Sunburst Equestrian Newsletter - February/March 2009

The 2009 Kelt Capital Horse of the Year Show held on the outskirts of Hastings on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island was the Show we had all been waiting for! Many of Australia's top Showjumping combinations had made the trip across the Tasman to challenge the Kiwis for top honours in the prestigious and financially rewarding Olympic Cup. The high profile, long standing Horse of the Year Show boasted top competition in all disciplines imaginable from Polo, Endurance, Eventing, Showjumping and Show Hunters to Dressage and Showing but my eyes were firmly focused on the Showjumping classes in the International arena which culminated in the final day's Olympic Cup which had been designated as a qualifying event for next year's World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Combinations achieving a first round total of 8 faults or less would earn a COC (certificate of capability) which is necessary to contest both the Australian selection trials for the World Games and the Games themselves.

After unloading my horses from what had for some unknown reason been a rough ride from Maurice Beatson's property just out of Dannevirke, we found Lord of the Sun had sustained a few scrapes on his left hock and upper cannon. Although they looked superficial they were to result in more substantial swelling overnight and I believe affected his performance throughout the Show. Koyuna Sun Storm opened my account in the International arena with a good jumping round in the 1.35m but I wasn't switched on enough to finish inside the time. Unfortunately, the faults continued on Day 1 when Lord of the Sun went inside the time but had a fence down in the 1.35m and Koyuna Sun Set was a little underdone for the 1st fence down and 2 time in the her opening class, the Norwood Gold Cup. My jumping coach, Jamie Coman who had travelled over to assist both Becky Allen and myself must have wondered where I was at that first day! Fortunately, my form and confidence picked up the next day with Storm jumping double clear for 5th in a competitive 1.40m Ladies Championship. Friday's class was the 1.50m Silver Fern Stakes which had traditionally been the biggest class at the HOTYS but now served as an ideal lead-up to Sunday's Olympic Cup. Sun Set made amends for her rail in the Norwood with a great clear in the 1st round before stepping up to produce one of only 4 clear 2nd rounds in a competitive time that had ran her second by .11 of a second! Riding into that International arena under lights for the 2nd round was a very exciting experience.

Storm kept up her good form with a clear round in the NZ Speed Championships for 2nd place on the Saturday to have me well placed to ride the biggest Showjumping class of my career the following day. Sunday began with a trot-up for the Olympic cup horses following which I did a short schooling session with Jamie to have Sun Set best prepared for her biggest class yet. Walking the course for the Olympic Cup wasn't as daunting an experience as I had expected with a nice triple bar to vertical line to get us started before the track got serious. While it was certainly the biggest and most technical track I had walked, I was also the best prepared I had ever been with Jamie on hand to oversee my warm-up and Sun Set really on form with such consistent results in her NZ starts. Coming in to the arena as the 8th starter, we began well jumping clear up to the open water at fence 6 before running on a little strongly down the related distance to the stile at 7 resulting in a rail down before recovering to jump the oxer at 8 some 5 strides away clear. We then successfully negotiated the 1.60m vertical at 9 and was clear down the next vertical 5 (or possibly 6) strides away and the Liverpool oxer a short 4 strides further on. Sun Set entered the double at 12 well but made up too much ground in the middle to have the vertical going out down for 8 faults coming into the last oxer which at 2m wide was enormous. She jumped it great and to my relief we had gained a qualifying result! At that stage of the class 8 faults was by far the best score though I was soon joined by NZ International Samantha McIntosh on the imported stallion, Lindberg Des Hayettes, Australia's Julia Hargreaves and Copabella Hayman and Kiwis Maurice Beatson on Zibbibdo, Anna Trent on Cortaflex Muskateer, Simon Wilson & Right Royal. Jamie Winning then rode a superb round to post the first clear of the class which was then repeated later by Peter McMahon on Genoa. NZ team riders Katie McVean and Robert Steele then jumped 4 fault rounds. Becky Allen & Koyuna Ted were jumping clear until fence 9 before a late decision to add a stride down to the vertical at 10 proved costly for a stop then a rail on representation and a time fault added a further insult as it took them past the qualifying score. Chris Chugg & Vivant and David Dobson & Pico Bello had 12 faults each while 2008 Olympian Laurie Lever & Drossel Dan had a 13 fault round to put them all out of the 2nd round where only combinations with less than 12 faults were invited back.

The 2nd round was an entirely new course of 14 jumping jumping efforts with only the treble-oxer line being the same distance but run in the reverse direction. I was 2nd out and learning from the unfortunate experience of Becky Allen's where Koyuna Ted didn't want to know about the brick wall at fence 2, I rode Sun Set strongly around the testing track. Although she felt a little tired, she was brave and tenacious fighting hard for the back rails of the big oxers and getting much height over the tall verticals to jump a super clear round. Julia then rode a copybook clear as did Sam McIntosh to also finish on 8. Katie McVean had 12 faults on a tiring Dunstan Forest while Robert Steele just tipped a back rail of the oxer out of the double for a total of 8 and to be one of 4 riders in =2nd. Jamie Winning then entered the arena looking to reproduce her faultless 1st round but it wasn't to be with a cautious canter to the fence 1 switching Vangello off who stopped nearly depositing Jamie before refusing again on representation. Peter then had a small buffer to hold onto the class but rode with such coolness on his hot little mare that his win never looked in doubt and was a just reward for his perserverance after the disappointment he suffered at the Olympics where a fall in the warm-up arena put paid to his Olympic dream. It was a fitting end to a great Show and a super tour of NZ where I felt I had made good progress on my quest to represent Australia as a Showjumper at next year's World Equestrian Games

Sunday, March 22

Finally the big one - the Olympic Cup class.

