“Obviously the best warm up for a clear showjumping round is to do some bareback show jumping the night before,” laughed Shane Rose, winner of the WHK CIC3* at Albury. Shane was referring to the high jump competition that he won on Saturday night riding APH Moritz where the pair jumped 1.55m bareback. “There weren’t many people doing the high jump so I thought I could provide a bit more entertainment. I think I might have made my owners a bit nervous thought,’ he admitted.
Shane Rose and APH Moritz jump the WHK showjump
Lying 3rd after dressage Shane and APH Moritz looked impressive cross country and although theirs wasn’t the fastest combination, finishing with 6.4 time penalties, their round moved them up in to 2nd place going into show jumping. The cross country leader Emma Mason looked like holding on to her lead as she made her way round David Sheppard’s show jumping course, but as she jumped the last fence F1 Pharinelli touched the back rail and the incurring four faults saw them drop back to 2nd.
Emma Mason just misses out on a 3* win
Pluto Mio (pictured below) is still keen to jump in his own style but thanks to Stuart Tinney’s skill the pair produced clear round’s in both the cross country and show jumping phases, which saw them finish in a creditable 3rd place.
Emma Scott had started her weekend with Mustang in 10th place after dressage but went on to blitz her way round the cross country course clocking up the second fastest time of the day. “He was really great out there,” said Emma, “He just ate up the course and was lovely to ride.” In the show jumping Mustang was unlucky to have a rail down because the pair were looking on top form but the result was still good enough to see Emma with a smile on her face finishing 4th.
Emma Scott and Mustang on great form
The other notable combinations in the CIC3* were Soigne Jackson and Gold who finished 5th and An Eventful Life blogger, Charlie Brister who rode Barrel of Fun into 6th place. Soigne is based with Shane Rose at Bimbadeen Park and has obviously learnt the art of not hanging around on cross country as the pair finished with just 5.2 time penalties. Gold has a great jump and ate up the cross country course and looked impressively neat over the show jump course too.
Charlie Brister (pictured above) had a moment of drama on the cross country course when he dislodged the gate fence. “I came in on a nice bouncy canter because I didn’t want him to jump it flat, but I ended up burying him a bit and he hit it,” admitted Charlie. “It didn’t worry him though and we kept going and everything else was really good so I’m pretty happy.” Charlie went on to show jump clear and is looking all on track for Sydney Three Day Event at the end of April.
Dressage leader Tim Boland didn’t enjoy the best of days in the office when he parted company with GV Billy Elliot towards the end of the course and then sadly suffered another fall on his CIC2* ride Umunga.
Christine and Adelaide Hill on their way to winning the CIC2*
The other international classes belonged to Christine Bates who took out both the CIC2* and CIC* titles. In the Border Pathology CIC2* Adelaide Hills easily won the class leading from start to finish and adding nothing to his dressage score of 47.5. “Some people are probably wondering why I’m running him in the 2* when he is a 3* horse, but I had always planned to give him an easy run prior to Sydney. He doesn’t need to be running over the bigger tracks all the time and the course this weekend suited him really well,” said Christine. “Mind you coming round to the water he did have a good spook but he quickly got him mind back on the job again and I’m really happy with the way he went.”
In the Doug Dydes Produce CIC* Christine rode Corambo to victory, again leading the class from start to finish. “Corambo belongs to Dominic Ingvall, who isn’t competing so much at the moment. He is up for sale and Dominic asked if I would ride him until he’s sold. He was really good this weekend so we are all pretty happy about that.” Christine will now do a quick turn around as she is heading off to New Zealand tomorrow, with Delago, as part of the Trans Tasman Team.
Christine Bates receives her prizes from Jim Hoy (father of Andrew)
