Lucinda Askin and Flying Dutchman DHU on their way to winning the Property Brokers Horse Grand Prix (locally supported by Kinloch Farms) South Island Championship – Photo by Michelle Clarke
The Crawford Hill South Island Championships Christmas Cracker Premier Show was the highlight of a show jumping packed weekend and while the forecast wasn’t the best, Sunday was a scorcher of a summer’s day to finish off the weekend.
Luci Askin and her lovely grey gelding Flying Dutchman DHU stole the show, becoming the Property Brokers Horse Grand Prix & Kinloch Farms South Island Champions.
Luci was full of praise for the show, stating “the South Island Championships was a great show, very well run with a huge turnout of competitors. Ring 1 Course Designer was Roger Laplanche building fantastic courses over the 3 days. The Grand Prix was a nice, flowing forward track with the right amount of questions. Flying Dutchman DHU was on form, winning both the 1.40m and the Horse Grand Prix, making this his 3rd Grand Prix win out of three shows in a row. Our next competition is heading down to the Southland Show next weekend before a short break over Christmas. For the second half of the season we will be looking forward to competing in some of the bigger shows as a build up towards National Championships which are now being held later in the season”.
Molly Smith and Vapour Trail NZPH – Photo by Michelle Clarke
Molly Smith racked up yet another AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix win (locally supported by Saddlery Barn) with the consistent Vapour Trail NZPH, jumping the only double clear.
The young horse classes provided some great competition with Nicole White jumping the sole double clear for first place with Blytheburn Chianti (Chacco Silver x Painted Rainbow/ Kashini – bred by Anna Pitts) in the East Coast Performance Horses 5 Year Olds (locally supported by Equine Clinic). In the Equitak Excel 6 Year Olds (locally supported by Hazlett Ltd), Tamara Silcock landed at the top of a competitive jump off with CachaCin NW (Cashassini LL x Cindy/ Colombia), also jumping double clear for second and third place were Katie Meredith and Bloomberg SSNZ (Emerald x Vogue Blue NZPH/Mr Blue) and Becky Harkerss on Haupouri iCandy (Uhlan du Temple x Haupouri Sugar Rush NZPH/ Jokus Latour – bred by Warwick Hansen & Haupouri Sport Horses). Grace Percy and Sienna MVNZ’s (Leopoldo MVNZ x Heidi/ Cassini I – bred by Mount View Sport Horses) four fault effort was good enough to take the win in the NZPH & A1 Equine Reproduction 7 Year Olds (locally supported by Canterbury Saddlery).
Johanna Wylaars and Cassera MS – Photo by Michelle Clarke
The time allowed played a big part in the FMG Young Rider (locally supported by Hussey Paint & Panel) with Anna Nalder aboard Letano and Molly Moffatt on Lazarus GNZ picking up 1 and 3 faults respectively, leaving them in second and third place behind the only clear – Johanna Wylaars and Cassera MS.
Jaimee Bird and Cera Catalina had a great win in the Harrison Lane Pro Am (locally supported by EquiMatch), finishing slightly faster than Helen Ensor with Zactac Carnival. Molly Buist- Brown on Hashtag FOMO had the fastest time, but an unlucky rail at the last relegated them to third place.
The Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider and the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider (locally supported by Tavern Harewood) provided thrilling jump off’s, with Molly Moffatt aboard Kingslea Couture flying through the flags fastest in the Junior, and Suzanne Black on Castellane AF in the Amateur.
Molly Moffatt and Kingslea Couture – Photo by Michelle Clarke
In the North Island, Feilding Show gave the legendary Maurice Beatson his 215th Grand Prix win, jumping the only clear in the Property Brokers Horse Grand Prix with his faithful Central Park. Maurie said “it was a good Grand Prix track with Kevin Hansen building, but it’s never easy indoors although the surface was good – the committee tried hard and they got it right”. His focus with Central Park now turns to the FEI CSI 1* at the National Young Horse Show and then onto the Taupo FEI World Cup to finish off the year.
