Jumping with the Stars

Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Main Event, Snaffle-it Snap Shots & Roz Neave

I missed day one when it was searing hot, and ‘enjoyed’ the rain and icy blasts of day two, and finally on the third day, the weather was OK. I’m a little puzzled to find the action back on the cramped and somewhat spooky space that is Bruno’s Lawn, when last year it was so nice on the Oz Championships arena. It’s also a bit of a puzzle as to why Henk Nijhof Jr, from one of the world’s great studs in Holland, was first invited to judge, and then replaced by Canadian, Jody Sloper, who is best known as a coach educator. It’s not puzzling, just downright rude that no one bothered to inform the Nijhofs. I guess it’s the last time I help anyone find a European judge…

I know at least one competitor with a large string of young horses, who cancelled plans to travel to Werribee when the opportunity to get the views of the Dutch breeder and horseman, were no longer on the agenda. 

Todd Hinde and Yirrkala Smokey

One breeder who did take the opportunity to showcase her breeding program was Sue Knox of the Yirrkala Stud, and the end result was great marketing for her Australian bred Hanoverians. It was a quinella in the Five-Year-Old class, with Todd Hinde riding Yirrkala Smokey (Stoltzenberg / Embassy I) to victory, and taking second on Yirrkala Quinten (Quintender / Escudo). Smokey went on to take Champion of Champions, and took home a breeding to Balou du Rouet, courtesy IHB. 

Todd Hinde and Yirrkala Quinten

The visiting Canadian liked the black gelding: “There were really good horses in the Five-Year-Old class, and the one that stayed consistent through the whole time was the winner. He was a little tired today, which is normal. They had a tough situation yesterday with the footing and the rain and the jumps blowing down, but it took nothing away from any of the horses. I think on the whole they all went much better today.”

Jody has been a regular visitor to Australia since 1998, and she has observed major changes on our jumping scene: “The quality of horses is great. You are breeding some wonderful horses. I think you have a good opportunity here because you still have big tracts of land and people can breed more than one horse, and get the quality rising to the top in their breeding program. They are breeding a much more supple, strong, flexible horse. We used to see a lot of Thoroughbreds, and in the early days, a lot of them weren’t incredibly well schooled between fences, but because they were brave, they would just get at it. That’s what I also found in the attitude of the riders, and that’s impressive, because in North America we’ve lost that a little bit. The riders coming up through our system ride competitively on competitive horses but they are a little over-managed, where what I was seeing that excited me down here, was riders who rode lots, and didn’t just show, and had that same attitude of let’s give it a go.” 

Has the riding improved in Australia?

“Very much so. We are seeing much less over-management of the horses, and more respect of what the horse’s capabilities are – it has just smoothed out. It’s a two way street isn’t it? Good horse, rider gets better.”

Third place in the Five-Year-Olds went to Valcro (Valhalla II / Jadalco) and Adam Johnston. Fourth – tiny sixteen-year-old Nina Griffiths riding Mr Zizou (Bellaire Cannavaro / Geiger Counter xx); fifth – Scottie Barclay and Lily Elmare (Copabella Visage / Imposing Bull); sixth, ten-year-old Jayden Hanley and the Thoroughbred, Spidora (Niccolini / Indian Danehill); seventh – Anthony March and Desert Sands Vavoom (Vivant / Regal Salute); eighth – Blackall Park Revolution and Kane Chester (Vtropez / Daley K); ninth – Hayley Coman and Coolart Farm Smiley (another Thoroughbred, this time by Not A Single Doubt) and tenth Larapinta Esprit (L’Espoir / Voltaire) and Kathy Minchin.

Nina Griffiths and Mr Zizou

The Four-Year-Old class featured some wonderful horses, and demonstrated that breeding doesn’t always have to be by the book, to work. The top two are suitably fashionably bred – the winning mare, Montana MVNZ was bred in New Zealand but along elite Holstein lines, she is by Corofino II out of a Matterhorn mare, usually shown by Caroline Price, the ride went to Alex Rooney when Caroline did a leg. The second horse is another of Caroline’s ridden by Alex, the elegant bay stallion she picked up at the Holstein auction – Calavino (Catoo / Calido I), but the third is way out of left field, Luscious Lucy (Amaroo / Unknown) ridden by Zoe Boulton.

Alex Rooney and Montana MVNZ

Alex on Calavino

I was racking my brain for an Amaroo, when I found I was sitting next to the very person I needed, the breeder of the stallion, John Lamb. Luck is like that. According to John, the stallion was by Animate out of a B grade mare Ally Lamb competed, Adagio by Figaro from a Flooding mare. The colt had a badly twisted hind fetlock. They tried to get him to Werribee Vet Centre, but he wouldn’t go on the truck, so it was out to the back paddock for Amaroo. John noticed that each day the colt would run along the line of the fence, so he set up a series of logs on the fence line, and the horse would neatly pop over them, now that’s performance testing Aussie style! 

