Adelaide International Horse Trials

Cross Country Day

13 November 2004

Despite dire predictions about the weather the day turned out cool but sunny for most of the afternoon.  There were a number of new jumps this year including the Leap of Faith where competitors jumped onto a bank in Rymill Lake then over a small log jump down into the water.  The first rider on course Heath Ryan and Diablo Heart came to grief at the jump off while Rob Vlasschaert's mount Sagamore Mistral put in a gigantic leap to nearly clear the obstacle in one bound  he caught a leg an tipped off his rider but a game effort.  The pair continued to complete the course without further problem though the penalties from that fall put them out of contention.

Unfortunately a jump analysis was not available so details of where a number of riders retired/were eliminated are not available at the time of writing.  However problems seemed to be centred around the Leap of Faith, the Apex jump that followed it and the 'Drummers Dive'.

Four Star

Sammi McLeod and Jessica Irvine Brown riding Black Odysey and Belcam Aberdeen respectively both completed the cross country course without incurring further penalties and go to the showjumping with only 3 penalties between them.  Craig Barrett and Staccato who was placed third after the dressage had problems during the cross country with a number of refusals and retired from the event.  Third place was taken by Shane Rose and Beauford Miss Dior who jumped clear and only added 0.8 time penalties to their score.  Local representative Wendy Schaeffer riding Koyuna Sun Smoke is currently 8th after collecting 20 points for a refusal early in the course on a score of 97.20.

CCI **

Eight of the 36 remaining riders in the competition went clear in the cross country phase with Boyd Martin and Ying Yang Yo taking the lead position from Chris Burton & Newsprint while Megan Jones and Winergy Fedwell dropped to third after collecting 1.6 time penalties.  Stuart Tinney and Oroton who were equal third after the dressage dropped to 5th after collecting just 0.4 time penalties and little more than a showjumping rail stands between first and tenth in this class.

 CIC**

The third class had the biggest change in positions with dressage leader Jessica Rosen having three refusals on course to now be placed in 22nd while Craig Barrett and Mystic Magic collected 5.6 time penalties but moved up from second to first place on 53.90.  Sam Lyle and Royal Marine moved from equal fifth to second despite 6.4 time penalties while Clem Mann riding Irish Warrior went clear cross country to move from 11th to third place.  Emma Dougall and Dotcom who had been third after the dressage also had problems on course with three refusals and dropped to 20th position.

© Cyberhorse 2004 Jenny Barnes