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Melb 3DE Day 3 - It's tight at the top in the CCI3*

Published on Monday, June 13, 2011 in General

Shane Rose and Emma Mason are on an equal score to lead the Bates CCI3*. There is one point separating the top 5 riders so it is anyone's event on Monday.

The day started with the IRT CCI1* cross-country at 8am under a very thick fog.   We were assured by the locals that it would be a nice day, however at 11.30am when the fog still had not lifted it looked dubious that the sun would ever break through.
However, as the first two star horse stood in the start box the sky cleared and we were treated to the best weather Werribee has to offer in June, a clear sunny day .
The course for the CCI2* and CCI3* was shortened, a loop toward the end of the course was removed due to boggy conditions. However, the times were not changed which made time easier to achieve. The CCI2* managed the time easily with practically the top 20 combinations coming home without time. However in the 3-star only 4 combinations managed to make it home without time penalties, so it would have been unachievable with the full length course. Another change on course was the second water (in the camel paddock), the Wyndam Water was dry. There must have been a leak and the water drained out.  
The Ewan Kellett designed course looked reasonably straight forward however it caused an “appropriate” number of problems; of the 37 starters 22 were clear of jumping faults whilst 9 combinations were eliminated on course.  
Two important scalps claimed were Dressage leader Heath Ryan, who survived a moment at the second (non) water but came unstuck at the farm yard complex and there ended his  event. Craig Barrett’s second ride Sandhills Brillaire who was 4th after the Dressage took offence at the water jumps, a stop at the first and 2 stops at the lake saw them walk home.
The bounce into the Wyndam Water was troublesome and did not ride well even without the water. There were a number of near misses here, however only one rider actually came to grief. Young NSW rider Charlie Brister came in firmly strongly and his horse jumped in too big and couldn’t get his legs up in tome for the second element  - which resulted in Charlie being ejected very high into the air.
“It seemed to ride best if you met it on a decreasing stride,” said Shane Rose. “It didn’t jump well if you moved up to the first element,” he explained.
Tori Luxford was in 10th place after the Dressage on her lovely gelding Perfect Encounter however they lost power jumping up the bank at Sunrise Sunset and Tori wisely circled instead of attempting the echidna. She re-jumped the bank and negotiated the fence without further trouble but had already had a problem at fence 7 so unfortunately ended up with 40 penalties and 27 time .
Tim Boland and GV Billy Elliot dropped from =2nd after the Dressage to 12th by incurring 15.2 time penalties.
Shane Rose on Taurus and Emma Mason on F1 Pharinelli were =4th after Dressage and both went clear and under time and have moved into 1st place. Shane was closer to the optimum time so he is winning and Emma is 2nd. Craig Barrett and Wendela Jamie (2nd after Dressage) picked up 3.6 time to slot into 3rd place.
“He was great on course,” said Shane “I am really happy with him, he handled it all really well and felt strong all the way around.”
Kiwi Alice Montgomery and Gordon had a good fast round to move into 4th place whilst Natalie Blundell and Algebra are in 5th. There is one point separating the top 5 riders so it is anyone’s event tomorrow.
The top 4 places in the Logan Floats CCI2* did not change.  Christine Bates added nothing to her score to retain her lead on Delago. “He was fabulous,” said a thrilled Christine of her new star “he just gets better every time I ride him, the more I ask of him the easier he gets,” she laughed.  
“He slipped going into the rose garden and I thought he was going to fall over, but he had his eye on the next jump and I think the only reason he didn’t fall was that he made an extra effort because he was watching the jump.”
Christine said the ground felt heavy on her first ride Adelaide Hill yet Delago, an impeccably bred throughbred by Encosta de Lago, cruised around the course. “I clicked to him at one point and he just went up another gear, he can really gallop.”  
Lauren Balcomb also enjoyed a good round on Kootamootoo, to remain in 2nd place, KAtja Weimann remains in 3rd on BP Cosmopolitan. Amanda Habjan and Ellesmere Storm stayed in 4th , Western Australia’s  Ben Leahy on Le Directeur is on the same score as Katja but is 5th as Katja was closer to the optimum time.
Amanda Ross and William Wordsworth are still leading the CCI1* on 44.30 followed by Brett Davey (Goolcoola Montage) Cooper Oborn (Sun Showers) and Will Enzinger (Ruban Son) all on 49.40.
Teegan Ashby (NSW)leads the CCI1*J on Rockingham No Reason, Juana Andreou (Vic) moved up one place to 2nd on Sunvalley Donnerhe and Tayla Wilson (Vic) on St George Inveral Sail is into 3rd place.
Marnie Flick (NSW)on Chocolate Frog improved her  position from 10th to 4th with a clear fast round. There were plenty of clear rounds within the time in this class, indicating that there is a strong group of juniors moving through the ranks.
The indoor jumping at Werribee is always very influential so tomorrow’s competition will be very exciting in all the grades.
In a chage of pace from the thrills and spills of the cross-country, the CDI-W Grand Prix Freestyle was also held today. In a repeat of the Grand Prix Chantal Wigan and Ferero were the winners (68.925%), Heath Ryan and Regardez Moi 2nd (68.450%) and in third place was Gitte Donvig and Port Said 10 with 65.475%.

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