To quote the official HOTY Show website "It was heart-stopping stuff as 25 of the best combinations from both sides of the Tasman did their best in front of thousands to conquer the Leopoldo Palacios designed course – one of the biggest ever seen here. Only two went clear in the first round – and both were Australian. Rising young star Jamie Winning on Vangelo Des Hazelles and Peter McMahon." Two combinations were on 4 faults and seven were on 8 faults, including Koyuna Sun Set. Twelve combinations went through to the second round.

Peter McMahon on KS Genoa jumped clear to record an emphatic win over four combinations in 2nd place. Happily, Koyuna Sun Set and I, having jumped a clear second round, were one of those four which included a pair of Kiwis and Julia Hargreaves on Copabella Haymen who also had a clear second round.

Saturday, March 21

Following up on her solid performances in the North Island Championships over the March 6-8 weekend at Hawera, South Taranaki - including clear rounds that contributed to Australia's win in the Trans-Tasman competition in addition to 3rd place in the final day Grand Prix class - Koyuna Sun Set gained 2nd place in the Silver Fern Grand Prix class yesterday just 0.11 sec. behind the Kiwi winner. Another Kiwi placed 3rd ahead of Julia Hargreaves in 4th and Chris Chugg 5th.

In today's NZ Speed Horse of the Year (Table C, 1.35 m) Koyuna Sun Storm finished a creditable 2nd. Earlier, on Thursday, she completed 2 clear rounds and finished 5th in the Dunstan Lady Rider of the Year class.

Friday, February 27

Day 1 of the Woodhill Sands 3* Show began early with Zoie & Holly (grooming for Jamie Winning & Peter McMahon respectively) waking me with their early stables run before my 6:30 am alarm had even gone off. We had a 10am start with the 1.30m Welcome Stakes so not too early but we needed to get going a little quicker than we had the previous few mornings! I rode Lord of the Sun at 8am for a look around/relaxation purposes while my groom Peter walked the mares, Koyuna Sun Set & Koyuna Sun Storm, for 30 minutes to stretch their legs. Having organzied the tack & given Peter specific instructions re studs, the use of my new Activo-Med electro-magnetic therapy/massage rug and which sponsor saddlecloths to use on which horse, I proceeded down to the couch arena to walk the course and put my name down on the blackboard for the draw order. I was a little caught out here as the earliest slot I could get was 26 and the latest 48 which in theory sounds fine but in practice when the slots between 26 and 48 didn’t fill it was a little tight. Our Team Captain, David Dobson who had ridden early at no 7 kindly offered his services which I gratefully accepted to help me in the practice ring enabling my groom, Peter to walk Sun Set for me and have her ready to go immediately after I had finished on Sun Storm. The Welcome Stakes, built by South Australian FEI course designer, Sue Ryan, was just that giving the horses a nice outing on the lovley couch surface. The class was run as a two-phase competition with the first 8 fences to be jumped clear within an optimum time followed by a furter 6 fences to be jumped against the clock. David was the first of the Aussies out giving Argyle Stables Pico Bello a nice quiet round for 4 faults at the last square oxer albeit quite a way over time for 11 time faults. Peter McMahon and Kolora Stud Genoa were soon after for a double clear jumping round with just the 1 time fault. Jamie Winning then rode Vangelo Des Hazelles a little too quietly to the first for an uncharacteristic refusal which marred an otherwise lovely round over the shorter course of 8 fences...not an ideal start but if you are going to have a refusal on the trip, best to get it out the way in a relatively unimportant class! I then rode Storm who had to cover for some rider error on a few occasions to an efficient double clear jumping round which left her in 3rd place before hopping across onto Sun Set for another double clear jumping round but with a time fault on this occasion. I had obviously overdone the ‘quietly’ part for the jump-off section. Later that afternoon I rode Lord of the Sun to a double clear and an 8th placing in the Open 1.20m class in Ring 2 which was built by Gerrit Beker who had most recently built in Australia at last year’s Royal Adelaide Show in September. It was a relaxing competition day at Woodhill Sands, being a nice way to get back into the swing of jumping again for most of us who for reasons due to the extreme heat of the Australian Summer had yet to start in 2009. A more exciting Cocktail Party next door at Gabriella & Richard’s lovely property was on for everyone that night!

