8 August 2019 Horse & Hound
33wobbling line into the double
then took a daring cut-back
inside to the final fence, which
shot them to the top of the
leaderboard in 25.99sec.
“I almost overdid it at the first
combination but I was really lucky
and my horse helped me out,” said
Jur of the stallion, who effortlessly
combines competing with life as
an in-demand breeding stallion.
Harrie claimed individual
honours in the first leg of the GCL
competition, which came with a
valuable €14,850 (£13,600).
“I saw a few of the others
jump and from fences one to two
was where you could catch up a
bit, but at the end of the course
[where it was more difficult] I had
to be more reserved,” said Harrie,
who was also riding to teamorders for the Paris Panthers.
Heading the leaderboard in
Saturday’s GCL second round, a
direct qualifier for the grand prix,
was Ireland’s Darragh Kenny on
Balou Du Reventon.
“Balou jumped super on Friday
and he jumped super again today,”
said Darragh, who elected not to
ride the 13-year-old stallion son
of Cornet Obolensky in the big
class. “He goes to the European
Championships next so I wanted
to save him a little bit.”
The 2008 Olympic champion
Eric Lamaze and Chacco Kid won
this class last year but finished
second this time around.
There was praise for Alan
Wade’s tracks, which featured
London-themed fences and
provided excellent sport all week.AFTER a three-year absence, former British team rider Tim Gredley
made a comeback, with top-six placings in the two-star classes.
Tim was filling in for his sister Polly, who is pregnant.
“I haven't been to a horse show for three years,” said Tim. “Polly
keeps her horses at Paul McAteer’s, so I was jumping one of hers,
Unex Arantos [pictured] — whom I used to ride — and one that Paul
kindly lent me,” said Tim, who no longer has horses at home and
had only competed in “a couple of 1.15ms” to get back into gear.
“I only meant to do the 1.15m classes here but I ended up riding
Paul’s horse Ninkie De Vy Z in the CSI2* grand prix. I really enjoyed
it,” he said. “I hadn’t ridden him before and went straight into a
1.30m but we gelled quickly. Other than in the grand
prix he didn’t have a fence down all week.”
Tim said the experience had given him “the buzz
back”, and he is now hoping to jump at some county
shows before possibly competing abroad.TALKING
POINTseemstowinanawfullotandI
don’t know why — something to
do with the weather maybe,” said
Guy, who will soon start splitting
his time between his yard in
France and Yorkshire.
“The only disappointment
was not winning the King’s Cup
— I made a silly mistake [for four
faults in round one] and probably
this year it really suited him. But
everywhere else he’s been spot on.
Not many horses can do what he’s
done in the past five weeks.”
Guy’s nearest challenger in the
25-strong class here was Emily
Moffitt with Tipsy Du Terral.
Meanwhile, proving that horses
are the best levellers, the nine-
year-old F One USA refused at the
first fence for grand prix hero Ben
Maher — a fate which also befell
Bertram Allen at the swirly oxer.
‘WE’VE FOLLOWED
HER FOR A LONG TIME’
ELEVEN classy combinations set
off against the clock in Sunday’s
1.55m jump-off class, and there
was an “end-of-term” feel about
the show finale, with riders having
a lot of fun as they tried to find
every short cut and extra gear.
Belgium’s Jos Verlooy won,
with a mare who has been in his
yard for less than five months.
The 10-year-old Jacobien Dwerse
Hagen, Belgian-bred by Va Vite,
came from the Spits family, and
the pair were following up on
their success in the Bunn Leisure
salver at the Royal International.
The lightning-quick Julien
Epaillard and Queeletta had
takentheleadwithanaudacious
performance, for which the crowd
roared their approval. Julien
acknowledged spectators with
a thumbs up as he watched his
replay on the big screen as he left
the arena. But the Frenchman
could only shrug his shoulders as
he watched 23-year-old Jos slash
0.06sec off his leading time with
an all-or-nothing run to the last
oxer, after which nobody could
come close to catching them.
“My mare is so fast — I need to
think slower!” said Jos. “She made
my job easy today. We’ve followed
her for a long time and she’s had
many clears — results don’t lie,
she’s a very good horse.”
Scott Brash was best of the
Brits in fifth, with a polished
double clear rather than a bid to
win from his ride for the European
Championships, Hello M’Lady.DOUBLE FOR THE DUTCH
DUTCH team riders Harrie
Smolders (Cas) and Jur Vrieling
(Dallas VDL) took top honours in
the opening day’s five-star classes.
In the 54-starter 1.45m
two-phase, Emily Moffitt (Tipsy
Du Terral) held the lead at the
halfway-point, but a succession
of quick riders followed. Guy
Williams looked to have found the
winning route when launching off
a seemingly impossible stride at
a daring angle to the final fence
on Axel Verlooy’s 12-year-old
gelding Cicero II, coming home
in 26.3sec. But, with five riders to
go, Jur and Dallas VDL (Douglas
x Heartbreaker) survived aCSI5*RESULTS
2 Aug:1.45m2ph.—1, DallasVDL(J
Vrieling)NED;2,CiceroII (GWilliams);3,
KingKongD’Avifauna(WVermeir)BEL;
5,LafayetteVanOveris(BAllen)IRL;7,
TipsyDuTerral(EMoffitt)GBR;8,Gun
Powder(DLynch)IRL.1.45mspeed/
GCLrnd1.—1,Cas(HSmolders)NED;
2,VendettaTreize(CvanPaesschen)
BEL;3,BalouDuReventon(DKenny)
IRL;4,HelloMrPresident(SBrash)GBR;
5,ExplosionW(BMaher)GBR.3 Aug:1.55mspeed/GCLrnd2.—1, BalouDu
Reventon(DKenny)IRL;2,ChaccoKid
(ELamaze)CAN;3,HermesRyan(S
Delestre)FRA;4,GKCasper(BAllen)
IRL;9,ExplosionW(BMaher)GBR. 4
Aug:1.45mspeed.—1,RougeDeRavel
(GWilliams)GBR;2,TipsyDuTerral;3,
CasanovaDeL’Herse(FMathyJr)BEL;
4,RMFChaccoTop(WWhitaker)GBR.
1.55m.—1,JacobienDwerseHagen(J
Verlooy)BEL;2,Queeletta(JEpaillard)
FRA;3,Seringat(AAlvarezAznar)ESP;
5,HelloM’Lady(SBrash)GBR;8,RMF
ChaccoTop;10,GunPowder.Balou Du Reventon wins the GCL second round under Darragh Kenny