EQUITANA - Equestrian Grand Final Jumping Grand Prix

Tonight's Equestrian Grand Final Jumping Grand Prix saw a 4000 strong crowd cheering on competitors over a tight and exciting indoor course, featuring similarly challenging conditions to those found at the big European jumping shows!

Fifteen of Australia's top showjumpers battled it out in the first round, with Cathy Graham and Da Vinci's Pride being the only clear.

Ten horses went into the jump off and the rails continued to topple until Amanda Madigan riding Oakes Altes came out and pulled off a lovely clear, leaving her on her first round score of 12 faults. There was more bad luck for competitors until third last to jump, David Dobson riding As Akon, also managed a very nice clear, which left him on four faults.   

Chris Chugg on Alondra came out and cut loose to try and slice off time to get ahead of David, however, he was not fortunate enough to go clear and had two fences down, putting him also on 12 faults but faster than Amanda.

The last rider to jump was Cathy Graham, who came in with no faults after her perfect clear in the first round and had to go clear again or only drop one fence and then be faster than David, if she wanted to win. No pressure Cathy! Unfortunately Da Vinci's Pride knocked a rail at the first fence (with every person in the stands riding with Cathy is it any wonder?) so then it was a case of go hard if she wanted to win and Cathy pushed on, however, another rail fell meaning that Cathy, now on 8 faults, dropped to second place behind David Dobson, with Chris Chugg third and Amanda Madigan Fouth.

 

"I went into the second round thinking if the guys behind me go clear they'll go faster than me because they're on more experienced horses. So I had to take in account the crowd, atmosphere and the jumps got fairly big towards the end I was just proud he (AS Akson) was able to jump the clear round," said an elated David Dobson.

Chris Chugg was impressed with the event, saying, "This is five-star class show at an equestrian centre in the middle of the city - you can't get any better."

Held as part of EQUITANA Sydney, the inaugural Equestrian Grand Final was kicked off in spectacular fashion and is certain to become a highlight on the equestrian sporting calendar.

Equestrian Australia's CEO Grant Baldock said the combination of the venue, calibre of riders and concept has kicked off the new event well.

"We couldn't have asked for a better way to launch the Equestrian Grand Final.  The concept is something that Equestrian Australia and Equitana organisers have been working on for some time and I think tonight was a great showcase of what is special about our sport.

"The Equestrian Grand Final has a strong future and will continue to be bigger and better each year," he said.

It was certainly another fantastic night of entertainment at Equitana, which proved that showjumping really is an extremely exciting spectator sport!  It amazed me that as the riders were jumping, such a huge number of people could be so completely silent - except for the communal gasps if a rail fell or the clapping as riders cleared the tricky treble - until the ecstatic cheering at the end of a round.  Great stuff!

Now we need to get ready to do it all again tomorrow - with highlights including the Edward Gal Clinic and the Freestyle Dressage tomorrow night.

Quick Link

• Full results for the Equestrian Grand Final Jumping Grand Prix