Edwina and Itot du Chateau win at Olympia Olympia CSI-W 2008 Photograph:Kit Houghton

Edwina wins at Olympia

Edwina and Itot du Chateau jumped the only double clear to win the sixth leg of the FEI Rolex World Cup Qualifiers at Olympia, London.

“I was happy with the time allowed”, said Edwina Alexander at the press conference, “I had been practising riding on time after I had a time fault in the Top 10 event at Brussels.”

The first to go in the second round was Whitaker and his 17hh Irish-bred partner Casino (by Cavalier Royale also the sire of Clayton Frederick’s Eventing superstar Ben Along Time.  Casino’s rideability may have been to blame for an error at the last oxer. 

“He’s big, very scopy and careful”, said John Whitaker, a former winner in Olympia with Grannush and Welham. “He is just a bit hectic to ride.”

Edwina who was last to jump just had to jump a clear round, which in itself was not a simple task! 

Edwina will be at the World Cup Final in Las Vegas but at this stage does not expect to ride Itot.  The little superstar was bought for Edwina just one year ago has earned himself a holiday.

Click here for the full FEI report

2008 High Performance Wrap-Up

by High Performance Manager Brett Mace.

2008 High Performance Wrap-Up

Jake Hunter's results AND PHOTOS from Columbia

12-year-old Jake Hunter is home from his trip to the 2008 FEI Children’s International Jumping Competition Final held in Bogota, Columbia from 8-15 December 2008.

Amy Graham wins the AUS League World Cup leaderboard for 2008/09

23-year-old South Australian Amy Graham exceeds her own expectations.

One of the bright new stars of Australian Jumping Amy Graham has clenched the Australian 2008/09 World Cup season with 115 points.  Adam Mellers finished 2nd on 104 points. Third place went to Clem Smith on 92 points.

Amy said her 10-year-old gelding Transatlanic had exceeded all expectations.

“He was imported as a ‘next step’ horse for me to gain experience on but he has such a big heart and has done more than we ever expected.”

Amy has decided not to compete at the World Cup Final in Las Vegas in 2009 instead she plans to take Transatlantic and her young stallion Baloubet Australis to Europe to train and compete for the first half of 2009.  Amy wants to compete at Arezzo in Italy and also in Germany before returning in June.

“I feel that we could both benefit from some more international experience before we contest a World Cup Final,” says Amy.

Over the last for Becky 2008 ISS Summer Show Jumping Classic Photograph:Franz Venhaus

Becky Allen finishes the World Cup season with an emphatic win in Sydney

Peter Cooke reports from the ISS World Cup final round for the 2008/09 season.

Coming into the event Amy Graham from Maitland, South Australia was in an unassailable position at the top of the leader table, and the Sydney event is highly prized and regarded as the end of year finale.  With over $10,000 in prizemoney available and all the leading combinations, the ISS sponsored event was set for a wonderful showdown.

There was high expectation that the final event would be another confrontation between returning Olympians Laurie Lever and Chris Chugg.  Instead the eventual winner was the consistent improver for 2008 Becky Allen riding Koyuna Ted who delivered two faultless rounds.  Close behind was the Atlanta Olympic Games Eventing gold medallist Wendy Shaeffer and Koyuna Sun Set.

Becky Allen and Koyuna Ted have delivered some solid performances during the year with a win in the final round of the Australian National Championship in October and consistently placing in the top rankings of the World Cup qualifying rounds, and this win ranks as a highlight in her career.  Commenting on the course built by Leopoldo Palacios, Becky Allen said “I didn’t think the course was as tough as I initially imagined, however Leopoldo again showed that his ability to understand our horses is just right”.