Koyuna Sun Storm running 2nd in the 1.40 m class

Saturday, Feb 28

After strong winds and heavy rain overnight, the arenas looked a little the worse for wear with all fences strewn around...some hard work by Shelley & Chris and their associates soon had everything up and running again though to be only just off a 9am start in the Open 1.30m class. I jumped Lord of the Sun to the first clear jumping round of the class but was .84 over the time allowed to add a time fault for eventual 4th place. Fellow Aussie, Billy Raymont added a 3rd in this class to his win in yesterday’s Open 1.20m class riding Warwick Hansen’s NZPH horses of which they are breeding upwards of 30 a year! With the weather still a little wet and the number of classes in the Couch arena, it was decided to run the Open 1.40m class in Ring 2, the sand arena. Four Australian horses started with David Dobson electing not to start Pico Bello. Peter & Genoa were first out for a good clear round then I rode next on Sun Set for the 3rd clear of the class. Jamie wasn’t going to have any refusals today riding positively forward but had the vertical at fence 8 for 4 faults and 1 time. I then rode Koyuna Sun Storm for the 5th clear round of the class, Billy Raymont also jumped clear as did Catherine Cameron on the fancy Selle Francais stallion, Lindberg Des Hayettes who was first out. Gerrit had built a great course with the jump-off presenting many opportunities to turn up tight to and angle fences and finished with a good bit of room to gallop to the last oxer. Catherine opened up with a lovely clear round on the chesnut stallion with ‘chrome’ for a time of 48.77 then Peter went clear again and just inside Catherine’s time for 48.22 seconds. I then rode Sun Set for as smooth a jump-off as I believe I have ridden on her and she responded very well to come home clear in 45.85 seconds to take the lead. Billy faulted on Cortaflex Nicalette before Sun Storm jumped another efficient round to come home just .02 seconds shy of her stablemate for 2nd place. Of the New Zealand Team horses only Anna Trent and Cortaflex Muskateer opted to start but had 2 rails and 2 time in the first round.

Koyuna Sun Set winning the 1.40 m class

Sunday, March 1

The final day of the Woodhill Sands Show staged the all important first test between Australia and New Zealand during the 3* Grand Prix held at 1pm. Sue Ryan had built an impressive track with some technical distances on curving lines, the last of which from fence 10 to 11 on a curving 6 proved the undoing of many. While the going wasn’t ideal with such heavy rain Friday night, horses for the most part coped well. First out was Catherine Cameron on the impressive Lindberg Des Hayettes for a super clear followed by the first New Zealand team horse, Cortaflex Muskateer and Anna Trent also clear. Peter McMahon and Kolora Stud Genoa led off for Australia and were clear til the last fence for an eventual 4 faults. Katie McVean and her Olympic mount Dunstan Forest II had 8 faults before I rode Koyuna Sun Set to the 3rd clear round of the class. A run of horses having just the last fence down then came the first of which was the NZ no 3, Simon Wilson on Right Royal. Jamie Winning then rode a beautiful round on Vangelo Des Hazelles til the last when he just didn’t quite get up out of the deepening take-off. I followed on my younger mare, Koyuna Sun Storm for another clear til the last fence came down for 4 faults. The NZ no 4, Robert Steele on Gospel broke the run clearing the last for the 4th clear round of the class before David Dobson & Argyle Stables Pico Bello were again faultless until the last for 4 faults. NZ now held a 4 point advantage going into the 2nd round. All horses were invited back for the 2nd round but the order of go was altered slightly with the Australian horse preceeding each of their respective NZ horse partners. The troublesome fence 11 was moved slightly to find better ground though the difficulty of the line remained; nobody had the fence down in round 2 though so the role the going played there could have been significant. Now first out of the team horses, Peter & Genoa posted a good clear round before NZ no 1, Anna & Muskateer did likewise. I was again clear on Sun Set while Katie had 4 faults on Forest II. Both Jamie & Vangelo for Australia and Simon & Right Royal for NZ then jumped clear before David posted Australia’s 4th clear in the 2nd round. Robert now had to jump clear to secure a NZ victory which, after a hefty bump to the Woodhill Sands vertical at fence 7, he duly did to put the Kiwis one up in the Trans-Tasman series and create a 4 horse jump-off against the clock. Peter, Jamie and David with 4 faults shared =5th with New Zealand’s Simon Wilson. Catherine Cameron set a cracking pace in the jump-off on Lindberg Des Hayettes for a clear in 34.91 before Anna Trent ran into trouble on Muskateer at the Liverpool then stopped again going into the double at 4a to end her chances. I had seen Catherine’s round and knew that I would have to ride very tight lines on Sun Set to come close to her time; unfortuantely I didn’t ride the turn-back to the Woodhill Sands fence well enough for 4 faults in a good enough time of 34.24. Robert then had the back rail of the first oxer down trying to turn little over it but finished clear for 3rd in a time of 36 seconds.

I finshed the day with a frustratingly ‘cheap’ rail in an otherwise good round in the 1* Grand Prix on Lord of the Sun for another just-out-of the placings finish. Catherine Cameron capped off a great day with another win on Kahurangi Tardak just in front of Billy Raymont on Cortaflex Ocean Beach NZPH with Katie McVean 3rd and 4th on two lovely young mares, Dunstan Delphi and Daffodil. The Australians will be keen to avenge this result in the 2nd Trans-Tasman test at the North Island Championships in Taranaki this coming Friday!