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Sunburst Equestrian Newsletter –
September 2007
Following their first and third placings in the Melbourne International Three Day Event CCI*** at Werribee in June, Koyuna Sun Dancer & Koyuna Sun Shine stayed home for a spell prior to commencing their preparation for Sydney CCI*** and hopefully on to Adelaide CCI**** in September & November.
I am excited to have 2 such young horses performing so well at this level, and delighted that Dancer has been added to the National Eventing Elite list, with Sun Magic, while Shine was named on the A List. All focus is now on training these 3 towards the 2008 Olympics.
Koyuna Sun Magic had returned from his Rolex Kentucky CCI**** 6th to Quarantine in Sydney, coming out in mid June, so I arranged for him to stay with Wayne Roycroft instead of a long trip back to SA only to turn around and travel back up to QLD for the Elysian Fields Showjumping International. I then re-packed the truck with 3 more horses and set off just a week after returning from Werribee to train with Wayne for the next 3 weeks. My plan was to concentrate on Sun Magic’s dressage, which needs to step up a gear if we are to gain selection for the 2008 Olympics. I was particularly pleased with his work by the end of his training with Wayne.
However, there are always ups and downs with horses and the down was that at Elysian Fields Sun Magic (Fox) was not living up to his SJ star rating (gained at Tempo World Cup Show ’05 with a win in the 1.3m and a 2nd in the Futurity, and clear SJ at Sydney, Adelaide & Melbourne 3DE’s) and was having rails down – a very expensive rail at Kentucky cost us 2nd place!!! - and rails at Elysian earned him the attention of our new National SJ Technical Director, Gilbert Bockmann. A video critique and some corrective sessions saw Fox back in kindergarten having issues with poles on the ground !!! I have learned a lot about the importance of both applied flatwork and discipline in my jumping training and with weeks of hard work and concentration, Fox is now back on track with some better rounds in lower classes at the Towoomba World Cup Show.
Koyuna Sun Set, a 7 yo bay mare by Koyuna Majestic Supreme (as is Sun Magic) was on the truck specifically to compete in the big showjumping circuit in Queensland at Elysian Fields and hopefully to sell as a specialist showjumper. This mare was to be the surprise packet of the trip, stepping up a grade at each of 3 consecutive big shows and attracting considerable interest, but jumped so well in the Silver Finals to come 5th amongst a bevy of highly priced imported horses that I decided not to sell her! She then went on to compete successfully in our first World Cup start at Toowoomba with a clear second round placing her 6th .
Koyuna Sun Set (Leah) started the JK Williams show as a 1.2m to 1.3m horse and finished it as a Grand Prix horse! She placed 4th in the 1.2m qualifier, 4th in the 1.35m on day 1. Next day she won the 1.2m Final making her ineligible for the Mini Prix so up to the Grand Prix she went, our first effort at this level over a testing John Vallance course. Leah soared over it - one of only 5 clears in the first round though our inexperience at this level showed in the 2nd round with 2 rails down to finish 6th. However, I was thrilled with this experience and made a pact with myself to stay on in Queensland an extra week in order to ride in my first World Cup Qualifier at Toowoomba.
On up to Queensland and the biggest show of them all at Elysian Fields, under the directorship of Ulli Klatte, a truely International SJ Classic mimicking the big European Shows with all the atmosphere, music, pizzazz & prize money to attract the very best showjumpers Australia wide.
Sun Set competed in the Silver Classic over 3 qualifying rounds placing 3rd, 11th, & 23rd to qualify in 5th place of the 25 qualifiers for the Silver Final, amongst 70 initial entries. As the Gold Final was a Selector Series event at 1.6m, many experienced Mini Prix and Grand Prix level horses contested the Silver Classic with a large number of imported horses or imported semen Australian bred horses in the field. The Silver Final was the biggest SJ track I had ever faced, all at 1.45m, and I admit to being scared! I had the silliest rail down – a triple bar at fence 2! – but it at least it made me sit up & ride and the mare jumped the rest superbly to be one of 8 make the second round, with a time fault taking our score to 5. It was great to be still in the mix but it also meant I had to jump again! Leah was obviously less concerned than I was & jumped carefully clear in the 2nd round to bring us up to 5th behind some pretty fancy imported horses. Leah was in fact the best-placed Australian-bred horse (from Koyuna Stud, Souvenir bloodlines) and the result was significant for me as a rider to be cutting it as a Showjumper as well. Following this performance, I decided to keep this little jumping machine for my own experience and development as a jumping rider.
Her effort at Towoomba in the World Cup Qualifier to place 6th overall, with 1 rail in the first round and an amazing clear 2nd round, vindicated my decision to keep her as it was one of the most exciting things I have done since my Gold Medal success in Atlanta!
I hope to now jump her in the World Cup shows in November / December to improve my SJ skills and challenge myself to compete above my comfort zone, in an effort to improve SJ performance under pressure and be in a position to jump two clear rounds on the final day of the Olympic 3DE.
Certainly the Eventing Individual Gold Medallist will need to jump double clear. I hope to have Koyuna Sun Magic, Dancer or Shine in that position next year!
Koyuna Sun Storm, a 6 yo chestnut mare by Brilliant Invader, also was “on fire” for the duration of this trip. Improving her flat work at Wayne’s allowed her to step up to place 2nd in her first 2 star ODE start at SIEC, 2nd again at Kooralbyn CIC** and be quite a star at all 3 big SJ shows. She won both the Derby Trial and the Derby Final at JK Williams Show in the Orchard, and placed 5th in the 1. 2m final. Storm jumped beautifully throughout the Elysian Show to qualify in first place (out of 94 horses) for the Bronze Classic final with 2 wins and a second in the 3 ‘female’ Qualifiers (Organisers split the qualifying classes into 48 females & 46 males). Jumping last in the final class, Storm was clear in the first round and was jumping carefully clear until the treble where she started to get a little concerned at the height and had the final element down, followed by the last two fences which were well above 1.3m. I was disappointed that my performance in the final had not equalled that of the qualifiers but was still very happy with a young mare who I feel has great potential for the future. She then went on to place 2nd in an accumulator, first in a 1m 25 qualifier and 2nd in the 1.3m championships and 5th in a speed class at Toowoomba World Cup Show. She left Adelaide as a new C grader with 19 points and came back a B grader with 45 points – all gained at competitive interstate shows.
Back home, last weekend she won a CNC** at Mt Gambier and is en route for Sydney CCI** in September.
The final horse on the truck for my NSW/QLD trip was a 5yo home bred thoroughbred, who is a monster at well over 17.2hh. I hope he is not still growing!Lord of the Sun (Plugger) is somewhat of a juvenile delinquent, always into trouble but the 7 week circuit gave him much needed mileage and he enjoyed a quiet reintroduction to Pre Novice Eventing at SIEC for clear rounds across country & showjumping to winning a large Pre Novice class at the Kooralbyn Horse Trials in QLD, and qualifying in 8th place for the Progressive Classic at Elysian with an 11th, 7th & 4th placing in the 3 qualifiers. He lacked the experience to place in the final over 1.15m. At Toowoomba he qualified for the 1.15m final but again did not place against the clock.
However, on returning home he showed the benefit of his time away with a win at the Mt Gambier Horse Trials, in his first CNC* Eventing start.
Mt Gambier Horse Trials proved a very happy hunting ground for us this year with a win in all 4 EFA classes, CNC**, CNC* to Storm & Plugger, with youngster Glenrose Sun Devil taking the Pre Novice in his first start at this level and Sun Dancer the 3 star combined training class.