Gallop makes short work of grand prix
Sara Gallop dominates the top class, while among her 10 wins Charlotte Dujardin showcases some promising newcomers with big goals on their radars
SARA GALLOP nipped round the Gloucester ring road from her base at Summerhouse to take first and third in the Premier League grand prix on Thursday. Riding Summerhouse Zelham, she scored 68.44% to take the class from Emile Faurie and Bohemo Tinto, while Summerhouse Bandreo managed 66.08%.
The weather was oppressively hot, and Sara admitted she was concerned about how it might affect Zelham, a Sir Sinclair x Belisar 13-year-old whom she bought as a three-year-old from the Netherlands.
“I didn’t want to overwork or underwork him, so I took my time and gave him lots of breaks,” she said. “He is super-extravagant in the piaffe and passage — so much that it can look abnormal; I have to sit quietly and just try to find more rhythm.
“He’s got an ace personality; he loves hacking and having a jump, and he whinnies at me if I walk down his row of stables.”
This is Zelham’s second year at grand prix and Sara is hoping to take him abroad later in the season.
Emile scored 67.04% on
Louise Hartnett’s 13-year-old by De Noir to split Sara’s rides.
The Sandreo stallion Bandreo has, Sara says, been tricky, but performed well in his first international grand prix.
“In my experience stallions are either lazy or super-hot, and he is the latter. The quality is all there — it’s just been about getting his brain to focus, and in the past couple of months, as he has got stronger, his self-carriage and balance have improved and his concentration has come on as a result,” she said.
Zelham was third in the inter II won by Matt Frost on
Wednesday. Matt scored 68.03% on Dedi Leech and AM Dressage’s AMD Don Rosso II, who has only just returned to competition after fracturing a pedal bone last year and spending eight months in his box.
“It was a clean test and the canter felt really solid,” said Matt.
He described the huge Dr Doolittle 12-year-old as “like a Labrador — very laid-back and a real poppet.”
There was much to like in his grand prix test the following day, but lack of fitness and match practice showed in the heat and the pair scored 64.24% for fifth.
KOM ON THEN
CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN triumphed in one inter I section with Mount St John Kom Fairytale, while Sadie Smith won the other on Keystone Dynamite. Charlotte and Sadie had finished first and second in a section of Wednesday’s prix st georges (PSG).
Mount St John Kom Fairytale, who scored 74.04%, is a finely made, Finnish-bred chestnut mare by Fürst Heinrich out of a Weltmeyer mare. She is a relatively new ride for Charlotte.
She said: “I’ve only competed her twice before — at local shows. She’s quite inexperienced for her
age [11] and certainly hasn’t seen this kind of atmosphere, so it was quite a big ask for her. This was her first inter I and she felt a bit green and tired after competing two days running in the heat. I had to push a bit, but I don’t know her well enough yet to know what I can and can’t do.
“She’s tricky at home; she’s a wimp and spooks at the same things every day; she’s sensitive and hates getting things wrong. But she doesn’t look at anything at a show — she wants to do the job, which is exciting. She’s got the most amazing hindleg, which can push her into the wrong balance at the moment, but she’ll strengthen up. I think she’s a through-andthrough grand prix horse.”
Charlotte also won the advanced medium 98 on Carl Hester and Isabel Barber’s Ekitof with 74.3%. The eight-year-old Zuccero gelding hasn’t competed since Amy Woodhead rode him at
medium level in August 2016.
Charlotte said: “Carl normally rides him and he really loves him — he’s probably his favourite horse — but he joked that I could do something on him, not thinking I would say yes. I’ve only sat on him four or five times, and he’s never seen anything like this, so to come here and perform so well with no errors was amazing.
“He’s qualified for the nationals now, but I’m just the test pilot — ‘Grandad’ will get on and bob to victory!”
Kate Smith took section A of the PSG on her own Dimaggio x Weltmeyer 10-year-old De La Veiga with 72.59%.
“He was brilliant — he loves an atmosphere and an occasion,” enthused Kate. “He’s learning to take the weight behind more, especially in trot. He’s the most powerful horse I’ve ridden, so it’s been about controlling that power and making it more expressive.”
Another rider fine-tuning abundant power was Maria Eilberg, whose performances over the week on Royal Concert improved, culminating in an inter II win on Sunday.
“He was spooky on Wednesday but really secure today,” she said. “At home I can stretch him to the floor but at shows he’s like a turbo, so we’re carefully planning and taking him out each week.”
She is planning to ride ‘Rico’, who is by Royal Diamond, in the middle tour classes at Hickstead.
After her inter II, Maria scampered outdoors to write for a judge in the grand prix.