In the lead up days to the final event the Course Designer had to battle some very changeable weather, which impacted significantly on the arena surface.  Friday’s constant rain made sure the riders had to face a constant barrage of water, puddles and inconsistent going which made jumping particularly difficult, and then on Saturday the sun and wind dried the arena surface so rapidly, the Course Designer had to constantly work the surface to make sure the horses did not have to jump out of strength-sapping deep sand.  Overnight the ground crew worked tirelessly to prepare the arena with water, rolling and levelling, and they achieved an excellent surface for the ISS Grand Prix.

The course was a solid 1.50m track with the first line at fences two to three with a 19m distance from an oxer to a wall meaning that riders had to choose to make 4 or 5 strides between the obstacles.  The challenge out-manoeuvred both the in-form Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossel Dan, and Clem Smith with Benaloo Dark Ages who was sitting in third position on the overall World Cup standings. 

The following fence four, a 1.55m vertical, was the downfall of Amy Graham and the Belgian bred Transatlantic.  In an inglorious end to a very successful season, they misjudged the takeoff and the horse and rider parted company, incurring elimination.

The 4.2m open water followed by 10 strides to the tall vertical Australian flag fence proved difficult for many of the inexperienced combinations, highlighting the need for more consistent water jumping in competitions.

The next line consisted of number nine, a 1.60x1.90m wide triple bar, then 27.5m to number 10, a double of a skinny oxer to a vertical of 1.50m and 8m apart, followed by a further 21 metres to a 1.50x1.50m oxer.  This line proved the undoing of the highly fancied Chris Chugg and Vivant with a rail down on fence 11, as well as the very promising young rider Jamie Winning and Vangelo Des Hazalles who misread the stride into the double.  Adam Mellers on the stallion Animate were also a victim of this very accurate line. 

The final challenge posted for the riders was the last treble with a vertical fence at 1.50m set 10.90m from a wide oxer and a further 7.40m to the last vertical element at 1.50m.  The experienced combinations were able to negotiate the combination, however this proved to be a good learning experience for a number of the younger combinations.

At the conclusion of the first round, there were just two clear rounds for Becky Allen and Wendy Shaeffer followed by Chris Chugg and Adam Mellers on four faults and Paul Athanasoff and the effusive stallion Wirragulla Nicklaus one back on five faults and Laurie Lever on six faults.

The Course Designer set an intriguing second round with some very tight options and an even tighter time allowed.  This ensured the pressure was applied for every rider as a steady clear round would not be possible without incurring time penalties.  The challenge was taken up by Laurie Lever, who completed his round with no additional faults and a fast sub 49 second round.  Paul Athanasoff incurred a time fault as well as one rail down to add an additional five faults to his initial five.

Next came Adam Mellers who jumped a first class clear round in a time just under the 47 seconds, which Chris Chugg and Vivant challenged with no addition to his first round four faults in an amazing sub 45 second round.

Atlanta Olympian Wendy Shaeffer demonstrated a very cool but measured exhibition with a clear round but in her precision just failed to make the tight time allowed of 51 seconds and incurred one time fault.  This positioned her in front of the field and a serious challenge for the final rider, Becky Allen.  In a faultless exhibition of final round pressure riding Becky steered Koyuna Ted around the second round with a clear round in 48.57 seconds and a clear win.

The Managing Director of event sponsor ISS, Charles Blinkworth, on congratulating Becky Allen during the presentation said that this was the first time a Leopoldo Palacios course at SIEC had been won with a double clear round.

Despite her final round early exit, Amy Graham and Transatlantic were the clear winners of the 2008-09 FEI World Cup Qualifying rounds in Australia with 115 points.  Second on the leader board was Adam Mellers from Queensland on 104 points followed by Clem Smith (92pts), Wendy Schaeffer (86pts) and then promising young rider representatives Julia Hargreaves and Jamie Winning on 85 and 81 points respectively.

The winner of the Australian League is eligible to compete in the World Cup Final to be held in Las Vegas in April 2009, however the plan for Transatlantic is a European campaign in the first half of 2009, returning to Australia in time to contest the 2009 World Cup season from July.

