Classic Eventing Nation

Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley lead the way after Cross Country in the Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd sponsored CCI4*-L. Photo by Bit-Media.

Cross-country time proved influential during a great day’s sport in glorious sunshine at the Millstreet International Horse Trials in County Cork and the Noel C. Duggan Engineering CCI4*-L now has a new leader in Gemma Stevens and Pru Dawes’ Flash Cooley.

The British pair flew around Mike Etherington-Smith’s superb course to finish only five seconds over the optimum time of 10 minutes 11 seconds, one of only five combinations to have time penalties in single figures.

The 11-year-old Flash Cooley, an Irish Sport Horse bred by Jim O’ Neill by CSF Mr Kroon out of an OBOS Quality mare, was third in the CCI4*-S at Millstreet last August and has been competing in jumping classes, which may come in handy as Gemma does not have a fence in hand in tomorrow’s final phase.

Piggy March is still in second place on Coolparks Sarco, but her dressage leader, the stallion Halo, triggered a frangible safety pin at fence 5, rails into water, and incurred 11 penalties. However, they are still in sixth place after a fine round.

Muzi Pottinger from New Zealand was the fastest of the section, just two seconds over time, and is now in fourth place on the aptly named Good Timing, flanked by two Japanese riders, Kazumo Tomoto (Vinci de la Vigne JRA) and Toshiyuki Tanaka (Swiper JRA) in third and fifth places respectively.

Tomorrow’s show jumping phase for the all-important CCIO3*-L, in which four nations are chasing two places at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, is shaping up to be a tense affair.

The Australians, who fielded their big guns in the form of their Tokyo medallists Andrew Hoy, Kevin McNab and Shane Rose, have established a clear lead with their riders in first, third, fifth and seventh places; Shenae Lowings and and her brilliant galloping thoroughbred Bold Venture are still in the individual lead.

However, China has moved from fourth to second place with three clear rounds and is now a mere 6.9 penalties ahead of Japan in a contest which looks to run right to the wire.

There is little change to the leaderboard in the Nations Cup™ CCIO4*-S, presented by Connolly’s Red Mills, after the show jumping phase. New Zealand still leads the Netherlands and series leaders Belgium before the cross-country phase, while Great Britain has moved up to fourth ahead of Spain and Italy and Ireland has dropped to seventh.

Kiwi team member and world number one Tim Price holds the individual lead on Falco after the dressage leader Kevin McNab (Willunga) had the misfortune to take the wrong course and get eliminated.

The Eventing Ireland CCI2*-L saw a second victory this weekend for New Zealand’s Samantha Lissington, riding Quantas R, while Ireland’s Ted O’ Leary won the CCIJ2*-L on Master Swatch.

Tomorrow’s cross-country will start an hour later, at 9am, due to the potential for a foggy early morning.

Piggy March and Halo lead the way after dressage in the CCI4*-L. Photo by Bit-Media.

Piggy March’s first visit to Ireland’s premier event, the Millstreet International Horse Trials in County Cork, is off to an excellent start as she holds the top two spots after dressage in the Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd CCI4*-L. She leads the 30-strong class on Jane McGivern’s beautiful grey stallion, Halo, with a score of 22.0, and is in second place with Jo and James Lambert’s Coolparks Sarco (on 23.2).

Piggy, a winner of Badminton in 2019 and Burghley last year, and her husband, Tom, run the March Stud in Northamptonshire where the Holsteiner stallion, bought from Australian Olympic medallist Kevin McNab last year, lives “a normal life outside”. She adds: “Kevin was great to buy from and gave us lots of advice but, to be honest, Halo is pretty straightforward as a stallion. He’s a very kind horse and has a great brain.”

Coolparks Sarco, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan, was originally produced by Andrew Nicholson and won the young-horse CCI4*-S at Blenheim in 2021 with reigning European champion Nicola Wilson. Piggy took on the ride last year after Nicola was seriously injured in a fall at Badminton.

“Obviously the horse came to me in sad circumstances, but he is lovely and beautifully produced,” said Piggy. “Both horses have had slight niggles and I came here because I knew we’d be riding on surfaces and because I am a big fan of [designer] Mike Etherington-Smith’s courses. The track is very well built and fair and the horses should be able to understand the questions in front of them.”

Best Irish rider in the CCI4*-L is Badminton hero Austin O’Connor, currently 11th on Isazsa with a score of 31.0.

