Tim Boland and Craig Barrett waited with bated as well as frozen breath this morning at the final horse inspection of the Melbourne International 3 Day Event. The overnight leader, GV Billy Elliot and second placed Wendela Jamie were both held by the Ground Jury but were eventually passed; Craig ran like his life depended on it as he trotted up Jamie and Tim (seen below), despite the freezing cold morning, removed his jacket to represent Billy Elliot.
Although it was cold the sun finally shone for showjumping day after a wet day on cross country. The special CNC class jumped on the outdoor grass arena early in the day’s proceedings; so early that Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio as the first combination on course had to wait for the Start and Finish flags to be put in place when he first entered the arena. Stuart had one rail down but the three girls left in the competition all jumped clear. Emma Scott’s Mustang didn’t want to touch a rail, the lovely grey Algebra really tried for Natalie Blundell and Megan with Kirby Park Allofasudden jumped a typically stylish Megan/Floyd round. The final result of the unique class was that Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio won, Megan Jones and Kirby Park Allofasudden second, Natalie Blundell third and Emma Scott fourth. Shane Rose, Emma Mason and Christine Bates chose the option to withdraw after dressage so the final results are probably not very significant in terms of an official class.
Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio give the jump plenty of air in the CNC 3*
The main action meanwhile was starting to hot up in the main indoor arena where the showjumping was held for the CCI classes and the arena was packed from the start of the first class. Naomi White and Mighty Tosca won the Equitak Excel CCI 1* Junior class with a clear showjumping round having added only 4.4 time faults on cross country to their leading dressage score. Naomi was also part of the winning Victorian A Junior Team which won the teams title – two of her team mates helped with their top ten individual placings; Isabella Walsh (4th), Stephanie Wake (9th).
The very large RACV Farm Insurance CCI 1* class dominated the morning and early afternoon. 56 competitors started and the tension mounted until the last few riders entered the highly charged atmosphere of the indoor arena. Many of these competitors would not have ridden in such a packed indoor arena with fences close to the large crowd but the line which caused the most problem was a curved line from a double to oxer on the far wall of the arena. This caused problems for many of the riders but local rider Natalie Davies on her second ride El Grado (pictured above) showed great style to produce the only clear round from the top six to win the class from overnight leader Amanda Ross who had two rails down riding Loxley. Nat was obviously delighted, having hoped fpr a top ten finish on the young thoroughbred as she explains in our interview with straight her after the win
Interview with CCI 1* winner Natalie Davies
Interview with Matteo Davidson, CCI 2* winner
The crowd had to wait until almost the very end of the Logan Floats CCI 2* class for a clear jumping round without time faults. Maybe it was not very surprising that it was Mattea Davidson on the chestnut Fairbanks Cargo (pictured above), sired by World Cup showjumper Fairbanks Catargo, who provided the clear round as the second last competitor to jump. This put the pressure on the leader Rob Palm riding Koko Black who unfortunately had two rails to drop him to third place as Sophie Adams and Mercator du Ry moved up to second place.
In the Bates Saddles CCI 3* class the jumping moved up a notch when 7th placed Stuart Tinney showed Orchard Hill’s showjumping style ballooning high (seen above) over the fences and drawing gasps from the crowd. Later he joked that maybe he would take up showjumping! Another Olympian Shane Rose also jumped a lovely clear round which moved him up to second place overall when Murray Lamperd riding Under the Clocks took four rails and Craig Barrett riding Wendela Jamie had three rails to drop down the placings. Tim Boland told us yesterday (click HERE for interview) that GV Billy Elliot was a good jumper and he certainly proved it today. Jumping big and looking well, GV Billy Elliot jumped a clear round under time to the delight of the crowd and obvious relief of Tim who finished on a score of 41.80, well ahead of second placed Shane Rose riding APH Moritz on 59.20 and last year’s winner Craig Barrett and Wendela Jamie on 60.0
With 11 Australian combinations heading to Luhmuhlen in Germany for the 4* next weekend it will now be a tense wait for Australian based short listed riders to see what unfolds and how it affects selection on June 19th.
For full results CLICK HERE
For photos from all days of the Melbourne 3 Day Event, visit the PHOTO GALLERY
All photos by Toni-anne Collins, Equine Images
