Australia Wins the Two Test Series Against New Zealand

On Friday night at the NZ Horse of the Year 2013 Test event Australia made the score two – nil after an excellent competition in front of a record 5000+ crowd, over a testing but solid track designed by Olympic Course Designer Leopoldo Palacious from Venezuela.

Developing the sport of jumping in Australia and New Zealand includes many parts and at the top of the tree is team jumping in the form of Nations Cup competition, and the current Ttest event series held in Hawes Bay, NZ has been an integral part of both nations development for the World Equestrian Games in August 2014.

Following victory in the first test at Church Road Winery last weekend, the Australian Selectors named an unchanged team to match the Kiwi team on their home turf.

At the end of the first round the teams were evenly matched with Australia on 10 faults and New Zealand on 14. The single clear round from local rider Luke Dee and Ombudsman was a quality effort and this combination turned out to be the star of the night with the only double clear round in a performance showing a high degree of maturity well beyond his 19 years.

Samantha McIntosh, who competed successfully in Europe for 15 years, is rebuilding a team of horses in New Zealand and she opened the class with Estina having only a rail down at the skinny vertical by the in-gate at number 2, but was the first to end up on the wrong side of Palacious’s tight time allowed and finished with 5 faults.

Alison Rowland on her 10 year old mare Bickley Brook Bella again led the Australian team and despite looking in top form following up her double clear last weekend had a rail down at the turn back to number 7, and they too didn’t match the Course Designer’s expectation for time and followed the Kiwi score of 5 faults.

The course was 12 fences with a vertical one stride oxer double, and an oxer (1.45x1.5m), one stride vertical (1.50m) and two strides to a oxer (1.45x1.50m) treble. The first line with the skinny gate by the entrance was encouraging but careful, turning to a solid triple bar, around a large beer dray wagon to a 1.50m vertical at fence 4.

A turn back to a square oxer and 6 or 7 strides to the first combination did force some riders to make their decision early. Turning to a 1.55m vertical over a liverpool and 8 strides to a 3.2m water didn’t cause any major problems and allowed a little time to be made up. The track turned from the water to a large oxer in front of the packed grandstand, before an optional turn to make up time to a 3 rail white style vertical sitting at 1.50m. The turn in option really was necessary, however it left the horses unsighted until about 3 strides out.

The final line of the treble combination did cause the appropriate amount of faults down to the last 1.50m vertical, and with many riders pushing to make the time allowed it did result in a few faults. The course was just not over from beginning to end and a very good example of a Nations Cup track.

New Zealand’s new young sensation combination Luke Dee followed Alison Rowland and produced a clear round much to the delight of the parochial crowd (nothing like a Kiwi v Aussie sporting event to fire up the Tasman rivalry). Australia’s next rider was Western Australian Stud master Rory Hovell riding his 10 year old stallion Yalambi’s Val d’Isere and he completed the round in a very workmanlike manner with no jumping faults only to be penalised by the timekeeper with 1 fault.

Ross Smith and his stallion Quite Cassini jumped an extravagant round with simple rails and a time fault for 13 penalties, and the door had opened for Australia’s number 3 rider Sharon Slater and her consistent Ulixes. This combination were making an impressive start to the round, however getting too deep to the vertical liverpool collected four faults and some time loss resulting in 2 time faults for a total of 6.

The final combinations came out for the first round and the star of the first two days of the show Katie McVean and her young horse Dunstan Kiwi Iron Mark had the front rail of the #5 oxer and a foot in the water with the almost normal time fault to finish on 9 penalties. Current Australian National Champion Tom McDermott on Romantic Dream were the final combination in the first round and they delivered the perfect no fuss round until rolling the last vertical but under the time allowed for just 4 faults.

Discarding the 13 score from New Zealand and the 6 penalty result from Australia left the teams on 14 and 10 penalties respectively and there was much anticipation for the second round.

Sam McIntosh returned and they never really combined at all on this round with rails at the triple bar, the liverpool and the combination resulting in a discard result of 17 faults. The competition was now there for the taking and Alison Rowland and Bickley Brook Bella delivered the first of a further 3 clear rounds for Australia, and all working out how to respond to the Course Designer’s time challenge.

Luke Dee stepped into the ring and also provided a class round to be the only double clear and the outright winner of the individual class the McMillan Equine Feeds Silver Fern Stakes conducted concurrently with the Trans-Tasman team event. His resolute performance under significant pressure certainly belied his relative inexperience.

Rory Hovell and Yalambi’s Val d’Isere had a very soft rail at the oxer following the water to finish on 5 faults, as they again didn’t quite make the time allowed but otherwise they delivered a very solid 2 round effort. Ross Smith had 2 rails and time for 10 faults with the very impressive jumper Quite Cassini.

Sharon Slater returned with Ulixes and also showed they had learned from the first round and delivered a perfect zero score and sealed the result for Australia. The experienced Katie McVean and Dunstan Kiwi Iron Mark were the final combination for NZ but could not better their first round score of 9 faults. This left the Kiwi team with 19 faults for the second round and an overall score of 33 penalties.

The final competitor was Tom McDermott and the Tripp family’s Romantic Dream and finished off the perfect score for Australia of a clear round and under time to add no further faults to the total team score and finished on 10 penalties – a resounding win for the Australian Team.

The FEI has recently introduced the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping competition and outside the Olympic and World Games, is the most prestigious competition with over 20 qualifiers around the world. It is most important that our countries make the most of opportunities to participate. Other Nations in our region are all Asian based and the quarantine regulations preclude us from travelling to and from the continent, meaning we have to foster and develop the standard of the Nations Cup format under the Trans-Tasman banner.

Australia will now set itself to compete in Nations Cup competitions in Europe before selecting a team for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup final to be held in Barcelona, Spain in September this year.

Mitavite Trans Tasman Test:
1. Australia: Alison Rowland, Bickley Brook Bella 5/0; Rory Hovell, Yalambi's Val d'Isere VDL 1/5; Sharon Slater, Ulixes 6/0 ; Tom McDermott, Romantic Dream 4/0) Total 10 penalties.
2. New Zealand: Samantha McIntosh, Estina 5/17; Luke Dee, Ombudsman 0/0; Ross Smith, Quite Cassini 13/10; and Katie McVean, Dunstan Kiwi Iron Mark 9/9 Total 33 penalties
McMillan Equine Feeds Silver Fern Stakes

Luke Dee Ombudsman 1, Tom McDermott Romantic Dream 2, Alison Rowland Bickley Brook Bella 3, Rory Hovell Yalambi's Val d'Isere VDL and Sharon Slater CP Ulixes =4, Katie McVean Dunstan Zimorena G 6.

By: Equestrian Australia