Clear rounds were hard to come by all show – Sofia Williams and Black Betty produced the only clear round in the AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix, as did Amy Gibbs with Steffields Candidate in the FMG Young Rider, and Sophie Scott in the Equitak Excel 6 Year Olds, with the Jeff McVean bred Sir Bentley (Carrera x Daffodil/Salute the Stars).
Lucy Fell and her faithful partner Faratona STS notched up their 51st win together – from age series classes to 1.40m level over nine seasons – this time the win came in the Harrison Lane Pro Am, jumping the only clear. Daniel Webb’s 4 fault effort in the NZPH & A1 Equine Reproduction 7 Year Old with his homebred WSJ Cartalusa (Cartell GNZ x Calusa/ ES Centavos) was good enough to take the top spot. Penny Borthwick aboard Chelsea CSNZ headed a two horse jump off in the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider.
Jillian Watson is having a dreamy season with OhMyHolly, picking up another win in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider – making it five wins from five starts this season! Jill said “I only have the ride because my daughter Nicole is overseas on her OE, so I’m very lucky. We had another great round at Feilding with two jumping clear in the first round. We were second to go in the jump off with a rail in hand but when I had an early rail I had to get moving. Luckily Holly likes to go fast! We’ll have a little break now and then start again in the new year with the hope that HOY will happen!”.
Tegan Fitzsimon and Windermere Cappuccino – Photo by Serena Wyers
Even further north, Woodhill Sands hosted the Burmester Realty Grand Prix Show Jumping Show where they had nearly 300 horses competing and was also the first weekend where the beautiful grass arena was utilised. Although the rain came on Sunday, the grass made for great jumping with Danielle Watts building some fantastic tracks.
Tegan Fitzsimon and the gorgeous Windermere Cappuccino looked to be back to their best form, taking out the Property Brokers Horse Grand Prix (locally supported by Burmester Realty) with the only clear round. Tegan said “It was a pretty wet day, but the footing held up fantastic and the course rode nice and flowing. It was a good confidence run for Cappuccino off the back of a couple of challenging and uncharacteristic shows”. Tegan will now aim Cappuccino for the Grand Prix at the National Young Horse Show next week, followed by the FEI CSI1* at Taupo before stepping him back up to World Cup level at Dannevirke in the new year.
Adison Hall and Crystal Clear won the AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix and Paxton Conder aboard La Fonteyn won the Harrison Lane Pro Am (both classes locally supported by Veterinary Associates Equine). Liv Teixeira on Yalambi’s Cassini Rosso won the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider (locally supported by GJ Gardner Homes) and Natalia Lammers and Puro Crystal (ES Centavos x Innuendo/ Indoctro – bred by Ann Fletcher) won the NZPH & A1 Equine Reproduction 7 Year Olds (locally supported by Sport Horse).
Matisse Masterson and EB Bailando were the only clear round in the Equitak Excel 6 Year Olds (locally supported by Burmester Realty) and the East Coast Performance Horses 5 Year Olds (locally supported by Petcover Art) saw two combinations sharing the top spot; Maddison Greatorex & Chacco Sylvia (Chacco Silver x Rakaunui Gazzelle/ Lowenherk – bred by Nikita Seaforth O’Donnell) and Tegan Fitzsimon on the Bini Newsom bred Lulu MSNZ (Carrera VDL x Our Secret NZPH/ Ramirez).
The Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider (locally supported by Shelley Bridgeman) and the FMG Young Rider (Locally supported by Burmester Realty) provided very competitive jump-off’s that went right down to the wire. Charlotte Amos aboard Aria GNZ headed a seven horse jump off in the Amateur, and Emily Ramsden on Euro Champagne ticked off another win in the Young Rider, beating nine other combinations.
Full results for Feilding & Woodhill can be found on www.evoevents.co.nz
Full results for South Island Champs can be found on www.main-events.com
The Jumping Team – 4 December 2023