Photos: Toni-anne Collins
In eventing, cross country day always holds surprises and excitement and today at the Melbourne Three Day event was no exception. By the time that the last horse, Pluto Mio came through the finish flags of the Three Star course changes had been made in the standings, most notably the retirement on course of the overnight leader, Heath Ryan and Mystery Whisper. Stuart Tinney had good runs on both of his horses, Vettori and Panamera with no jump faults and just a few time faults to put them into 5th and 2nd places respectively. Stuart showed his wonderful style riding cross country and both horses were a pleasure to watch. The new leader at the end of the day was Sonja Johnson on Ringwould Jaguar who ate up the ground as he completed the course with no jumping or time faults. Jag certainly did not look his age of 19 as he flew around the course and the wonderful partnership between horse and rider was a joy to watch. Sonja’s second horse, Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (Ben) also was clear on jumping and time and finished in 6th place. Sadly Ben’s elderly owner, Olga Reveller died yesterday evening after succumbing to illness and there is no doubt that Sonja’s performance today under the stress of the loss of her longtime friend and supporter was an admirable one. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Nikki Brooks, Olga’s daughter.
The two combinations who moved up through the field were Christopher Burton on Holstein Park Leilani who survived a bit of a fright at the second water jump to finish in 3rd place and the popular and elegantVictorian rider Amanda Ross on Koyuna Tora Bora who finished in 4th place. Megan Jones and Kirby Park Allofasudden had 15.2 time faults but were clear jumping, dropping them to 9th place but still very much with a chance to rise through the ranks in the showjumping tomorrow.
In the Two Star, another featured rider from An Eventful Life, Shane Rose is in a very strong position with his two horses, Star Am I and Stratford Novalis in first and second place.
