Last Minute Call Up Pays Big for Olympian Burton in Adelaide

Chris Burton and TS Jamaimo (photo: ESJ Photo)

By: Michelle Cook/Equestrian Australia

London 2012 Olympian Chris Burton has produced a come from behind victory at the Australian International Three Day Event on a horse he first rode only four days ago.   

Remarkably UK based Burton only had his first ride on Jamaimo on Wednesday after the horse’s regular rider Will Enzinger broke his leg and couldn’t contest the event. 

Burton was sixth leading into this afternoon’s final stanza but produced one of only two clear rounds of the day to catapult into the top position.

It is Burton’s second victory at Australia’s only CCI4* three day event and to say the 31 year old was surprised by the win is an understatement.

“It’s unsuspected that’s for sure. I sat on him for the first time on Wednesday and I thought he’s a lovely horse, what a little ripper.

“He’s been brilliantly prepared and a treat for me to ride. It’s something I won’t forget in a long time.

“We knew he was a good jumper but I was just the jockey this weekend, the credit really belongs to Will (Enzinger) and his team,” he said.

With six riders within four penalties (1 show jumping rail) of each other, Sunday’s finale was always going to be a tight tussle. 

Burton’s victory caps off a sensational year for the UK based Australian event rider who also won the prestigious Aachen (GER) three day event.

The leaders following the cross country, Olympic gold medallist Stuart Tinney and Olympic silver medallist Shane Rose, couldn’t produce the clear rounds required to maintain their top positions which saw them move down the order.

The reigning Australian International 3DE champion Craig Barrett was on track to repeat his win from last year but his mount Sandhills Brillaire was unlucky to knock the final rail which relegated them to third place.

The only other clear round of the day belonged to Olympic silver medallist Sonja Johnson and her mount Belfast Mojito which propelled them from seventh to second. 

The Adelaide International Three Day Event is the second leg of the 2013/2014 FEI Classics^TM – a six series competition made up of the world’s four star event competitions. The AI3DE is the only four star event in the southern hemisphere.

FEI REPORT By Anna Sharpley

“It was a bit unexpected,” Christopher Burton said of his history-making victory with Stephanie Pearce’s TS Jamaimo in the HSBC Adelaide CCI4*, second leg of the FEI Classics™ 2013/2014.

Burton only secured the ride on the Thoroughbred gelding less than a week before the event following the injury to Will Enzinger and created history, certainly in the modern era, by winning a CCI4* event on a catch ride and on a horse that was having its first 4* start. To make the feat even more impressive, the new partnership won on their Dressage score.

With less than a fence separating the top six going into the final Jumping phase, Burton’s masterful clear aboard TS Jamaimo set the standard, which none of those to follow could emulate. “The real glory”, continued Burton, “belongs to Will Enzinger and his team for preparing the horse. Will has been on the phone to me every day; all I had to do was get on. But I have to admit to sitting in my tack room on the morning of cross country day thinking why was I doing this, but I love Adelaide.”

Enzinger, who broke his leg in a fall with a novice horse the week before Adelaide, spent Cross Country day in surgery having his leg operated on.

Beijing team silver medallist, Sonja Johnson was eighth overnight with Rebecca and Simon Bell’s Australian Stock Horse and former polo pony and another CCI4* rookie, Belfast Mojito, but moved up to second with an assured clear round when jumping out of order. “He really stepped up to the mark and I am thrilled, but none of us come here to come second,” declared the sheep farmer from the West. Johnson’s other ride, Nikki Harwood’s former racehorse, Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison, lowered two rails over John Valance’s strong track riding to slip from sixth to eighth.

Johnson was not the only one to feel the agony of the final Jumping phase. Last year’s winners, Craig Barrett and Sandhills Brillaire, looked well on their way to a clear round when the very last fence fell, robbing them of back-to-back Adelaide HSBC CCI4* victories. They finished in third, but with Barrett still declared himself: “thrilled with her, I can’t ask much more than that.”

Shane Rose and Taurus slipped from second to fourth place two rails hit the ground, while Rose’s Dressage leader, CP Qualified went from third to seventh place with the addition of eight jumping and two time penalties, but it was a promising performance from another newcomer to four-star competition.

Last to go and much was expected of overnight leaders Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio. Tinney is an accomplished jumping rider, but the bred to jump gelding slipped to fifth place with the addition of eight jumping and one time penalty.

Former Eventing team selector, Seumas Marwood moved from 12^th after the Dressage phase to sixth overall thanks to a brilliant jumping performance from his Contango II mare, Wild Oats that added only 2.4 Cross Country time faults to their Dressage score. They were also awarded the ATCO Huts Prize for the best Jumping round in today’s final phase.

Soigne Jackson from New South Wales moved from 14^th to ninth thanks to a good jumping performance from Gold, a Thoroughbred by Opera Prince. They were delighted with their first ever CCI* performance.

Katja Weimann had a disappointing Jumping round with 12 to add, but still slipped only one place from overnight ninth to complete the top 10 with BP Flamboyant, another pair in their first CCI4*.

Just three -  the winners Christopher Burton and TS Jamaimo, Sonja Johnson riding her polo playing Stock Horse, Belfast Mojito, and Seumas Marwood with his Warmblood mare Wild Oats - were clear on the fences and the clock in today’s Jumping. And only the winners finished on their Dressage score, with runners-up Sonja Johnson and Belfast Mojito just shy of that with the addition of 1.2 Cross Country time penalties.

The event enjoyed great competition, beautiful weather and better than ever crowds and all the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 aspirants put in qualifying performances, but the weekend belonged to Christopher Burton and TS Jamaimo, the Adelaide HSBC 2013 champions.

FEI/HSBC CCI 4* Final Results

1. Christopher Burton/TS Jamaimo (AUS) 49.70

2. Sonja Johnson/Belfast Mojito (AUS) 51.40

3. Craig Barrett/Sandhills Brilliare (AUS) 52.80

4. Shane Rose/Taurus (AUS) 54.10

5. Stuart Tinney/Pluto Mio (AUS) 54.90

6. Seumas Marwood/Wild Oats (AUS) 55.60

7. Shane Rose/CP Qualified (AUS) 56.90

8. Sonja Johnson/Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (AUS) 57.50

9. Soigne Jackson/Gold (AUS) 65.20

10. Katja Weimann/BP Flamboyant (AUS) 67.90

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