Australia and Japan, two nations urgently seeking Olympic team qualification, are currently in first and second positions in the CCIO3*-L, a crucial qualifier for the Olympic Games next year. The top two teams not already qualified will secure a place in Paris 2024.

New Zealand, which is already qualified thanks to a world team bronze medal last year, is third, ahead of China and South Africa.

Australia’s Shenae Lowings, 26, leads the individual standings with a score of 24.9 on Bold Venture, a horse she bought seven years ago off the racetrack. They won Werribee CCI4*-L last year and were members of the Australian squad at the world championships last year.

“He’s really exciting. It’s not often that you get a full thoroughbred that needs a bit of atmosphere in the dressage, but it is his big strength that he’s a bit of a show-off,” said Shenae, who is staying with team mate Kevin McNab in England.

The sole individual rider in the CCIO3*-L is Moroccan competitor Noor Slaoui, who is lying 15th on the Irish Sport Horse Summer Stardust. Noor was grew up in the city in Morocco, and loved horses, but only discovered eventing when driving past a horse trials on her way to university in England. She is now the sole representative of her country in the sport. “It’s been a steep learning curve, but I am loving it,” she said. “Paris would be the dream, but a lot will depend on what happens this year.”

Cross-country has been taking place today for the two-star classes over Paul Brady’s tracks, and it was a good afternoon for New Zealand’s Samantha Lissington who won the Horse Sport Ireland CCI2*-S for young horses on the six-year-old Dutch warmblood Mr Cookie Time and now leads the CCI2*-L with Quantas R after the first two phases. Ireland’s Gearoid Bolger and Into Mischief have retained their dressage lead to win the Junior class and Britain’s Emily Young-Jamieson riding Hildare Hermitage has won the Noel C. Duggan Hardware CCI2*-S.

Tim Price and Falco lead the way after day one of dressage in the CCIO4*-S, presented by Connolly’s RED MILLS. Photo by Bit-Media.

World number one rider Tim Price has put the New Zealand team in a great position after the dressage phase in the Irish leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ series, held at Millstreet, County Cork, this weekend.

New Zealand heads the CCIO4*-S leaderboard of seven nations with a team score of 86.0 before Saturday’s showjumping phase. The three counting scores are from Tim Price (Falco, 24.6), Samantha Lissington (Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ, 30.3) and Clarke Johnstone (Menlo Park, 31.1), while fourth team member Jonelle Price is only a penalty behind on the diminutive McLaren.

The Prices and Clarke were members of the bronze-medal winning team at last year’s world championships, therefore New Zealand is not under pressure for Olympic qualification in the CCIO3*-L team competition starting tomorrow at Millstreet, in which the first two nations not already qualified will secure a team place at Paris 2024.

“We are taking it seriously, though, because we want to make a good showing,” said Tim. “The powers that be back at home in New Zealand will be watching this and we want to show them that we’re on track. We’re very glad that we have the good going in all three phases here at Millstreet in order to be able to demonstrate that.”

The Netherlands are in second place in the FEI Nations Cup™, presented by Connelly’s Red Mills, on a team score of 97.3, with Andrew Heffernan currently in third place individually on Gideon on 27.9 dressage penalties. Belgium, the country that heads the FEI Nations Cup leaderboard after two legs, are third on 99.2, with the very experienced combination of Karin Donckers and Fletcha van’t Verahof in second place individually on 26.6.

Ireland is in fourth place on 99.3, with Joseph Murphy and Calmaro the best placed in fourth individually with the excellent score of 30.1 from judges Anne-Marie Taylor (GBR), Jane Holderness-Roddam (GBR) and Vanda Stewart (IRL).

Tim Price and Falco, a 14-year-old Hannoverian gelding owned by Sue Benson, also won the individual bronze medal at the 2022 world championships at Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. “He was a bit sprightly in the arena, but if you can catch him on the edge of his exuberance you get something special,” said Tim afterwards.

Equiratings, the Irish data analysts for eventing, actually rate Tim’s secondride tomorrow, Happy Boy, as the best horse in the CCI4*. Among the other highlighted horses are Fletcha van’t Verahof, McLaren, Camaro, Kirsty Chabert’s mare Classic Vl, a member of the fifth-placed British team and Australian rider Kevin McNab’s Willunga, who performs dressage tomorrow. Happy Boy is last to go tomorrow, at 7.30pm.