Tonight we get installment number four of Jacky Green’s guest blogs for Eventing Nation. Jacky works for Team New Zealand and also runs her Maizey Manor Farm in the UK, where many US competitors stay on their route to Badminton and Burghley, including Will Faudree. Thanks for writing this Jacky and thank you for reading.
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From Jacky:
At one of the busiest and most efficient venues in the UK Nigel Taylor’s team ran some 1100 horses over three days which included 5 full advanced sections (50 to a section) plus the prestigious Dasset sponsored 8/9 year old advanced with an incredible 75 starters and a full section of under 25 advanced to boot. That’s quite an organizational feat and with sunny days and a good soaking of rain on the Friday night prior to Saturdays advanced showjumping and cross country the ground was great and the competitors more than happy.
Andrew Nicholson simply stole the show this weekend with a treble in the advanced sections. 8 year old Quimbo headed the 8/9 year old section with a smooth test, an immaculate clear showjumping and just 1.6 time penalties to yet again show what a star in the making this young horse is. Stablemate Quanza was not too far off the pace and his stable jockey Jesse Campbell had a great run on Kaapachino to finish in the top 25. Mr Cruise Control headed up another advanced section with a test that scored over 71%, a good clear over the poles and just 2.8 time to win with a comfortable margin and Shady Grey was one of few to make time to win his advanced section which more than made up for the single pole he rolled in the showjumping. Henry Tankerville cruised around his section to wind up 5th and team Nicholson was pretty much done for the day.
In the sections not dominated by Mr Stickability Sam Watson stole a class right under Rodney Powell’s nose to finish on the same score but just 3 seconds faster to take the spoils. Horseware Bushman is back on flying form after a blip at Belton caused Sam Watson to miss Badminton making it two wins in a row and whilst Rodney Powell was less than amused he was thrilled with Zinzan and had another good ride with Happy Go Lucky to boot. Fiona Hobby just stayed ahead of Mathew Wright on the popular little grey mare Roma ML to take another section and Izzy Taylor took the last advanced with Zara Phillips nearly 6 penalties adrift for 2nd.
The entire British team seemed to be out in force, Australians, Kiwis and the Irish were in every section and the day that was designated just for the advanced horses ran from dawn til dusk.
For many contesting the 8/9 year old class the aim will be the CIC*** for 8/9 year olds at Blenheim in September although since Andrew Nicholson’s pair have already done CCI***’s at Saumur and Tatterstalls they are pretty much ahead of the rest of the field! In the couple of years since these classes were started they have really taken off and it is quite incredible that there are so many good young horses ready to step up to advanced relatively early in their careers. The track at Aston-Le Walls is not the toughest, nor the biggest and is run on flat ground but it is the prefect test for young horses and a great run for older advanced horses starting the build up to Blenheim, Burghely, Boekelo, Pau, not to mention the European Championships in just a few weeks time for those eligible. August sees us all heading off to Hartpury for the CCI*, CCI** and CIC***, the Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe Park where the Novice, Intermediate and British Open horses will be crowned and a plethora of one days in between. If the sun stays out we will all be be very happy!