For full results and course plans please see the World Cup Jumping page

Heath Ryan and Regardez Moi In the Grand Prix of the 2008 Sydney CDI 3* Photograph:Franz Venhaus

Heath Ryan wins the CDI-W and the Pacific League Final

Heath Ryan and Regardez Moi have earned themselves a place at the Dressage World Cup Final in Las Vegas.

The 5-year-old young horse class was won by Helen Macaskill on Neversfelde Rupert

The 6-year-old young horse class was won by Alycia Targa Neversfelde Weltsong

Nicholas Fyffe and Ferrero Rocher won the Intermediate 1 and the Inter 1 Freestyle.

Click here for full results.

Jayden and Widelo at the 2008 National YR Championships FEI YR World Cup Dressage Final

An update from Jayden Brown

Jayden and his horse Widelo are competing in the FEI Young Rider World Cup Dressage Final in Frankfurt (GER)17-21 December. Jayden sent us an update of his trip.

I have based myself and Manni at Leonie Bramall’s stable as I have worked for her a few times in the past and feel really confident in the routine and training here. The girls here had everything ready for Mani’s arrival so he was able to get settled straight into his stable and rest after the trip. 

The following day I only hand walked Manni in the morning and afternoon so that he could start to adjust to the huge change.  Thankfully the temperature has stayed above 0 most of the time so we are both coping fairly well.  Daily life here at the stables is pretty busy with about 24 horses in training.  I usually ride about 5-7 horses including Manni, ranging from 3yo’s up to ‘S’ level advanced horses.

Since bringing Manni back up to full work after a week of very light exercise we have been quite busy with a competition in Elmshorn and also being apart of a training seminar with Jo Hinneman.  The competition had some good points and some weaknesses but the most important thing was to get him out so the Leonie could see how he reacts in a competition atmosphere and also what the judges would like to see improved. It was a little bit of a strange feeling warming up with Karin Rehbein and Holga finken, thankfully they were competing in a different class.  The canter work in our PSG test went really well and was rewarded with all 7’s and 8’s but there were a lot of small error’s in the trot and walk.  Leonie and I weren’t too bothered by the small mistakes as he only arrived in the country 9 days earlier so we expected that he would still be adjusting.  We ended up placing 5^th in the PSG and 6^th in the Kur with a rug, ribbon and plaque to bring home as a little souvenir.

After the competition we had another few easy days and then back up to full work.  Leonie was scheduled to be apart of a training seminar with her former trainer Jo Hinneman, so the horses from the barn here were going to be used as the example horses.  We took 5 horses all together, the two 3yo’s San Serano (San Remo) who was ridden by Leonie’s Bereiter; Furstin Bolera (Furst Heinrich/Bolero) ridden by me.  Two 5/6yo’s,  Athena Rubella (Abanos) again ridden by Leonie’s Bereiter,  Donna Antonia (Don Frederico) who was ridden by Leonie.  I also rode Manni in the medium/Advanced section.  Wolfhard Witte also bought 3 stallions from the State Stud in Celle, Furst Nymphenburg for the 4yo section,  Rascalino for the Medium section and Dancier  as the Advanced horse.

It was a fantastic evening with about 400 people attending and a great chance to get some more time in a competition arena full of people.  For Furstin, the 3yo mare it was her first time being ridden out of our stables.  She came to Leonie’s directly from her Breeder’s so it was a very big test for her.  Thankfully her dam line has some extremely good riding horses in it, so her temperament and rideablility made things a lot easier.  Manni also coped very well in the atmosphere and it was great to get two lesson’s from someone like Jo Hinneman!!

So now we are gearing up for the main event, the YR final in Frankfurt.  In about a week we will drive Manni down to Frankfurt to settle him in.  I am really looking forward to being at such a huge event, with the CDI-W and also the Nurnburg Burgpokal final which will no doubt have some amazing horses competing.

