Right to the wire: Eventing Showjumping

Clear for Ros Canter and Allstar B

story Christopher Hector photos DigiShots

For all the predictions of doom and gloom, the Hurricane never really hit Tryon. Lots of rain, but not your thunder and lightning, and really despite the day’s break between the cross country and the eventing showjumping, the eventing ran in pretty well perfect conditions. The venue was closed on the Sunday, but we kept getting images of water flooding the WEG site, and I expected to be wading through water on my way to the grandstand. But no, the going for humans was as good as the going for horses had been on the cross country, and the surface in the main arena was just perfect. No rain, sunshine and just enough breeze to make it comfortable.

Clear for Shane and Virgil, and

clear for Christopher Burton

Australia went into the showjumping phase with a vague, very vague chance of a bronze medal. But that was not to be, even though three of our team members recorded clears, Emma McNab added 26 penalties to her score and that meant we had to use Shane’s score, so we finished in sixth place, and qualified for Tokyo.

And another clear by Andrew

Once again the star for Australia was Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos. This is a truly glorious creature and Andrew is riding as well as he ever has. The was never a question of him having a rail, and while we may have slipped out of team medal contention, as horse after horse had rails, there was every chance that Andrew might have another for his collection.

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The battle for individual honors went right to the line, I mean literally right to the very last jump of the very last round of the WEG. Ingrid Klimke needed a clear to go gold, and tipped out the very last jump on the course, and dropped to bronze, just 2.5 points ahead of Andrew – if he hadn’t gone first, if he hadn’t been severely under-marked by the American judge, if, if, if. But there is no doubting that Hoy Boy is back, and mounted on a superstar.

Team and individual gold for Ros Canter

I guess we were expecting the Brits to go well. Christopher Bartle left the trainer’s job with the German team, to take over management of the British team with instant effect. With Christopher the Magician at the helm, Britain won last year’s European Championship, and even though they decided to handicap themselves by leaving out their top rider, ‘bad boy’ Oliver Townend, the relatively unknown foursome cruised their way to the team gold, lead by individual gold medalist, 32-year-old Ros Canter, whose international successes, prior to a 5th at the Euros last year, were at the World Young Horse Champs, with a 2nd in 2011 and a 30th in 2016. Ros rode superbly in all three phases on her 13-year-old Dutch gelding, Allstar B. The horse is only 51.8% Thoroughbred which is perhaps unusual these days, but he is certainly bred to jump. He’s by Ephebe For Ever, an international 1.60 jumper by Galoubet, and out of a mare by Ekstein.

Ros was joined on the podium by Piggy French and Quarrycrest Echo, by the very Irish, Clover Echo, out of a mare by the Holsteiner who produced so many Irish eventers, Cavalier Royale. Tom McEwen rode the French bred, Toledo de Kerser, by Diamant de Sémilly, the discard score was Gemma Tattersall on the Irish Thoroughbred, Arctic Soul (Luso xx / Roi Danzig xx).

Padraig McCarthy and the Irish are back…

The real surprise of this championship was the Irish team which won their first international medal since 1978, lead by Padraig McCarthy, who also took out the individual silver medal, riding the 13-year-old gelding Mr Chunky who is by Jumbo, who evented himself with Andrew Nicholson, and who has proven a good eventing sire. Mr Chunky is out of a mare by the Thoroughbred, Sergeant Drummer.

Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot ENE HN

France finished third, once again a tribute to the discipline and smarts of their team structure. They were lead by Lt.Col. Thibaut Vallette, riding, Qing du Briot ENE HN (Eolien II / Etalon Or, again, unusually for our times, only 26.35 ‘blood’).

In a real step forward for the discipline, fourth place went to Japan, with three very serious riders on scores ranging from 35.5 to 40.2. Their discard score was Stuart Tinney’s former ride, the German bred Queen Mary  (Quality / Landgraf) while their most successful horse was Toshiyuki Tanaka’s Talma d’Allou, French bred, by Opium de Talma (though he was by the Holsteiner, Carthago) out of a Prince Ig’Or mare.

Ingrid Klimke and Bobby – clear and winning gold all the way to the very last fence!!!

Then came the Germans in fifth, not their usual spot on the leaderboard, their best being the individual bronze winner, Ingrid Klimke’s Hale Bob, by the Thoroughbred, Helikon out of a mare by the half-bred, Noble Champion, that’s 70.32% blood.

It truly was great sport, and good for the sport to see Britain strong again, to see Ireland emerge, for the French to hold their spot at the top, and Japan to come to the fore, and for Australia to record three clears in the showjumping, that’s some sort of record all by itself….