Quite possibly the happiest man at Equitana! Dirk Schrade and Parodie about to start their dressage test
While Michael Jung was hurtling around the indoor arena at the Stuttgart Masters to win the Indoor Derby his German team mate Dirk Schrade couldn’t quite match it with a win at Equitana’s Grand Final Exhibition Eventing in Melbourne.
Whereas the German Derby is held indoors, the outdoor arena at the Melbourne Showgrounds was the venue for both the dressage phase held early in the afternoon and the jumping round which started at 6pm. The stands were pretty quiet for the dressage; obviously the crowds at Equitana are more interested in their shopping than watching eventers do dressage (well it is hard to top Charlotte Dujardin who is also here at Equitana) but there was plenty for the eventing horses to look at, including the big shiny screen, as they warmed up for their tests
Tim Boland who won the Wallaby Hill qualifier before heading over to the UK was back in town and riding one of his new horses, Wild Duchess. Tim is usually known for putting on pretty fancy dressage tests but it was not to be in these unfamiliar surroundings
“We didn’t do such a good test here” said Tim of the mare who has only been home for three weeks “But she’s a classy mare – she came third at Ballindenisk in the CCI1* and she’s a real horse for the future”. Look out for our longer interview with Tim coming up soon
Rob Palm riding Koko Doro
This pair ended up 12th after the dressage out of the 15 starters but it was the first combination into the arena, Dirk Schrade riding Alex Townsend’s Parodie who held the lead with a score of 70.66% for most of the session. Australia’s two Olympic medallists Megan Jones and Sonja Johnson were also on catch rides kindly provided by Teegan Asby however the two girls didn’t have much time to familiarise themselves with their new mounts and Megan was eighth on Waitangi Password and Sonja ninth on Rockingham No Reason after the dressage
Victoria’s Yona Lloyd put in a solid test on Sargeant Crisp to be fourth on 67.66% and the Exhibition Eventing experts Shane Rose and Virgil moved into third on 69% but it was the final combination of Rob Palm and Koko Doro who pipped Dirk at the post on a score of 70.66%.
As the first placed in the dressage Rob was now on a score of zero with each riders picking up penalty points according to their placing i.e. Dirk had two penalty points, Shane three etc. Extra penalties are added during the jumping phase for time and jumping faults but four penalties were to be taken away for those successfully jumping the Joker fence. For the mathematically challenged it’s a bit of a nightmare
As the bigger crowds gathered in the evening to watch the jumping, eventing rider Christine Bates joined in as the guest commentator, talking the spectators through the course and chatting with the riders before they jumped on their horses for the big finish. It soon became clear that, although most of the riders were tackling the Joker fence, not many were going to clear it. Tim Boland and Rachael Lee both decided that arena eventing wasn’t really suited to their horses and opted to retire on course while Simon Tainsh had a slight problem with steering and knocked a few fences down but had the fourth fastest time
Finally Tallara Barwick riding Copabella Verdi (above) showed how it should be done with a clear jumping round including the Joker. Tallara’s partner Dave Cameron is the Australian Show Jumping Champion and had won the first round of the World Cup at Equitana that morning so Tallara certainly has the best possible coach for this sort of jumping. However, despite looking as if they were flying around, they picked up 26 time faults.
Murray Lamperd and his little black horse Don Skipcello (below) were seventh after the dressage but they scorched around the track, making it look easy. They had the first part of the double down but jumped the Joker successfully to give them a zero jumping score and had only 13 time penalties to finish in third place overall.
Megan Bryant’s Talinga Cavalier was Megan Jones’ catch ride here last year but the little Australian Stock Horse did not seem too happy in the now floodlit arena. He refused at the Picnic Table cross country fence then banked it on the second go with a clever little kick off of the back legs. Megan had to stop to gather her thoughts (and reins) then finished the course but with the highest number of time faults dropping her down to 12th
Last weekend Katja Weimann and the home bred BP Cosmopolitan showed how the CCI4* show jumping should be done in Adelaide and they did it again here at Equitana with a fast round leaving all of the jumps standing including the Joker. “He’s a horse that you have give an attacking ride anyway so having to go forward out there is good for him” said Katja when we spoke to her afterwards
Shane Rose certainly knows how to attack a course like this, using very economical lines between fences on the big jumping Virgil. Looking deceptively slow they incurred nine time penalties, one more than Katja, but the Joker fence was their undoing when the top plank dropped to the floor. Shane finished in second place on 20 penalties, the same score as Murray Lamperd, but Shane’s better dressage score meant that Murray and Don Skipcello had to settle for third.
Shane and Virgil
Alex Townsend’s Parodie gave the crowd an amusing moment when she stopped dead at the first fence, nearly depositing her gold medallist Dirk Schrade on the floor. Momentarily unseated and in a precarious spot on the mare’s neck, Dirk showed his stickability and agility by shimmying back into the saddle with a smile. Parodie had given absolutely no indication that she was going to stop but Dirk made sure that she didn’t do it a second time with a few reassuring pats and a very solid lower leg the second time around.
Despite some friendly jibes by Christine Bates over the speakers to ‘put his foot down and show us how it’s done’ Dirk opted for some safer lines and had the Joker down, leaving the door wide open for Rob Palm. Rob was another rider who competed at the Australian International 3 Day Event last weekend and took a tumble from his 2* horse there so he was feeling a little sore for this competition. Coming into the arena on last year’s CCI2* winner at Adelaide, Koko Doro there was pressure not only being the leader on a zero score but also from Christine Bates.
The eventers came in for some good humoured ribbing from fellow rider Christine Bates, pictured here with TD Neil Clinton
“My husband broke this horse in so I’m expecting it to go well” said Christine and when Koko Doro had a run out at the second brush fence she teased “I do think that Rob’s feeling a little bit of a failure at brushes at the moment. He did take his tumble at Adelaide at a brush fence so maybe he’s got a bit scared!”
This was compounded when poor Rob had another run out at another brush fence and by the time they got to the Joker fence, Koko Doro decided this wasn’t much fun and put the brakes on, demolishing the fence. The fence was re-built but Rob decided to jump the option and somewhere in all of this he was eliminated
Katja emerged the deserving winner picking up a cheque for $5,000 courtesy of Gow Gates Insurance Brokers and IRT which will be spent, of course, on horses
Katja
Katja and BP Cosmopolitan
