Up, up and away as Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio rise to the occasion
With all the class and style that we have come to expect from Stuart Tinney - Australia's 'Mr Cool' rode Pluto Mio to a great win in the Sydney International CCI3*. He started the weekend in front and he didn’t give up that place for the duration of the event. Never one to get too excited about these wins Stuart told the crowd he’d had ‘a pretty good weekend.’
Check out the video below to hear the rest of Stuart’s speech
Craig Barrett and Sandhills Brillaire picked up four penalties
With just over two rails separating the top four riders there wasn’t a lot of room for error and when fourth placed Natalie Blundell and third placed Shane Rose went clear the pressure was really on the remaining two riders. Sandhills Brillaire is such a sweet quiet horse and you always get the feeling she is going to try her best. She certainly did that at Sydney as she made her way around John Vallace’s course with her only mistake being at the last fence where her back legs just caught the back rail. With four penalties to add Craig was left on the same score as Shane Rose and Virgil, who had jumped a cracking round, but on a count back Craig was closest to the optimum time cross country so finished above Shane.
Shane and Virgil finish just behind Craig
As Stuart started his course it looked as if Pluto Mio wasn’t going to let his feet come anywhere close to a rail but as they jumped out over the final part of the treble the top rail fell. Without missing a beat Stuart rode to the last fence and landed as the winner of the Sydney International CCI3*.
Natalie and Algebra on their way to fourth place
For those of you who weren’t able to be at Sydney take a look (albeit sometimes a far away look) at Stuart’s show jumping round below.
The best placed New Zealand rider was Joseph Waldron riding Springvale All Black (above) who held onto his overnight fifth placing. As well as picking up his ribbon Joseph’s mum, who also doubles as his groom, collected the Agnes Banks Equine Clinic Grooms award.
Joseph's mum collects her winnings from Derek Major of Agnes Banks Equine Clinic
The performance of the Australian Trans Tasman team saw them retain the Trans Tasman trophy for another couple of years although you can be sure that the Kiwis will be looking for victory when the event is held on their home territory.
Tarraleah Park CCI2*
CP Qualifed shows a clean pair of heels in the CCI2*
Shane Rose didn’t really put a foot wrong with CP Qualifed during the weekend and when overnight leader Emma Mason and Poker Face took a rail down Shane and CP Qualified moved to the top of the CIC2* leaderboard. Shane also rode his own six year old Shanghai Joe into the top placings. This was a remarkable performance for such a young horse and pretty exciting for Team Bimbadeen as not only is Shanghai Joe a home bred horse by their own stallion ‘Another Warrior’ (out of an Arena mare), but he is also the first horse they bred.
Tim Boland was happy to finish third on Gorsehill Star, one of his four rides on the weekend. “I think he could be quite a good horse and he just keeps getting better all the time” said Tim.
Logan Floats CIC2*
The victory lap from Tima Boland and Umunga
In the Logan Floats CIC2* Tim Boland was once again in the prize giving, this time as the winner on Umunga. Moving up from third after dressage to an overnight lead after cross country day Tim made sure he held onto that lead with a clear show jumping round.
To hear what Tim had to say about his CIC2* win and the reason behind why he didn’t ride GV Billy Elliot as part of the Trans Tasman CCI3* CLICK HERE
To watch Stuart Tinney's cross country round on Pluto Mio CLICK HERE
