Winning day for Willinga Park as Brooks clinches trial on countback
Young horses were in the spotlight at the Dressage With the Stars, while the competition was hot at the Mansfield trials.
MARY Hanna’s elegant mare, Calanta, won the Grand Prix test at the Dressage With the Stars from a strong class of 20 elite horses, but the main focus was the outstanding group of young horses on show.
When the final judging for Champion of Champions came into the arena, the Willinga Park stable had produced three of the four winners, Willinga Park Quincey B, Willinga Park Tito and Willinga Park Fangio, all ridden by Jayden Brown.
Maree Tomkinson seems to have found the perfect replacement for her retired champion Diamantina in the four-year-old mare Imagine II, when she scored an amazing 89.9 per cent with a score of 10 for her canter in the preliminary class, but when it came to the final decision, the judging panel chose the older Willunga Park Quincy B as their winner.
In the dressage pony section the standard has improved enormously over the last 10 years, and as more and more adults find that competing on a good pony is as much fun and far less to fall off, the scores are up with those of the big horses.
The champion of champion pony was Tamlyn Farm Calamity Jane, the winner of the four-year-old class, owned by Vicki Chigney of Freeman’s Lodge in NSW, ridden by Justin Worthy.
The Marcus Oldham Challenge for young riders, which normally gains the winner a trip overseas to the great Aachen show, was won by Alicia Ryan, from Madison Growcott and Olivia Gillespie after the final test where all three talented youngsters rode each other’s horses.
While the Aachen trip is impossible this year due to COVID, Ryan will get a generous donation to continue her training.
Willunga Park continued their success with a win in the Prix St Georges Cup where Jayden Brown and Willingapark Fusion were easy winners.
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THERE are few more beautiful settings for horse trials than Mansfield — the view around the mountains is stunning.
Jammed between a compressed run of horses trials for the year, the Friends of Mansfield event might have suffered number wise, but as former Olympian Barry Roycroft (who was a judge) said: “Those that didn’t come missed a wonderful opportunity to school over another inviting Mick Pineo cross country course.
“Make a point of keeping this event in mind for next year.”
Chloe Brooks on Caught in the Breeze finished on an equal score with Leanne Le Claire’s Ashbend Bewitched in the one-star class, but won on a countback.
Thoroughbreds filled the first three placings in the EA95cm classes where Emily McQueen’s Bransby Rock Icon won from Sophie Goff’s’ Grand Sovereign and Sophia Landy’s Seattle Park.
The EA80cm section was divided, with Molly Lines’ Fluff winning division one, and Jo Murphy’s Koolooroo Magnum Force the other.
The EA60cm win went to Linda Lewis’ My Boy Scout.
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