Brown Beats Local Boys

Jess Brown has claimed victory in the Peel River Produce Indoor Grand Prix ahead of an impressive line up, including local boys James Hetherington, Brock Harvey and Ron Easey of Sydney Olympic fame.

The first of three big jumping shows scheduled for 2015 by the North North West Show Jumping Club has been successfully completed at AELEC this weekend.  More than 200 horses and their riders from around NSW and QLD competed in close to 1000 rounds of jumping over three days, across two rings for their share of more than $10 000 in cash and prizes.

One of the highlights of the event occurred on Friday evening when 30 up and coming horses competed in the Forty Winks Future Stars Classic. Internationally renowned World Cup course designer from Queensland, Graeme Watts built a track of 1.25m and higher to test the training and bravery of these horses. 11 combinations were clear in the first round, including local riders Sydney Olympian Ron Easey from Quipolly, Justin Wilkinson and James Hetherington both from Tamworth. Jumping in reverse order in the second round the 11 riders returned to the ring in the race against the clock. Wilkinson rode a conservative second round dropping two rails to end with 8 penalties. Easey put the pressure on with his fast time of 64.06 seconds, but an unlucky rail fell giving him 4 penalties. Hetherington rode a blistering time, the fastest of the night but again a rail fell leaving him in 5th place. Andrew Barnett from Keinbah, NSW, on his well bred mare Verushka by Vivant was the second fastest, but left the rails up to claim the victory.

On Saturday afternoon another feature class was held with 20 combinations vying for their chance to add their name to the Peter Hoffman Memorial Cup. This class, run indoors over a track with jumps higher than 1.30m, honours the memory of a man tirelessly committed to promoting show jumping in regional NSW. He was a past president of the club and a life member as well as being president of Tamworth Show Society, he also spent many years on NSW Showjumping council, was a judge, course designer and steward. Peter's daughter Annette Maunder announced the action in Ring one all weekend and was very emotional to see her own mare Charisma, ridden by Jess Brown of Kulnura, make it through to the second round, just one of 4 clears in the first round.  Unfortunately the new combination was unable to make it a fairytale ending knocking two rails for 8 penalties in the second round. The more established partnership of Brooke Campbell from Sydney and the stunning coloured stallion Copabella Visage were the winners of the memorial class.

Following the Hoffman Cup was the feature event of the show, the Peel River Produce Grand Prix. 12 combinations tackled the 1.40m indoor competition over two rounds. The 2013 winner, local rider Ron Easey, was a crowd favourite with two rides in the class but he was unable to keep the rails up and carried 4 penalties into the second round with Simplistic. Only 3 riders had zero penalties into round 2, Jess Brown on the imported warmblood Casco, Sam Buchanan from Ardlethan, NSW on DIamond B Vixen and Brock Harvey from Armidale and Thunder Down Under both sired by Vivant. Brooke Campbell carried one time fault through with Copabella Cadiz. Local young gun James Hetherington also had the crowd on his side,  but he too took 4 penalties into the second round on Jaybee Caribus. Clem Smith from Gatton in QLD and Andrew Barnett joined the  4faulters and moved through.

It wasn't the night for the veterans Easey and Smith who both added rails to their first round scores. Hetherington came into the arena with something to prove and blitzed the track, clear in a time of 63.81 seconds. The remaining riders were under pressure to keep their scores at zero to stay ahead of him. Andrew Barnett was clear but slower. Brooke Campbell and Cadiz jumped clear but added 2 time faults to finish on 3 overall, just ahead of Hetherington. Jess Brown and Casco, a combination consistently winning the big shows around Australia at the moment, jumped big and clear in a good time of 64.49 seconds, slower than James but with a total score of zero putting them in the lead. The pressure was mounting and Harvey was riding the round of his life when a miscommunication with Thunder resulted in a spectacular crash that had the audience on the edge of their seats. Thankfully both horse and rider walked from the arena. This left Buchannan, the young rider from Ardlethan, to enter the arena. He and Vixen gave it their all, leaving the rails up, but their turns were just a bit wide and they finished a few seconds slower than Brown handing her the victory in the Peel River Produce Grand Prix.

Despite being run off their feet over the weekend, the volunteer committee are already discussing plans for the Winter Indoor Champions being held 26 - 28 June 2015 and the Indoor Tour 9 - 11 October that will possibly feature a World Cup Show Jumping Class. Spectator Entry to these prestigious events is free so put it in your diaries now!