View our Thursday at Osberton photo gallery here
Horsepower is certainly one of the themes of the Osberton International Horse Trials this year and not just of the four legged kind. Two of the arenas where the action is taking place over the next few days on the Osberton Estate in Nottinghamshire are named after two of the sponsors that have some pretty heavy duty horsepower options for moving your mounts around, Equitrek and Scania. Looking at the fabulous Scania truck on site at Osberton, we are drooling at the thought of this (big) baby being our mobile office and ‘home from home’ in the UK next year (dream on ....)
So, what was happening in the Scania and Equitrek arenas on the first full day of action at Osberton? The Equitrek arena was busy all day with the dressage phase of the CCI* and CCI2* classes which will complete on Friday.
At this stage of the CCI1* Alex Postolowsky riding Akolien (above) and Tanya Kyle riding Gortfadda Diamond (below) are tussling for the top position, both on a score of 37.2 penalties. Alex has of course had placings in the 4, 5 and 6 YO classes of the Young Horse Championships at Osberton in the past but Akoilen is a horse that she took over from Noah Brook in 2014 and they have had a very good run up to this event with wins at Lincolnshire, Belton, Whitfield and Floors Castle plus other good placings. Tanya, wife of Irish eventing rider Mark Kyle, also specialises in bringing on young horses and the brown gelding Gortfadda Diamond was bought by Tanya as a three year old.
In third and fourth places are Belgium’s Constantin Van Rijckevorsel riding High 5 Du Langwater (40.8) and Stephanie D’Andrimont with Creevagh Miss Ferro (41.1), a place she jointly holds with Felicity Collins and Just Amazing III while China’s Alex Hua Tian, who has been on great form this year, is in sixth place on William XVII (41.70)
The CCI2* competition is currently also led by an international rider, France’s Stanislas De Zuchowicz on Sobbys Des Champs (above) on a score of 32 penalties while Willliam Fox-Pitt’s CCI2* winner at Tattersalls this year, Ramdam Des Mons is in second place (35.5) and Secret Night, a new horse from Germany belonging to that staunch supporter of William and eventing in general, Catherine Witt, is in third (37.0). Pippa Funnell has two in the top ten, MGH Grafton Street and Billy Cuckoo while New Zealand’s James Avery is up there in sixth place riding Cadillac. Oliver Townend is in fifth place on Ballaghmor Class (37.60) and he is back tomorrow in this class riding his friend Andrew Nicholson’s Cillnabradden Evo. This pair had their first outing together at Richmond in the Open Intermediate, winning on their dressage score of 27.7 and will be ones to watch here
The KBIS British Eventing Young Horse Championships are a feature of this event with top class combinations having qualified around the country. The Five Year Old class has started strongly with the top seven combinations posting sub-30 scores and the current leader Vicky Tuffs riding Its Cooley, a horse that has rarely been out of the top ten in competition in the past two seasons, sits on a score of 24.1 ahead of Piggy French and Ballycanu (27.3) and also in third spot with Carsten of Westoak (27.4).
The Scania arena saw some even younger potential today with the Oakham Veterinary Hospital In Hand Championships for Mares with Foal at foot, Foals, Yearlings, 2 Year-Old and 3 Year-Old Horses being judged by Chris Hunnable & Jane Holderness-Roddam. These classes are for young, athletic horses that have the conformation and movement in walk and trot to make a top class eventing horse – results are not yet to hand but we’ll bring those as soon as they are posted.
Some of the entries in this class, along with others such as Alex Hua Tian’s ride in the CCI1* William XVII (above), are available for viewing in one of Bede Events innovations here, the Best of British Showcase. After its success last year, the concept has been brought back to Osberton this year with sellers having the opportunity to showcase their horse in front of numerous potential buyers. The horses are presented twice on the flat and over fences on Thursday and again on Friday at scheduled times and an area is provided for prospective purchasers to examine and try suitable horses. This new concept is an interesting without the pressurised auction atmosphere, just direct negotiations between buyers and sellers and, with the focus at Osberton being on young horse talent, it is an obvious place to bring together the interested parties.
Stay tuned for more from Osberton tomorrow .........
Live scoring throughout the event available here
