Ben Hobday and Shadow Man II seem to love Gatcombe Park, having won the Novice Championship at FoBE 2017 and the Open Intermediate at Gatcombe (1) last year
An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at
Gatcombe (1) - find out more here
The line-up at this week’s Gatcombe (1) Horse Trials in Gloucestershire reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of eventing and, although this is a thoroughly British event, held at the home of HRH The Princess Royal, it is also thoroughly international when you look at the entries
Some of the big name riders will be there on Saturday with younger horses in the Novice classes but their main day is Sunday when the Intermediate classes draw the top level equine athletes for a little pipe-opener.
Tim and Jonelle Price will have jetted back from another Land Rover sponsored event in the Southern Hemisphere, having competed on borrowed horses at the Land Rover Horse of the Year in New Zealand last weekend and hopefully will not be suffering from jet-lag as they have a full schedule planned
Tim will be riding the 2018 Land Rover Burghley winner, Ringwood Sky Boy in the Intermediate M while Jonelle will be heading out in the same class on Badminton winner, the 16-year-old mare Classic Moet. Between them, Tim and Jonelle have nine rides during the weekend including some of the ‘stocking the shelves’ horses they told us about at the end of last year. Another past Badminton winner and another 16-year-old mare, Sam Griffiths’ Paulank Brockagh will also be having a little jaunt around Gatcombe; Brocks doesn’t need a lot of runs as she already knows her job very well but hopefully is heading to Badminton yet again.
Another Antipodean rider now based in the UK not far from Gatcombe, New Zealand’s Ginny Thompson will be giving Star Nouveau her first run through the Park and the Japanese riders will also be out in force, adding to the international feel with an Australian twist. Toshinyuki Tanaka will be riding Kelecyn Pirate and Swiper JRA in the Advanced Intermediate and Kinnordy Rhondo in the Intermediate; the Kelecyn and Kinnordy prefixes will be familiar to our Australian readers while Swiper was previously ridden by Shane Rose. Toshi is joined by compatriots Ryuzo Kitajima and Kazuma Tomoto, both with two horses.
China’s Alex Hua Tian is also competing but it doesn’t end there with competitors from Sweden, Ireland (including silver medallist Padraig McCarthy), Brazil, Canada, USA, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Finland and, my personal favourite, Jamaica, represented by Lydia Heywood on Bonmahon JD
However, we can’t overlook the Brits at this quintessential British event. Keep an eye out for Kitty King on Ceylor LAN, Vendredi Biats and Le Lion winner Cristal Fontaine, Laura Collett and Dacapo, Harry Meade and Away Cruising, Ben Hobday and Shadow Man II who have had great success at Gatcombe in the past, William Fox-Pitt and the gorgeous Georgisaurous, Tom McEwen and Zara Tindall on their home turf and of course the in-form Izzy Taylor and Oliver Townend – just to mention a few!
We leave you with a little taste of what is to come …..
