If you don't like the weather in Puhinui, just wait five minutes or one class until it changes................... Matthew Grayling and Henton Executive, winners CCI3* (above) and Donna Smith on Balmoral Smith, winners CCI2* shortly afterwards
One of the highlights of the final day at Puhinui was undoubtedly the Best Dressed Award at the second horse inspection. In beautiful sunshine the ‘expert’ guest judges of Debbie Higgs, Libby Law, Jane Thompson and Chrissie Jeffcote chose the Best Dressed rider, who actually turned out to be two riders plus a host of Highly Commended. Read our earlier article to see the full list of snappy dressers and their photos
We were lucky with the weather at that point as it was steadily drizzling by the time the first international class of the day, The Veterinary Associates’ CCI1*, started at 10:45am.However it seems that in Auckland the weather changes as quickly as the leading rider on cross country day so some riders rode in the sometimes torrential rain while others enjoyed the sun. Due to the continued wet weather however the main arena where the show jumping takes place was still a little boggy in places.
This arena is reminiscent of those at Aachen or Hickstead, admittedly on a much smaller scale, but with the water jump in the middle and the large open space, it is a great focal point for the whole event. It also provides an interesting twist on the traditional victory lap where the placegetters canter through the water jump as a part of their celebration
It was tight at the top in the CCI1* with not even a rail between the top five riders but only Sarah Young riding SS Galaxy, Jessica Woods riding LV Award and the eventual winner, Australian Simone Kann riding Balmoral Oakey (above) managed clear rounds out of the final 10 to go. This meant that Sarah moved up from ninth to third, which she admitted was a pleasant surprise, and Jessica moved from fourth to second. Simone was delighted with the young mare Balmoral Oakey and her biggest worry now is how to stop her partner Donna Smith, who finished 10th in this class riding Balmoral Henton, from taking over the ride!
Simone Kann interview
The Honda New Zealand CCI3* riders were the next into the arena and, although the class was down to only five competitors, there was plenty of drama to come. The first two, Simon Gordon riding Fletch.com and Brent Jury riding SE Big both had four faults but Dannie Lodder riding Moochi had a clear round to put the pressure on the final two, Kelsey Rothery and Matthew Grayling
“He’s a pet really” says Dannie of Moochi “He’s a really, really super little friend. We know each other really well and he looked after me out there today. I made a few odd decisions and he coped”
Kelsey and The Felon (named for his character, said Kelsey) had three rails and a time fault so the overnight leader, Matthew Grayling on Henton Executive had a bit of leeway.
At this point the weather gods really decided to make things interesting; the rain pelted, the wind blew up and suddenly Matthew was in the middle of a minor maelstrom. They jumped the first six fences beautifully then suddenly at the seventh fence, Henton Executive slammed on the brakes. The crowd held their breath under their brollies, Matthew circled as the fence was attended to then carried on as if nothing had happened. The pair finished their round in style with no further mishap and were crowned the Honda New Zealand CCI3* champions of 2013.
The winning horse Henton Executive was bred at Henton Lodge Hanoverians, a stud which has recently had some good success in Europe with Lizzie Brown’s Boekelo winner, Henton Attorney General (half-brother to Henton Executive) and William Fox-Pitt’s Henton for Fun. There is another link to William and Matthew through a well-known horse called Parklane Hawk, William’s Burghley and Kentucky 4* winner. Matthew rode Parklane Hawk for several years in New Zealand, winning the Advanced class here at Puhinui in 2009 as well as many other titles before the horse was sold to William.
For Matthew, who has not had a horse at this level for a while, this win means a lot so he was quite emotional as he thanked the sponsor Honda but also his wife and daughter, saying “Without their help I couldn’t do this”
Although emotional, the New Zealand Olympian and dairy farmer hadn’t lost his sense of humour providing plenty of banter in the CCI3* press conference - we’ll bring you the video of that in the next few days
During the CCI1* press conference Simone Kann has declined some of the bubbly on offer saying that she should go help Donna prepare for the CCI2* before celebrating. The fairy tale weekend for Balmoral Eventing was complete when Donna Smith and Balmoral Sensation (above) won the Cato Packaging CCI2* with a beautifully executed and measured round.
Young Virginia Thompson didn’t have the happiest of show jumping rounds on Star Nouveau in this class, incurring 20 faults to drop from second place to 12th while Samantha Felton riding Ricker Ridge Pico Boo moved up with a clear round to take her spot. Clarke Johnstone had just one down on Leo Degas to remain in third, a great feat on a catch ride, and Sarah Dalziell put in a lovely clear round on Benrose Super Star to finish in fourth place
The winning 'Australian' team
Australia not only won the CCI1* class but also won the ‘international friendly’ teams competition. Several teams had been put together from competitors across the classes based on their birthplace for the API Auto Parts International Team Challenge and the Australian anthem rang out for Simone Kann, Samantha Felton, Kate Munt and Ellie Braddock. Most of the girls, despite living in New Zealand, could still remember the words to Advance Australia Fair
“I was given a piece of paper with the words of the anthem on it” said Samantha afterwards “But I could still remember it by heart from my school days”.
The rules for international team status were a little blurred and there were several more ‘international’ teams with more local flavour including the Auckland 2 team that finished in second place and the Waikato team in third.
The Best Presented Combination Dress Rug sponsored by Matamata Saddlery went to Dannie Lodder and her team of horses. Dannie has had a busy weekend with various horses across the classes but her second place on Moochi in the CCI3*was the highlight.
Winners are grinners! L-R Front Dannie Lodder, Matthew Grayling, Kelsey Rotheray. L-R Back: Bridget Sutton, Dave Sutton (Henton Lodge) and Honda representative
Dannie would love to compete overseas and says to ‘watch this space’ but a strong hint may be when she said that “My wish list includes Badminton. If I competed there I could die happy”
Other winners this weekend also included Sarah Young winning the Clarke Johnstone Best Junior Rider Award. Jessica Woods, second in the CCI1* was awarded the Rob Winchester Best Young Rider Award.
Full results for all classes can be found here
We’ve got plenty more interviews, photos and video snippets coming up from Puhinui in the next few days plus of course our cross country videos can be ordered and viewed here
Click here to view Matthew Grayling and Henton Executive’s cross country round
Check out all of our photo galleries at Puhinui by Libby Law here
