Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio are congratulated by Jim Hoy, father of Andrew, and the representative from WHK
Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio put together an impressive performance at the WHK Albury International Horse Trials this weekend winning the large CIC3* field, putting him right on track for a good performance at this month's Sydney International Horse Trials.
“He has been lovely all weekend,” said a happy Stuart, “I’m really pleased for the owners, John and Jane Pittard.”
The owners were equally happy for their rider, with John saying “He did a beautiful test yesterday and obviously the judges thought so too. Today he just jumped around what looked to be a testing course, so we couldn’t be happier.”
Stuart and Pluto on course for success
The 3* track had caused a few riders to query some of the distances, which led to a few options being included. As it turned out the course jumped well on the whole although Fence 12 proved to be the undoing of dressage leader Tim Boland, who picked up 20 penalties and dropped down the order.
Shane Rose and Taurus were lying second to Stuart after cross country, with Megan Jones breathing down his neck. Stuart jumped a beautiful clear round, as did Megan and Kirby Park Allofasudden (above) and when Shane and Taurus hit a rail, Megan moved up into second place and Shane down to third.
Megan also enjoyed a lovely ride on Flowervale Maserati in the Doug Dydes CIC2* to win the class, again ahead of Shane Rose who this time was riding CP Qualified. Flowervale Maserati, who is owned by Georgia Conelly, won the CCI2* at Adelaide last year, when he was ridden by Will Enzinger. At Albury Megan found the good looking warmblood a delight to ride and is now looking forward to riding him at Melbourne International 3 Day Event in the 3*.
Megan and Flowervale Maserati against a quintessential Australian backdrop
“I had a great ride on him. I rode him for the first time on Tuesday so we have had to get to know him pretty quickly but he has been beautifully schooled and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles three star level.”
In the Alltech CIC* Judy Clarke led the class from start to finish riding her own much loved Diablito. “He was great,” said Judy as she finished her cross country, “He’s such a great horse.”
Not only is Diablito a great event horse he is also very talented on the flat, having clocked up some impressive ‘straight’ dressage performances. This weekend the pair started on a dressage score and added nothing to that score for the rest of the weekend.
If ever there was an event that reminded eventers how important it is to get a good dressage score it was Albury where eight out of the 12 classes were won by their dressage leaders.
“It’s been a good weekend,” said the Albury event’s Director Angela Ramsey who then added “but it will be good to get back to my real life for a while!”
A small snippet of Stuart and Pluto Mio - their complete cross country round will be available to view soon
