NEWS
Salperton Park One Day Event
The three Olympic ‘possibles’ all ran today and all finished in the top 10.
Tamarillo, was first in the arena and did an excellent test of 19.6. Only Ruth Edge went one better in that section with a score of 15. He show jumped clear and a fast clear on the xc saw him finish 3rd.
Parkmore Ed did a great test to score 21.8, he rolled a pole in the show jumping but another great xc round saw him finish 8th.
Ballincoola did a great test with only one or two minor mistakes for a score of 27.7 – a double clear saw him finish 10th.
They all felt great and very fit and now head to Barbury.
NEWS
Lumuhlen 12th-15th June 2008 – William Wins!
After 20 hours of traveling Alex and Mac arrived in Germany and settled in well. William followed and on arrival in Germany worked Mac in the main ring and he felt great.
Mac passed the trot up. There are 24 starters in the 4* with Mac’s dressage scheduled for midday on Friday.
Dressage
A 47.4 test today and Mac lies in 9th going into the xc. William was delighted with him which was a fair mark and he went as well as William could possibly have hoped considering this is his first 4*. There are a few good horses ahead of him and he is very much in the pack with the marking very tight. There is plenty to jump on the course and it is very twisty; they have had to work hard on the going to make it acceptable. There are a lot of narrow fences on some interesting distances. It is hard to know if the distances will ride well or if some will be on the long side and William’s guess is that the time will be possible but the horses will have to work hard to achieve it.
Cross Country
Mac went clear xc with just a few time faults. He is currently in 3rd place. William was really pleased with how he went - the course was causing trouble generally and although he was not foot perfect he tried his best and will have learnt a lot. He finished full of running but did not enjoy the ground so William let him run at a comfortable speed. The fact that the two horses ahead of Mac are both 16 showed what trouble it caused - the two ahead have a fair bit in hand but behind Mac they are packed up pretty tight so the jumping will be all important. Mac pulled up well so hopefully he will be okay tomorrow. Sadly Lucinda did not run Headley Britannia as the ground was too firm for any horse going to Hong Kong.
Show Jumping
A super clear in the show jumping today resulted in a first 4* win for Macchiato! This is incredibly his third consecutive three day event. The show jumping track was right up to height but not overly technical and caused a fair amount of trouble; the two ahead of William after the cross country had 4 and 2 down respectively which left the door open for Mac. Despite the hard ground in the arena he tried right to the end.
It is unbelievable how the competition panned out and Headly Britannia withdrawing after the dressage certainly helped. The xc caused far more trouble than expected and to move up with a clear round in the show jumping for the second weekend in a row resulted in a very exciting competition.
William’s win has moved him to the top of the HSBC Rankings and with Burghley and Pau to come he has a 10 point lead; a lot can happen in that time but the generous prize on offer at the five 4*s will add to the pressure in the autumn.
The whole team is now looking forward to a few weeks at home.
