Riders enter district comp to prepare for major dressage event

The Berwick Club’s Sky Park championships gave competitors the chance to find out if they are on track for Dressage With The Stars.

Star path: Antony Bartlett on Heathmont de Nina won two tests at the Berwick Dressage Club Championships. Picture: Derek O'Leary

THE famous Dressage With The Stars event is only weeks away, and riders are fine tuning performances at district competitions in readiness.

The Berwick Club’s Sky Park championships at Werribee Park held classes for young horses and ponies, plus open classes where the all-important judges scores showed riders whether they were on the right track or not.

In the Small Tour section, the talented young rider, Isabelle Luxmore rode Linus WK to score a first and a third place in his two tests.

The other winner at this level was Maree Tomkinson’s home-bred Total Diva who won one class and placed fourth in the other.

Antony Bartlett won both the Advanced level tests with his Heathmont de Nina with good, even performances.

Emma Spencer’s Fairbanks Perfection was second in both classes.

The winner of both Medium level tests was Grets.

Ridden at this event by Maree Tomkinson, he was a Hanoverian stallion imported to Australia and did well before being gelded and having a stellar career as a show hunter.

Now back in the dressage arena, at the Berwick competition he scored very well in both tests.

At the Elementary level, the winners were Fiona Manifold’s Silverdene Perfecta and Peta Cohen’s HPS Ray of Sunshine, and Samantha Christian’s Bhindi Bu and Charlotte Oberin’s Sunnyhill Mighty Murray both won in a very strong Novice section. In the Preliminary level, the Section B Welsh pony Nilton Swayze socked it to his much bigger rivals with a first and second placing, with Lauren Stewart’s Daydreamer taking the other win.

Dressage pony breeder Rossanne Mason was well pleased with her two home breds. In the Young Horses four years old section, Natasha Moody rode Penmain Puddles to top the list and the five-year-old pony Penmain Top Model also gained her qualifying scores for Dressage With the Stars.

In the Young Horse section, Madison Growcott’s BZ Qantas topped the four-year-old list and Jamie Mita’s Yarra Valley Charm did the same in the five-year-old section.

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