The weather was fantastic and the arena looked perfect. Over the past decade the arena has been top dressed with sand several times and horses and riders really benefitted this year. The Courses were set by ACT course designer Brad Longhurst. Brad did a great job this year and the program enabled some greener horses and riders to step up over the weekend.

Over the years the showjumping has been run by local Forbes showjumping enthusiasts such as the Ball's and the Mulligan's. They now have a fantastic set of jumps that would not look out of place at most world cup shows. This year Cherie and Tim Fahey organised the jumping and put a lot of work in prior to the show improving the stables, and they now have 48 good quality stables, plus some of the original stables that they plan to renovate, and plenty of room to build yards. 

The Forbes Derby was sponsored by S&S Welsh Transport and is a class that is surrounded by history, with a winners list that can be traced back to 1965, which includes some of the best showjumping riders Australia has produced. This year Brad built a tough but forgiving 1.45m track for the Derby that saw two riders jump clear, the evergreen Lindsay Ball on Cannon and myself on RR Bellerose. We both produced clear rounds in the jump off, however, on this occasion I finished faster and took the win.

I remember watching Lindsay win the Derby on Gold Ring in 1992 so to beat him today, 21 years later, is rather remarkable.

The other main class for the show was the hotly contested under 40pts John Reedy Memorial Grand Prix. The track was a solid 1.30m that included a tough six stride curving line from the wall to the treble that caused numerous casualties. There were only five first round clears that went into the jump off. In the end, the on form junior, Jamie Priestly produced two mature double clear rounds with KS Optimus and TP Classic Act to take the Quinella ahead of Jamie Grant, Tallara Barwick and Kel Preistly. 

Other winners for the weekend included Claire Benn, Allan West, Jess Davies, Aaron Irwin, Mikaylea MacNamara, Jamie Clarke, Tim Fahey, Jennifer Wood, Lindsay Ball, Sarah Dreverman, Clint Beresford, Neville Cuzner, Jodie Hughes, Laurie Norris, Hayley Cox, Maddy Cox, Patrick Jefferies and Jenelle Waters. SEE FULL RESULTS IN THE PDF BELOW.  

It was good to see Showjumping looking so healthy in the Central West!

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