Ladies-in-waiting prove their worth
Two British hopefuls make their mark for European selection, while the Antipodeans make it a one-two-three and a rider redeems herself with a win
DESPITE the array of eventing talent on display at Washbrook Farm, it was organisers Nigel and Ann Taylor and their ultraefficient team who were the real stars of the show over three days of competition that saw the maximum of 300 entries accommodated each day. This, despite an absolute deluge of rain on Saturday night.
The advanced and intermediate sections were split over the weekend to allow room for riders who had been on Nations Cup duty in Aachen. The event also included one special advanced section on Sunday evening which comprised the same FEI three-star B dressage test ridden in Aachen and acted as the final trial for British riders for the European Championships.
Two female riders who did their chances of selection no harm were Nicola Wilson and Tina Cook. Nicola won with Gerry and Mary Kemp and Janine Shewan’s experienced One Two Many and finished third with the Lamberts’ ever-improving Bulana, the former looking impressively powerful and accurate in all three phases. Tina rode Elizabeth Murdoch’s Billy The Red, reserve horse at the Rio Olympics, into fourth and Calvino II, the last horse across country at just after 8pm, into fifth. Lydia Hannon and My Royal Touch, who are not on the Europeans long-list, posted the fastest cross-country round of the section to finish second.
“I’m thrilled with both horses,” said Nicola. “It was never my intention to go fast across country with One Two Many but he just gets faster and faster without pulling. I ride him in a snaffle and he simply gets into a rhythm and I don’t have to waste time setting him up. As for Bulana, she just gets better and better — she was a bit excited in the showjumping, but she’s in a really good place in her head at the moment and totally on side.”
Andrew Nicholson had a strong hand to play in the eightand nine-year-old advanced class on Saturday with Swallow Springs and Byrnesgrove First Diamond both entered. Mary Channer’s Byrnesgrove First Diamond led after the dressage, but a showjump down opened the door for the chasing pack, led by the Ridgeons’ much-coveted Irishbred grey Swallow Springs.
ANTIPODEANS ON TOP
THE top three was an allAntipodean affair with Paul Tapner posting an excellent second place with the
nine-year-old mare Counterparty, her sire Nayef ’s racing lines paying dividends and enabling them to post the fastest crosscountry time of the day for just
1.6 time-penalties. Dan Jocelyn was third with Blackthorn Cruise. Holly Woodhead was best of the Brits, taking fourth and fifth with Mr Sneezy and Parkfield Quintessential.
Paul also secured a win in advanced section L with Robbie and Mandy Burns’ Yogi Bear VIII, offering some compensation for the disappointment of the horse not being selected for Aachen. However, he was denied what was on course to be another win with Bonza King Of Rogues in section K when he was forced to pull up at fence 20 after the horse’s bit snapped.
This section was eventually won by Louise Harwood and Jenga II whose next outing will be the two-star at Camphire. Louise also finished third in intermediate section Q with Omard Mickey Two. Louise bought “Mickey” from breeder Shane O’Reilly in Ireland as a four-year-old as he is a full brother to the four-star horse Balladeer Durban Hills, whom Louise produced to twostar level before he was sold to Sarah Parkes.
Another rider to enjoy both an advanced and intermediate win, with RF West Indie and Fabian respectively and both for owner Ellie Guy, was Millie Dumas (see box, right). The seven-year-old Fabian is one to watch for the future. Despite not having been the easiest to produce, this is his second intermediate win on the bounce and he has not been out of the top 10 in all his starts this season.
Philippa Nixon and Arctic Cruising finished just 0.1 of a penalty behind Millie and RF West Indie in the under-25 advanced section on 41.4, with Rosa Onslow, a member of Horse Scotland’s Performance Squad, and RLE Limbo Kaiser third.
Izzy Taylor’s sole win in what was a very busy weekend for her came with Alex Phillips’
(aka Orange Eventing) Perfect Stranger in advanced section G. This win comes off the back of a CIC3* win at Kilguilkey International in Ireland for the “Golden Wonder” and the pair next head to the British open at Gatcombe with a real chance of being in the mix.
Second place went to Selina Milnes and William Rucker’s Iron IV, a Belgian-bred gelding she bought in Ireland as a six-year-old and who was second at last year’s novice championship at Gatcombe.
“I bought him without even sitting on him as I was injured at the time,” admitted Selina. “He was initially a bit keen across country, but he’s really settled now and will do his first CIC3* at Burgham next week.”
The other advanced winner was 2015 junior team bronze medallist Charlotte East and her schoolmaster King Albert, a horse produced to three-star level by his breeder Mary King before being sold to Jodie Amos.
“I fell off him at the water at Barbury so I feel like we’ve redeemed ourselves here,” said
Charlotte. “He’s really reliable and he cruised round, although despite being 15, he was still quite fresh.”
Andrew James and Hold Me Down finished one penalty behind Charlotte and King Albert on 50.9, with Izzy Taylor and Direct Cassino third.
‘THE MOST TALENTED’
A RELIEVED Matthew Heath headed the leaderboard in open intermediate (OI) section P with One Of A Kind II. Bred by Jodie Amos and described by Matthew as “the most talented horse I’ve ever sat on”, Rachel Livesey’s 10-year-old son of Jumbo was never “on side” during his recent trip to The Plains CIC3* in the USA.
“I can only think that he didn’t travel well or that he didn’t like being away from home for that long as, physically, there was nothing wrong with him,” reflected Matthew. “It was a huge relief when he jumped out of the start box here and showed that he was back to his best.”
Matthew hopes to qualify One Of A Kind for Badminton 2018 at Blenheim later this year.
Vittoria Panizzon won the other OI section with Lottie Wemyss’ Argentinus. This was a real achievement as the 12-year-old has not run at this level since 2013, having missed a couple of seasons through injury and has a tendency to nap.
“He’s a great jumper,” said Vittoria, “but he’s very introverted and a real worrier, which causes his napping.”
Francis Whittington and Exellent R and Heidi Coy with Royal Fury won an intermediate section apiece on Friday, while Greta Mason won Sunday’s hotly contested under-21 OI with her mother’s Tinkers Pearl on their dressage score of 33.2, the same score as second-placed Alex Tordoff and Dustman.
Jonty Evans won intermediate section Q on Sunday with Sarah Moffat’s six-year-old Gambesie and now heads to the novice championships at Gatcombe having completed the requisite run at intermediate level. An emotional Jonty also rode Cooley Rorkes Drift into seventh place in Sunday evening’s advanced class in what could potentially have been the pair’s last outing together
unless the much publicised crowd-funding bid to secure him the long-term ride succeeds.
“He’s selected for the Europeans but he won’t go unless this is sorted,” commented Jonty.
Eliza Stoddart (Dick O Malley) and Helen Witchell (Scarragh Silver) took the other two intermediate sections.
The cross-country time proved more achievable for the intermediates that it was for the advanced competitors, where no one came home inside the optimum. However, the intermediate showjumping, which was held on one of Washbrook Farm’s all-weather surfaces, proved very influential, with only 27% posting clear rounds.