2014 champion Shane Rose with Barry Roycroft who will be judging this year's Young Event Class
After a brief spell as Melbourne International Horse Trials, the 2015 Saddleworld Melbourne 3 Day Event is back with its old name, a new sponsor and under the management of Equestrian Victoria but the organising committee has kept some of the initiatives brought about in 2014.
The dressage on Friday and Saturday and show jumping on Monday will once again be run outdoors and luckily the weather forecast is looking promising! This year however the dressage will be held on the sand arenas and the show jumping on the Bruno Lawn outside of the Administration Building; as these two areas back on to each other, this has enabled the VIP Hospitality marquee to be situated bang slap between the two for prime viewing but there will also be tiered seating for general ticket holders
The trade village is back in its old spot in the courtyard outside the main indoor arena which, although it won’t be use for the eventing competition, will be hosting the CDI-W dressage and Freestyle on Saturday and Sunday evening after the eventing action has finished. This should provide some good entertainment and incentive to stay for the evening, avoiding those long traffic queues heading out of Werribee Park on Sunday after the cross country concludes!
Another evening addition is the Young Event Horse class on Thursday evening which has attracted approximately 40 entries to be judged by Barry and Wayne Roycroft along with Dennis Goulding – three men who certainly know how to spot potential in a young event horse. This will take place at 5pm on Thursday after the first horse inspection starting at 1pm.
The actual competition kicks off with dressage on Friday for 24 young riders contesting the CCI1* Junior, a huge class of 69 riders in the CCI1* (which continues on Saturday) and the CCI2*. On Saturday the 22 competitors vying for the CCI3* title take to the arenas from 12 noon.
Sunday of course is the day that the thousands of spectators head to Werribee Park for the thrills and spills of cross country day, starting at 8:30am for those die hard who are happy to brave the chilly Melbourne winter morning! By the time the 3* competitors hit the Ewan Kellett designed course later in the day, things will be hotting up, both metaphorically and hopefully literally.
The final day on Monday, thanks to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, will see the Melbourne 3 Day Event champions crowned but we will have to wait for the action to unfold over the next few days to see who will finish on top of the leader board in 2015
Join us on An Eventful Life for our daily 4* coverage from the event with reports, interviews and photographs starting on Thursday 4th June
