To our great relief Sydney International Horse Trials, one of the biggest eventing competitions on the Australian calendar, doesn’t clash with Rolex Kentucky this year so we can focus on each event separately! Sydney IHT runs from 1st-3rd May 2015 and we will be videoing all riders on the cross country course and it sounds as if there are some exciting changes to the course in store.
Last year when we spoke to course designers Mike Etherington-Smith (CCI3*) and Stuart Tinney (1* and 2* classes) they explained that most of the budget in 2014 had been spent on some sorely needed upgrades to the 2* fences and therefore the CCI3* track had undergone few changes but that plenty of ongoing work had been done on the footing.
“I was hoping to use a few new lines and some new bits of the property but for various reasons that hasn’t happened” said Mike last year, however Event Director Rose Read tells us that this is happening in 2015 with the track heading out on the old steeplechase area
A new coffin complex is also in the process of being built so those riders heading to Sydney in May may need to start practising their coffin canter now
Read our article about Jumping Coffin Fences here
