Chris Chugg of Glossodia congratulated by former member of the Australian World Cup Ted Dwyer after winning the Wodonga World Cup Wodonga World Cup Qualfier Photograph:Jenny Sheppard

It took experience, strategic riding and a scopey horse to rise to the challenge thrown out by indoor course building specialist Leeson Sirrett from Colbinabbin. Sirrett, produced possibly his best and most testing course yet in the five years he has been designing for the Wodonga event.

With 11 fences and 13 jumping efforts, the course was not highly technical, there was no let up in the 30m x 55m arena that generally suits the more agile style of horse, and accurate riding paid dividends.

Chris Chugg 47, from the outer Sydney area of Glossodia, riding his Belgian Warmblood, Vivant, had prepared carefully for the event and jumped the only double clear to win convincingly. Showing why they are the current Australian showjumping champions, Chugg and his 11yo bay stallion thrilled the capacity crowd by taking calculated risks and reaping the rewards: $1800 first prize, then a rug and garland presented in memory of the late Kevin Bourke.

Chugg told the crowd: “This indoor competition is a ‘one-off’ in Australia. All the riders look forward to coming to Wodonga each year to take on this challenge, and we thank Leeson Sirett for his fantastic course.” A highlight of the presentation was showman Chugg and Vivant performing one-handed canter pirouettes for the crowd.

Runner-up was Laurie Lever, 62 riding Ashleigh Drossel Dan, from Somerville in Victoria. This was the first major competition for the duo after their Olympic campaign and Lever provided spectators with an informative course walk prior to the competition. After his clear first round, Lever collected 4 faults in the jump-off by getting a little deep to the 1.45m oxer at No7.

Third place went to current Queensland state titleholder, Robert Goodwin from Junabel, riding Warrego Sandon with a total of 8 faults. His indoor experience from Toowoomba in July paid off on Saturday. Goodwin rode an accurate and forward round and every fence came up just right for him. However he had some problems in the jump-off when he had to take a hold and had two rails down. Being only 23, Goodwin certainly reduced the average age of prize-winners. Many younger riders knocking on the door of success at this elite level in the sport found the indoor competition held at night under lights to be particularly challenging. Goodwin and Warrego Sandon won Friday’s Betty McVean Memorial A and B grade championship.

Current World Cup point leader, Amy Graham from Arthurton in South Australia, was fourth on the athletic Transatlantic. With 4 faults in the first round, Graham collected a further 4 faults while producing the second-fastest jump-off round.

Adam Mellors from Beaudesert in Qld and his stallion Animate produced one of the four clear first rounds, but became a little rattled in the jump off and ended up on 8 faults. Amanda Madigan from Glossodia was sixth on Alondra finishing on 12 faults in their first World Cup qualifier together.

Second on the World Cup table, Clem Smith and Benaloo Dark Ages incurred 12 faults in the first round, probably due to the fact that the horse fell heavily after jumping a cross-rail in the outdoor warm-up area.

Probably the most influential fence on course was the double at 8A&B. With a 1.5m oxer to 1.5m vertical and the distance riding long, horses needed an accurate ride to 8A. The double led to faults from 8 of the 22 starters, one elimination and one horse retired. Fence 5, a 1.5m plank vertical set three strides after a 1.45m oxer also rode forward and found many horses wanting a little more scope.

After he had put the finishing touches to the course, Leeson Sirrett commented: “A tough rider will win this competition, there is no margin for error in this course. When I first got the job here at Wodonga they told me I’d never be able to build greater than 1.4 metres. I’ve now disproved that on many occasions. However the absolute fundamental here is getting the surface right – this ground does not give up its secrets easily. The surface has improved due to the fact that a lot of work has been done on it and it’s ridden extremely well this weekend.” He then accurately predicted the World Cup winner and runner-up!

Leeson Sirett also had Shepparton World Cup winner Jamie Winning on his list of favourites for Wodonga, but this was not Jamie’s night.

The largest number of horses ever entered the Wodonga World Cup this year with a field of 22 starters. A late scratching was Paul Athanasoff of Dungog and his Olympic short-listed horse Wirragulla Nicklaus who had also elected not to start at Shepparton.

After the competition, spectators were invited onto the area to inspect the course, which proved very popular. Most jumps were around 1.50m high by up to 1.80m wide and the arena was themed around the local wine industry. Grapevines adorned some rails, wine barrels filled in spaces on the arena and even sported (empty) bottles of wine and glasses!

The organising committee, the Border District Showjumping Club, sponsors the World Cup qualifier and the $6,000 event was the culmination of three days of competition known as the 24th Wodonga Showjumping Spectacular, with 109 riders and 318 horses.

This is the 12th round of Australian World Cup qualifiers with three to go. Next weekend the action will be at Equitana at the Melbourne Showgrounds. Amy Graham still leads on 96 points having widened the gap on Clem Smith on 89 and Julia Hargreaves on 76. Adam Mellors on 70 points has overtaken Jamie Winning on 65 and Wendy Schaeffer retains 6th position with 56 points, just one point ahead of Robert Goodwin.