumping (both with and without a saddle). This event is running again this year where there will be a total prize pool of $700 up for grabs. With riders encouraged to jump higher and higher from the crowd it’s always fun to see just who can finish the night with the Puissance title.
With such large entries one section of the CIC* class will be doing their dressage on Friday afternoon, while for others the action will start on Saturday morning at 8.30. Saturday will also see the running of the national classes doing their show jumping and those in the EvA80 and EvA60 classes will also complete phase three – the cross country. This means the EvA60 and EvA80 will be taking part in a ‘true’ one day event. The CIC classes will do all their jumping phases on Sunday with the show jumping taking place on Sunday afternoon in reverse order.
Who will win the rosettes this year at Albury?
An Eventful Life will be at Albury covering the event and also doing video footage of each cross country round so stayed tuned for more news from what is sure to be a busy but great weekend.