Thank you to every one who has helped in the organisation of this trip and also to every one wishing me luck

ISS Sumer Show Jumping Classic

It was a great finish to ISS with a sunny day and some very exciting competition.

Edwina wins CSI 5* in Brussels

Edwina Alexander has a great weekend in Brussels and drives off in a new Audi A6. Video links attached.

Then on Saturday night I was riding my new 8 yrs mare Late Night. This mare has really surprised me and is turning out to be fantastic. She has won many speed classes at 1.40m level but not jumped any big classes. Over the last few shows I have done with her she is improving all the time. The class was a 1.55m jump off and a very short time. This time I wasn't going to have time faults!! She jumped a fabulous clear and in time. There were 10 clear and I decided to try a bit in the jump off. She jumped fantastic with a clear good enough for second!! I was so happy because in a short time she has come a long way and I'm sure next year she will be able to jump some good grand prix.

Then Sunday came and I was determined to do better than 2nd. Itot jumped a good 1st round and was full of energy. The class was big but more on the technical side. When I went in there was already 8 clear.

New FEI Jumping Stewarding rules for the exercise arena

Note to all stewards, riders and coaches - there are new FEI rules for schooling obstacles in the exercise arena.

Oliver Townend... this boy wants to win!. Express Eventing Millenium Stadium 2008 Photograph:Jan Milne

Oliver Townend wins Express Eventing

Clayton Fredericks finishes 4th.

England's Oliver Townend riding Flint Curtis has won the inaugural Express Eventing International Cup at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium and pocketed the $100,000 first prize.

Lucy Wiegersma and Shaabrak, were 2^nd and won £50,000. In fact the Brits took 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd place in a tough competition in which only 6 of the 19 starters completed the event.  Over half the field was eliminated on the show jumping or cross-country phases.

William Fox-Pitt and Ballincoola finished third a couple of seconds behind Lucy and pocketed £20,000.  Australia’s Clayton Fredericks and Ben Along Time finished 4^th.

Oliver and Flint Curtis did a great dressage to music test to go into the jumping phase well placed. Flint was in a class of his own, flying round foot perfect to be the fastest time of the day by 40 seconds.

Considered to be the equivalent to cricket's Twenty20, the invitation-only competition offered total prize money of 250,000 pounds. It compressed the traditional outdoor three-day event into a five-hour indoor spectacle in a bid to boost the sport's popularity, and attracted close to 14,000 people.

The idea is to enable spectators to stay seated out of the weather and view the entire event in a condensed space and time-frame. 

It was a day of ups and downs.  Bettina Hoy (GER) riding her seasoned champion Ringwood Cockatoo was leading after the Freestyle Dressage and as the jumping was run in reverse order of the Dressage results, was  last to jump.  Perhaps put off by the tragic loss of Mary King’s Call Again Cavalier who fell on the cross-country, Bettina retired on course.

Although there has not been an official statement yet it is believed that Call Again Cavalier broke his femur at an apex and was put down.  The beautiful 16-year-old gelding by Cavalier Royale was in the bronze-medal winning British team at the Olympics earlier this year.

New Zealand's Mark Todd, whose mount Gandalf put a hole in a cross-country fence that could not be rebuilt said the "big, testing" course was too difficult for most of the horses on their first outing at such an event.

Results

1st Oliver Townend (Flint Curtis)

2nd Lucy Wiegersma (Shaabrak)

3rd William Fox-Pitt (Ballincoola)

4th Clayton Fredericks (Ben Along Time)

5th Vittoria Panizzon (Rock Model)

6th Caroline Powell (Lenamore)

Express Eventing web site

Laurie Lever congratulates his horse Ashleigh Drossel Dan following their two foot perfect rounds Sale World Cup Qualifier 2008 Photograph:Lisa Mawson

Laurie shines again at Sale

Lisa Mawson reports from Sale World Cup Qualifier.

Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossel Dan made it two from two when they took out the GBG Construction World Cup Qualifier at Sale on Sunday, November 30.

