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Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation
It was hugs all round for the Johnstone family as they learned that Balmoral Sensation had scored 39.0 for their Honda NZ CCI3* dressage test, a personal best for Clarke. With Clarke hoping to take the grey warmblood by Senator VDL to their first CCI4* together at Luhmuhlen next year, this is an indication of how the pair are really clicking after only their first season of competition together
“It’s taken a little while to get the feel of him” said Clarke, who bought the 10 year old from Donna Smith after Puhinui last year “He’s quite a different ride to what I’m used to but it has been getting better and better and today it felt like we were definitely on the same page. It was certainly the best test we’ve done. It was really calm but with plenty of energy which we’ve been working on; sometimes we’ve had calm but not enough energy and other times lots of energy but not enough calm and today I had a really nice combination of the two”
However Clarke has no illusions that Donna, in third place on Tangalooma (46.6) and Matthew Grayling riding NRM Lowenberg in second place (43.4), will not be letting him rest on his laurels tomorrow
“Donna is a real competitor and she’ll be chasing me down tomorrow so I’ll have to go fast. But you never know what is going to happen at Puhinui on cross country day”
Most of the horses in the CCI3* were relatively calm in what appeared to be an atmospheric arena for many competitors in other classes. The dressage arenas for the international classes are situated on a large sunken grass area with the water complex close by, inviting some of the horses to behave as if they were ready to set out on cross country.
Aleisha Collett riding MiFocus
The ability of some horses in the Veterinary Associates CCI1* class to stand on their hind legs provided some quite spectacular moments for the spectators, although the result must have been heartbreaking for Claudia Wilson riding Shapeshifter and Tayla Mason riding Sonidor who were unfortunately eliminated after waving at the judge with their horses’ hooves. At the end of the CCI1* class Aleisha Collett riding MiFocus leads on a score of 53.40. Ashleigh Mckinstry, winner of the CCI3* here in 2012 on her part Kaimanawa home bred horse, Pioneer Makokomiko, is in second and equal fourth place riding and her station bred horse, Ngahiwi Makem and another part Kaimanawa horse, Pioneer Brass Monkey with scores of 53.70 and 54.70. Sharing fourth place is Abby Lawrence riding Song, recently purchased from Angela Lloyd who led the CCI3* dressage here last year
According to the dressage leader Aleisha, she is ‘a one horse wonder’ thanks to her seven year old mare Mi Focus.
“She is my only horse at the moment but the easiest horse I’ve ever had” says the 21 year old who broke in the mare herself “We bought her mother in foal and Mi Focus was born on the property so we’ve had her since she was a baby”
Amanda Pottinger and Achilles II
The Cato Packaging CCI2* is also led by a young up and coming rider, Amanda Pottinger, daughter of the famous Tinks Pottinger. Amanda’s horse Achilles II has had quite a different route to eventing, having come via the racetrack as a very well performed racehorse until he was seven years of age. After a year off he started his eventing career and then moved up the grades quite quickly to 3* but, after a problem at the State Championships, Amanda decided to drop him back down to 2*.
“He’s not the easiest horse in the world” admits Amanda “He’s very strong and I’ve only just figured out the brakes on him”
The last to go in the class this hot thoroughbred put in the best test of the day to score 45.8 “We’ve learned how to channel the ‘hotness’ and use that in the dressage. Rather than get rid of it, we now try and contain it to get a good test out of him”
Blyth Tait and Leo Distinction (video above) had led for much of the day on a score of 47.9 while Christen Hayde riding Kinnordy Gallilee finished in third and Dannie Lodder riding Waitangi Icon is in fourth on 51.30. Waitangi Icon has been having ‘flower training’ to help with his aversion to the inevitable rows of decorations found around dressage arenas and it certainly seemed to work well for them today
Dannie Lodder
In the Junior and Young Rider National 3 Day Event Championships two riders we’ve already spotted are leading the fields. The current ODE Young Rider champion, Madison Crowe is at the top of the Honda NZ CCI2* Young Rider class and she was delighted with her off the track thoroughbred Brogan (below)
“We made a couple of mistakes but overall Brogan was calm, quiet and really listening to what I was asking. A lot of horses were getting hot out there today but he stayed listening to me which was a real positive”
Madison, who was part of the NZ Oceania Young Rider team at Melbourne International 3 Day Event was disappointed with her result there in the dressage there and has worked on her warm up routine since then
“He can be naughty after he’s finished his test and at Melbourne he thought he had done his test after the warm-up. Today I deliberately went straight from the warm up arena to the actual test – I didn’t warm up around the dressage arenas or near the cross country fences so he couldn’t get distracted. That way he knew exactly what his job was”
All of the riders are hoping that they’ll be back in the press conference area as the leaders after cross country tomorrow evening and also agree that tomorrow’s cross country will be a big test across the board. Tich Massey’s big tracks will be providing lots of questions that don’t ease up until the very end with plenty of skinny fences to test accuracy and obedience. We’ll be capturing all riders on the scenic cross country so there will be some very good footage coming up soon .............
Results for all classes available here