Zoe Boulton on Luscious Lucy

The young stallion went to the Boulton family, where bred to Lucy, a Warmblood / Thoroughbred cross of unknown breeding, he sired what judge, Paula Hamood describes as the most exciting four year old in Australia:

“Over the three days, Luscious Lucy just went from strength to strength, I think she is probably the most exciting four year old I have seen for a while in Australia. She is such a strong mare, she comes off the floor with so much power, her technique is exceptional, you have to keep reminding yourself it is a four year old, you don’t see four year olds with that much strength and agility very often. If she continues to show the same talent she is showing now, she should be a superstar.”

Sadly, Amaroo developed complications from the fetlock and was put down after covering just a few mares.

The overall winner, the New Zealand mare, Montana?

“I thought she was a very nice mare, and probably she deserves the win when it comes to consistency over the three days – consistent in every round and a well deserved winner.”

The stallion that came second is pretty cute…

“He’s a bit of a showoff isn’t he? He loves himself, you can see that and apparently he’s quite a few months younger than the other four year olds and he is doing a very good job for a big guy with those long legs and long neck. I thought he looked a little tired in the final round, but an exciting young stallion.”

I can remember when I first met French breeding expert, Arnaud Evain, over 20 years ago, he told me he had been contacted by an Australian teenager looking for Cor de la Bryère semen. It was Melissa Froesch who through the years has kept alive her vision of breeding jumpers here in Australia, with success after success. At this year’s Jumping with the Stars, Melissa took out the Six-Year-Old final with Glenara Lady Bollinger – this mare is practically a history of Jumping with the Stars.

Back in 2002, the first time jumping was included on the with the stars program, Melissa rode her stallion, Warlord II (Daley K / Balmoral Boy xx) to Champion of Champions. In 2008, she rode another home bred Champion, Glenara Bollinger (by Warlord II out of Miss Cognac, the mare Melissa rode into 3rd place in the Grand Prix at Melbourne Royal when she was 16 and wore frilly coloured shirts) – and this year Glenara Lady Bollinger, by Conquistador out of Glenara Bollinger. 

Paul Brent and Kablesse Kavita

Second to Paul Brent, another, who with his wife, Michelle and father-in-law, Neil Clinton, heads up a very serious breeding program that draws on the expertise of the great Dutch stud, VDL. Paul was second in this class with his mare, Kablesse Kavita, who is by one of the stars of the VDL stallion band, Zirocco Blue VDL, out of a Heartbreaker mare. He was third on the stallion Fontaine Blue VDL, by perhaps the best son of Heartbreaker, Toulon out of an Indoctro mare.

Fourth – Sue Coman & Lizetta (Lord Capitano / Regazzo); fifth – Cavalli Park Aliyah (Animate / With Class xx) and Paul Brent again; sixth – Up (Woodleigh Don Juan / Belcam Atlantis) and Adam Johnston; seventh – Akina Sarabella (Balou du Rouet / Collins) and Hayley Coman; eighth – Gina MVNZ (Chin Chin / Cordeur) and Alex Rooney; ninth, Luchia Elmare (Lux Z / Quidam de Revel) and Scottie Barclay and tenth, Kitara Boizel (Budweiser / Fabian) and Paige Cartwright.

The third member of the judging panel, David Robertson certainly knows the highs and lows of the breeder’s lot, he was one of the very first Australians to set about breeding jumping horses.

Melissa Froesch and Glenara Lady Bollinger

David was full of praise for Glenara Lady Bollinger, who got better every day, scoring a whopping 95 in the final round, which was the highest individual score of the whole competition!

“She’s a really lovely horse, a big strong mare who seems to be able to handle herself really well. She doesn’t run out of room in combinations, travels nicely – Melissa rides her very well as she does on most of her horses.”

They all looked very uncomplicated Melissa’s horses – horses that you’d be happy to take home to go on with…

“Most of Melissa’s are, she schools them to go the way she likes to ride them. She likes them forward, and lets the horses jump.”

“I thought the overall standard was very good. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the horses down here.”

You were one of those rare creatures who decided we couldn’t live forever on ex-racehorses, and you started to breed jumpers…

“Originally I didn’t like the Warmbloods that were available here. Back then you couldn’t get semen in from overseas, so I had to stay with Thoroughbreds, even though I didn’t think they were really the thing we needed for the future.”

But you went and found good jumping Thoroughbreds…

“That’s right and some of those lines are still going on, crossed to Warmbloods, and producing really good horses.”

You stood a pretty good Thoroughbred, Dusky Hunter…

“He was the only stallion we stood. When I sold Goldray many years ago, I bought his full-sister, she’d been a racehorse, and I bought her in the brood mare sales in Sydney and went looking for a stallion to put her to. I’d been making mental notes along the way and I had a pretty good picture of what were good Thoroughbred lines – there were no computers then, I bought a little book, The Thoroughbred Breeders Handbook, that had a short pedigree of all the stallions in Australia and New Zealand, and went through the whole book until I found the horse that I thought was the right one and that happened to be Dusky Hunter, but he was in New Zealand.”

