The Indoor Eventing/CIX-Arena Eventing is set to kick off as the cold weather and short days draw in, in the Northern Hemisphere.
In Toronto, Canada the world's largest indoor agricultural and equestrian event, The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, is underway and celebrating not only its 101st anniversary but also many of Pan American medallists returning from the recent Santiago 2023
As a part of that, The Royal Horse Show, that runs from November 3rd – 12th 2023, will see 1,000 competitors vie for more than $1,000,000 in prize money, and one of the first competitions to take place is the Mad Barn Indoor Eventing Challenge, held over two evenings on 4th & 5th November.
10 athlete and horse combinations compete across an indoor course set by Captain Mark Phillips in the Coca-Cola Coliseum. At the end of the first session, it was the USA’s Phillip Dutton, hot-footing it from Les Etoiles de Pau in France, riding Quasi Cool in this indoor competition. They took victory on the first night, finishing with zero faults and a time of 80.43.
Phillip’s daughter Olivia is also competing but couldn’t beat her dad, having to be content with fourth place in the first round.
The reigning champion of the 2022 Indoor Eventing Challenge, Holly Jacks from Hillsburgh, Ontario, secured second place riding Josephine, a 10-year-old Canadian Sport Horse mare owned by Donna van Beek. The pair delivered an exceptional clear round coming very close to Dutton’s time, stopping the clock at 81.00.
Completing the top three was Jamie Kellock of Cedar Valley, Ontario, accompanied by her own Summer Bay, a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding. They put on an impressive display by navigating the course flawlessly and finishing with a time of 88.67.
The Mad Barn Indoor Eventing Challenge Final completed on Saturday night and it was once again Phillip who stole the show. Just three combinations managed a fault-free ride, but it was Phillip’s double-clear across the two days of competition and combined time of 181.41 seconds that reigned supreme.
Canada's Kendal Lehari was the only other rider to jump fault-free both rounds with Iron Lorde for a second-place finish in a combined 193.03 seconds and Phillip's daughter Olivia made it a family celebration with third place on board Pioneer Archibald, a 12-year-old British Sport Horse gelding owned by Joanie Morris, finishing with five faults and a combined time of 194.28 seconds