Conditions were far from perfect on Saturday when almost 50mm of rain fell at the grounds, but careful planning by the organisers and some much needed sunshine ensured the footings were superb for the feature event of  “The Elms” Spring Jumping Classic.

Lever jumped the only double clear and fast round to take the win ahead of Chris Burton aboard Copabella Visage on four penalties, and local rider Gavin Chester on Warlord II, eight penalties.

“We were very doubtful the event was going to run because of the weather,” Lever said after his win.

“But the committee worked hard and it was in the lap of the Gods which saved the arena today. They made it as good as it could possibly be.

“It was a credit to the course designer, Leeson Sirett, that so many horses came close to clear rounds. Leeson did everything in his power to put the jumps in the best possible position in these trying conditions.”

International judge and event organiser Anne Garner said the courses were big and inviting.

“They encouraged the horses to really extend themselves. I had Laurie as a favourite to win back to back, which he did in great form,” she said.

Fourteen riders started in the 675m first round which consisted of 12 obstacles and 15 jumping efforts. The first was a 1.4 x 1.8m triple bar then on to a 1.5m vertical.

Course designer Leeson Sirett said the course was big, and would only get bigger.

“Conditions have been greatly affected by the wet weather,” he said.

“The most marked difference is the overall shape of the plan, but the course is big, and gets big quickly.”

This proved to be true with fence three a 1.48 x 1.5m oxer, fence four a 1.49x 1.90m triple bar and then the first of the combinations, two 1.48m verticals set at 7.9m apart.

Fence six was a 1.5 x 1.5m oxer and seven was the 1.5m brick wall. Few combinations had problems at the wall.

Fence eight, was the house sponsored by GBG Constructions, with the 1.50m vertical riding well.

The final fences on course included a 1.50 x 1.50m oxer at nine, a curved line to a 1.55m vertical at 10 and then a 1.50 x 1.57 x .75m rising oxer at 11.

The last line of fences was the treble combination at 12 with a 1.43 x 1.50 x 1.50 oxer on to a 1.49m vertical and finally a 1.1.45 x 1.45 x 1.80m oxer. The shortened distance between the first and second part of the treble didn’t cause many concerns to riders.

Leeson Sirett predicted two clear rounds, stating if he got four he would be “very happy”.

Leeson wasn’t far wrong, with Laurie Lever, Chris Burton and Clem Smith the only clear rounds in the first. Gavin Chester, Amy Graham and Julia Hargreaves all finished on four penalties while Tim Amitrano, Billy Raymount, Adam Mellers and Wendy Schaefer were on eight.

These 10 riders took to the second round, a shortened course including four jumps from round one and three new fences, a 1.54 x 1.80m oxer at 13, the brick wall in reverse at 14, and a 1.62m vertical at 15.

Laurie Lever posted the fastest second round in a time of 51.83 seconds, cementing his win.

Second placegetter, Chris Burton and Copabella Visage completed round two in 54.27s and four penalties while third placegetter Gavin Chester and Warlord II, carrying four penalties from round one, had a further four penalties at fence 15 with a time of 54.95s.

This was Chester and Warlord II’s first outing this season since returning from America in August.

“I am pretty pleased with is performance, although he got a bit strong in the first round,” Chester said.

“I had originally planned to compete him all three days, but this was reduced to two because it was so wet. The course rode really well and the ground held up quite well.”

Fourth place went to Julia Hargreaves and Copabella Haymen, carrying four penalties from round one, a further four at 12a to finish in 55.08s.

Queenslander Billy Raymont and Stardom had a rail at fence 13 to finish on 12 penalties and a time of 53.83s.

Adam Mellers and Animate had a total of 12 penalties, four from the first round to finish sixth. Mellers was third in the World Cup standings, while leader Amy Graham aboard Transatlantic, posted four penalties in her first round, and had rails at fence 1 and 12c to finish on 12 penalties, to finish seventh.