The timezone conversions from Australia to North America confuse me as much as anyone but let’s just say that the Saturday XC at Adelaide has miraculously already concluded. Either that or we have fantastic predictive powers here at Eventing Nation. Here is John Lechner’s XC recap. As always, you can find more from John at his website, the Eventing Safety blog and follow him @JohnVacy. Thanks for writing this John and thank you for reading.
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A relieved Heath Ryan after the finish
From John Lechner:
Overnight leader Heath Ryan dropped to fifth place after a gutsy but sometimes scrappy cross country round where he had notable ‘moments’ at fences 15 & 22. Heath started very well and strong around the course but nearly came unseated when Mystery Whisper left a leg behind on element ‘a’, of the angled brush on the Equestrian Australia Ditch and Brush. Heath landed on Whispers neck before recovering over the ditch and climbing over the third element.
Later on, at the Steps, Whisper put in a third stride before the frangible skinny, the clips broke and helped avoid a nastier situation.
Heath spent the rest of the time managing Whisper around the course so they completed clear of jumping penalties but picked up 19.2 time penalties which moved him back to 5th on 61.5.
This opened up the opportunity for Emma Mason, who came home clear but with 0.8 time penalties, to move into first place on 52.8 and Stuart Tinney, who was double clear, moved into second on 56.7. This gives Emma less than a rail clearance moving into the jumping phase tomorrow.
Rounding up the top three places is the tough Wendy Schaeffer who looked blazingly fast on course and picked up only 0.4 time penalties.
1. Emma Mason and F1 Pharinelli +0.8 52.8
2. Stuart Tinney and Watermark Brayson +0 56.7
3. Wendy Schaeffer and Koyuna Sun Dancer +0.4 57.2
4. Christopher Burton and Newsprint +0 57.7
5. Heath Ryan and Mystery Whisper +19.2 61.5
Link: Full CCI4* XC Results
Chris Burton also came home double clear to finish fourth on 57.7 and was very pleased with his result. I caught up with Chris after his XC.
Three of the nineteen riders didn’t make it home, with Sophie Warren having a spectacular fall at the ‘b’ element of Fence 10 when Let’s Impress failed to take off cleanly. After an initial scare Sophie stood up, bowed to the crowd and power-walked back to the stables. Let’s impress was fine. Philippa Dunstan unfortunately after two stops at the Corner fence 6 had a third stop later. Emily Anker had an embarrassing soft fall in front of the crowds at the water complex after hitting a tree branch. Both Emily and her horse are fine, if a little embarrassed.
