Samantha van Lierde flying on Cadillac NZPH in the Property Brokers Horse Grand Prix at the Alltech NZ Grand Prix show at Woodhill Sands – Photo by Charlotte Elise Photography
Maurice Beatson racked up his 214th Grand Prix win this weekend at the Wairarapa A&P Show. Aboard his faithful partner Central Park, he jumped the only clear in the Property Brokers Grand Prix. Maurice said that while it was a normal Gary Sinclair Grand Prix track, it wasn’t the easiest of courses and there were a few first timers starting. “It was good to see a few more horses coming up to Grand Prix level and they all went pretty well. He (Central Park) jumped pretty well today, the footing was good and Carterton is always a nice show”.
Hoping their good form will continue, the Waikato World Cup is the pair’s next stop. “We will just work our way along in these Grand Prixs and World Cups and see how it goes”. Some wise words from New Zealand’s Grand Prix maestro! Maurice also won the 1.30m on Central Edition, a son of Central Park, so he is excited for this horse’s future as his next potential top horse.
Also at Wairarapa, one of Maurice’s ex World Cup horses, Mandalay Cove, won the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider with Nigel Horton, jumping the only clear. Viggo Pederson and Tribesmen’s Warrior took out the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider with the only double clear and Bailey Lourie aboard Henton Serenade came up trumps in the Harrison Lane Pro-Am. Dylan Bibby on the Fernhill Stud’s Kiwi Windfall were the quickest in a two horse jump off in the FMG Young Rider and Annie Moffett with Sitarski were the quickest double clear by a long shot in the AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix.
In the young horse classes, Daniel Webb sat on top of the leaderboard in the NZPH & A1 Equine Reproduction 7 Year olds with his homebred WSJ Cartalusa (Cartell GNZ x Euro Sport Centavos). Isobel Kimble and the John Smith bred HR Edward (HR Khemosabi x Flying Ego) were the sole double clear in the Equitek Excel 6 Year Olds, as were Claire Wilson and McMillans Coldstone (Dock x Lansing – bred by Ben Goldstone) in the East Coast Performance Horses 5 Year Olds.
Further up the North Island, Woodhill Sands hosted the Alltech NZ Grand Prix Show. Having spent seven weeks competing in Australia over the winter, Samantha van Lierde started her NZ show campaign with a bang, taking out the Property Brokers Grand Prix (Alltech NZ Ltd) with her longtime partner Cadillac NZPH. Sam said that she learnt a lot in Aussie where the courses were a lot stronger, but very rideable. She was full of praise about this weekend’s course designer, Danielle Watts – “I really rate her, she’s really good to communicate and work with. It was a lovely track and she did a great job, she needs to be used more!”. Sam and ‘Stewy’ jumped the only clear, but Sam put that down to the horrendous weather conditions. She said that the wind was horrific and she almost didn’t start, but she’s glad that she did as they went really well and Stewy jumped super. Whilst Sam will aim Cadillac NZPH for some World Cups this season, she is planning on jumping a few more Grand Prix classes and all going well will be eyeing up Taupo as their first World Cup start.
Stacey Brown aboard Delta Le Camouflage also jumped the only clear in the AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix (Veterinary Associates), the Harrison Lane Pro-Am (Burmester Realty) jump off saw four combinations return, each of which incurred 4 faults with Olivia Glen and Coconella being the fastest of those. Other series classes saw only one double clear in each, Liam Rutland with Whiorau Ritchie in the FMG Young Rider (Shelley Bridgeman), Jordyn Appleton and Sobraon Park in the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider (Fiber Fresh) and Joanna Bullock with High Jump in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider (GJ Gardner Homes).
Vicki Prendergast and Jaime Campbell shared the honours in the Equitek Excel 6 Year olds, riding Stiletto C (Cohinoor VDL x Powerfee – bred by Vicki Prendergast) and Parisian Affair (Euro Sport Centavos x John – bred by Paula Brocklehurst) respectively.
Let’s Jump in Taupo saw some fantastic jumping. Over half the class made it into the jump off of the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider, with nine combinations aiming for the top spot. Seven combinations went on to jump a double clear where Anna Kincheff and Red Socks stopped the timers in the quickest time. Sophia Blackbourn jumped the only clears to take the quinella in the FMG Young Rider with Roxette ECPH and Octavia MVNZ. Henry Bull aboard Self-Portrait won the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider and Caroline Sutherland with Las Vegas RSNZ won the Harrison Lane Pro-Am.
Down in the South Island, Ashburton A&P faced some wild weather, from hail storms to bright sunshine, but that didn’t stop the competitors.
Molly Moffatt had a weekend to remember winning both the FMG Young Rider aboard Lazarus GNZ and the Mainland Coachwork Junior Rider on Kingslea Couture. Angela Ruddenklau won the Dunstan Horsefeeds Amateur Rider with Dynamic AR and Molly Smith was the sole clear round in the AMS Saddlery Pony Grand Prix.
For full results, go to www.evoevents.co.nz and www.main-events.com
The Jumping Team – 30 October 2023