“I forgot about him until I bought one of his foals as a tried racehorse in Sydney and then chased up the people in New Zealand and eventually bought the stallion. He produced a lot of good horses, Dark Passage was one of the first, and he went on to be a top horse in Japan, he won the biggest events over there. Dusky Dawn was the second one I bought, I went over to New Zealand to buy her. She had raced until she was seven, then she had a foal by Imperial Seal – and he went on to be Japan’s top horse, he won Japan’s biggest event five years in a row. After the Olympics, most of the riders went to Japan and they gave them Grand Prix horses to ride, and they gave Greg McDermott, the horse to ride, and he said he thought Mr Shrimpton was the best horse he’d ever sat on until he rode him.”

Are you still breeding horses?

“Only a few. I’ve never bred a lot, just a few quality horses. I’ve used quite a few stallions now. Champion for Pleasure, who I think is very under-rated, the two we’ve bred by him have both been very good horses. Sir Shutterfly, Balou du Rouet, Quintender, Parco, Kannan, Last Man’s Hope… The maximum we’ve ever bred in one season is four, but they have all managed to be good. We get as much pleasure watching someone ride the horses we’ve bred as we do riding our own, probably more because I don’t have to ride them and break them in. Some of our customers are putting our stud name, Dusky Farm, in front of their horse’s names, without us even having to ask. Stephen Dingwall’s got one by Champion for Pleasure, that he calls Dusky Farm Cavalier – he won the Futurity at Bega, and the Mini Prix at Canberra Royal on him. He’s only a seven year old – he’s really our breeding, right back to our original stallion Dusky Hunter.”

To cap off her great weekend filling in for Caroline Price, Alex Rooney finished the show winning the Seven-Year-Old Final on her own horse, Tulara Chico (Chico’s Boy / Landsteiner). Second place to Melissa, this time riding Glenara Cognac, by Conquistador out of Glenara Bollinger, and the full-brother to her six-year-old champion. Third to Andrew Long and the Thoroughbred, Hidden Option (Immovable Option / Zedative); fourth Coolart Farm Classic Trak (by Noblewood Park Buccaneer (re-named Sarnia Classic, tacky!) out of a Trak mare) and Laura Darvall; fifth, Larapinta County Judge (Fidertanz / Voltaire) and Kathy Minchin, and sixth to Diamond B Valentina (Vivant / Grosvenor xx) and Jess Barton..

Chris Hector talks with Alex Rooney

That was some weekend at Jumping with the Stars… 

“I won with Montana MVNZ, and was second in Calavino in the Four Year Old. I was eighth in the Six Year Old with Gina MVNZ, and first in the Seven Year Old with Tulara Chico (above).”

It was nice of Caroline Price to go lame at the right time and give you the ride on her horses… 

“Absolutely! I was really honored to be asked by her to ride her horses, that’s pretty special for someone like Caroline to ask me to ride – a huge thing for my career. She has been lovely to work for, and the horses she has given me have made my job easy, I’ve just had to get on and ride as best as I can, the horses have been so well schooled.” 

And a thrill to win with Chico, a horse you have made… 

“I purchased him as a yearling and broke him in. He won here as a five-year-old and he has been ticking along nicely, and has come out and done it again as a seven-year-old. He just keeps getting better and he is a lovely horse to work, with and a beautiful horse to train. His strengths are his trainability and his brain, he wants to do it, he is a kind hearted horse. He wants to work. He is going to be able to jump a big fence, if he has a rail he gets a bit upset, but he doesn’t over-jump and he won’t get hung up in the air over big combinations. I think he’ll be a lovely horse to ride around big tracks.”

It sounds like you are in over-drive at home, what with the jumpers and the racehorse pre-trainers… 

“It’s a little crazy. I’ve got about eight pre-trainers from Mick Kent, and also about the same amount of showjumpers in work. I’ve got some good girls at home who help me a lot. It’s good, it keeps me fit.”

Is it hard riding by yourself – if you were in Europe you would still be apprenticed to one of the top riders – is it tough trying to do it by yourself at home? 

“It is, but at the same time it makes you use your brain and become independent. You learn by making your own mistakes. As long as you keep assessing what you do every round and make sure you learn from that. You make mistakes in training too, but you make sure you assess that, and learn from every mistake you make.” 

Do you have anyone who helps? 

“Jamie Coman has been a great help. I’ve also had amazing opportunities working for Rod Brown. Over the last six years I’ve been surrounded by such influential people, and wonderful riders, Olympic riders, World Games riders, that’s been really really good.”

Is the next step a trip to Europe? 

“I’d absolutely love to. Obviously trying to run a business at home, it is hard to get away, but if I get the opportunity, I’d love to learn in Europe.”

Preferably with Chico? 

“Yes, and also I have a lovely chestnut mare, she is a little behind him, but she is pretty special, Royal Fudge, she is owned by Glenn Fryer – by Royal Hit out of a jumping mare who went to A grade. She’s special, I’d like to take both of them in a few years and see what happens…”