Adelaide International Horse Trials

Showjumping Day

13 November 2005

Four Star

The first shock of the day was that Janelle Pitts & Mr Showoff who had remained in second position through the first two phases were withdrawn after Mr Showoff was found to have not recovered as well as expected from Saturday's round.  This left Jessica Irvine-Brown just under two fences ahead of Rebel Morrow & Oaklea Groover and Megan Jones & Kirby Park Irish Jester.  Coming to the final four riders there had only been two clear rounds on the testing course. 

Sonja Johnson & Ringwould Jaguar dropped one rail finishing on a score of 55.10 then Megan Jones & Kirby Park Irish Jester came out and did the same for a final score of 51.70.  When Rebel Morrow & Oaklea Groover dislodged two rails to finish on 55.70 it gave Jessica Irvine Brown & Belcam Aaberdeen a leeway of two rails any further penalties would lose the contest.  The crowd was silent as the pair went through the course with a rail dropping early.  Another dropped midway through but horse and rider were jumping well until the very last fence when Belcam Aaberdeen just rolled the rail with her hind feet and it dropped to the ground.  With another three time penalties the pair dropped to fourth overall on 55.80 - had that last rail stayed Megan Jones & Kirby Park Irish Jester still would have won but by the narrow margin of 0.10 penalty. 

It was the emotional high of a turbulent few months for Megan Jones with in September the return of her wonderful eventer Kirby Park Irish Hallmark, who despite his huge size also won a State Showjumping Speed Championship earlier in his career, at the Monarto Horse Trials in September.  He also partnered Megan in some early promotion for the Adelaide International Horse Trials this year but was sadly found dead in the paddock one morning a few weeks ago from an apparent spider bite.  Then after riding Kirby Park Irish Jester to be within striking distance of the leaders Megan suffered a whiplash type injury after an awkward landing over the Leap of Faith jump during the cross country.  Overnight Megan received constant physio and chiropractic treatment after x rays established only soft tissue damage returning to ride to victory.       

CCI **

The class like the four star was in for a shock Sunday morning when the overnight second placed Shane Rose & Cleddau Bobby Dazzler also withdrew after not fully recovering from the cross country.  This left leaders Emma Dougall & Dotcom two fences ahead of Kerrie Bowman and Fourwinds Tax Return.  Sam Lyle & Classic Mischief had been 9th overnight but went clear to finish on 56.10 which resulted in a overall fourth place finish.  Georgia Clifford & It's Monty had been in 7th after the cross country but they also went clear to moved up to 3rd with 55.80.  Tim Boland & Phantom Pursuit were the last of the clear rounds moving from 6th to second with 54.30.  David Middleton & Mr Shirvington knocked one rail and it was enough to drop from 4th to 5th place while Jenna Mahoney & The Straussman dislodged three rails dropping from fourth to 7th.  Kerrie Bowman started well but also knocked three rails to drop to 6th overall.  All eyes were on Emma Dougall who by this stage had a buffer of three fences over Tim Boland.  Again the arena was silent as the pair went around and although they knocked a few fences they stayed up all that is until the final fence but Emma was still well clear winning with 46.60.  

CIC **

The CIC ** was the first class to go on Sunday morning with 7 of the field of 15 going clear on jumping and one of those collecting one time fault.  Yona Lloyd riding Spencer Street moved up from fourth to third after going clear as Katja Weimann & Triathlete knocked two rails moving back to fourth from second overnight.  Scott Keach and Witchdoctor also went clear to finish on 59.80.  Ali Foye had just over 3 fences in reserve but it didn't matter as Ali and Bondir went clear to win after leading through the competition.

Trans Tasman Cup

Australia couldn't have selected a stronger team with Olympic pair Rebel Morrow & Oaklea Groover plus the proven performers Sonja Johnson & Ringwould Jaguar, Megan Jones & Kirby Park Irish Jester and former Olympian Wendy Schaeffer & Koyuna Sun Magic.

Against them were very experienced riders in Andrew Scott & Matthew Grayling, a previous Adelaide Four star winner, plus Alex Deluca Oliveira and Katharine Van Tuyl riding Clifton Mitavite X Factor, Gordon, Clifton Checkers & Underhand respectively.  Matthew Grayling's Gordon was well performed at the three star level but the other horses (all four are 9 years old) were reportedly relatively inexperienced with all having their first start at four star level.

The competition was seemingly sealed after the dressage with the New Zealand team having two members start off with over 150 penalties while all four Australians finished with under 60 after day one.  In the cross country while Australia had a total of 14.4 penalties for the team New Zealand suffered further bad luck with two members having falls during their round. 

Both teams had nearly the same penalties for the showjumping phase but the two earlier phases had put the title in Australian hands for only the second time in twenty competitions.

© Cyberhorse 2005 Jenny Barnes