A satisfied smile from James Avery as he leaves the arena
James Avery’s name keeps popping up and this is one you need to keep an eye on for future team potential. The New Zealand farrier, who moved to the UK in 2013, picked up the rides on several of Joe and Alex Giannamore’s horses when Jock Paget moved back home.
It’s a tough job taking over from someone like Jock but James has worked hard to building partnerships with the young horses and is now producing good results; the nine year old Zazu has had two wins at 2* level this year at Rockingham and Osberton and finished fifth at Millstreet while the seven year old Vitali, that Jock rode to Novice level, won the CIC2* at Gatcombe Park in September and was fourth in the CICYH1* at Tattersalls earlier in the year
Now the well bred Vitali, a Holsteiner bred by Fielmann Guenther by Contender out of Noble Lady I (by Heraldik), leads the CCI2* Seven Year Old Championship at Le Lion after the first day of dressage. James is a lovely dressage rider and the elegance was well rewarded by the three judges Anne-Mette Binder (DEN), Joanne Jarden (IRE) and François Belz (FRA) with the leading score of 42 as the last combination of the day
Mary King and King Robert
Mary King and the homebred King Robert (by Chilli Morning out of Mary’s 4* Kentucky winner Kings Temptress - you don’t get much better bred than that) were the second pair out in this class and had led on a score of 44.3 until James and Vitali came along. France’s Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’or had followed Mary into the arena and held onto third spot (44.6) at the end of the day
Astier and Alertamalib’or (by Yarlands Summer Song out of a dam by Prince Ig'Or)
Two Australians are also in the top ten with Ben Leahy riding the Dutch bred mare Feloupe in seventh place (49) and Sammi Birch on The Kincooley Ceili in ninth place (50.4). Ben, who was born in Sydney but really got into eventing when his family moved to Western Australia, was bought a horse ‘as a safer option to a motor bike’ (!?) and then went to work for the one and only Sonja Johnson in 2011
“I learnt not only about horses but also more about sheep and wool than I ever knew existed. Sonja and her family took me under their wing and taught the ins and outs of eventing and gave me some truly great opportunities. Within seven months, Sonja took me from just kicking around one star to winning my first three star”
Ben Leahy and Feloupe
Ben went from one top rider to another, heading to the UK to work for Harry Meade in 2014, and he has had three good results on this young horse in 2017 with a third in the CIC2* at Ballindenisk, seventh at Mallow and fourth in the 1* at Ballindenisk in April (let’s hope she likes France as much as she likes Ireland!)
Talking of Harry Meade, he is currently in 14th place on Cavalier Crystal, just ahead of Gemma Tattersall on another ‘Chilli baby’, Chilli Knight
Tomorrow sees some really strong contenders enter the arena including one of the favourites, Chris Burton on Lawtown Boy. This horse pulled out a fantastic score of 31.9 in the CCI1* at Haras le Pin earlier this year then they jumped clear around (most of the) cross country, only to be eliminated for missing a fence (“I've been apologising to the owners all week” admitted Chris at Blair Castle where he re-routed afterwards) but they may have returned to France with that score in mind
Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around
Britain’s Izzy Taylor riding Direct Cassino also competes in this class tomorrow but today she finished on top of the leader board in the CCI1* 6 Year Old Championship
Paul Tapner and Bob Chaplin (above) and Sarah Bullimore on Corouet (below)
Izzy and Monkeying Around lead with a score of 37.6 ahead of Australia’s Paul Tapner riding the very pretty Bob Chaplin and Sarah Bullimore on Corouet. These are all lovely horses that can move (Izzy’s Monkeying Around has dressage lines on both sides, by Bertoli W out of a dam by Donnerhall) so someone is going to have to put in a good performance and score to get ahead of them tomorrow.
And they will need to as Izzy and Monkeying Around have only added one time fault in the show jumping in their past two international starts .............
