Toronto, On – Tuesday was the start of the International Division for Open Jumpers at The Royal Winter Fair, with $50,000 being disbursed between two classes: the $25,000 International Power & Speed this afternoon and the $25,000 Jolera International Jumper Welcome which was part of the evening performance.
Top Canadians Ian Millar and Jill Henselwood likely want a “do-over” after their performances. Millar parted company from Stedet’s Leroy this afternoon; and Henselwood, second-last to jump, misread the placement of the start line and failed to activate the timers before jumping the first fence. Both were eliminated.
Todd Minikus (USA) and Britain’s Nick Skelton should be considerably happier with their day, however, finishing 3-4 and 1-2 respectively in today’s classes. Ireland’s Dermott Lennan took top honours in the opening event while new Canadian Yann Candele snagged third in the Jolera speed event. This week’s International courses are being designed by renowned American course designer Anthony D’Ambrosio of Red Hook, NY, who also designed the courses at the 2009 World Cup Final in Las Vegas.
Minikus, who went eighth in the order, took one look at the list of riders still to come and figured he better just “go for it.”
“I got lucky,” summed up Minikus with a chuckle. “I went early, so I thought I had to go pretty good because that list is stout with Nick Skelton, Michael Whitaker, McLain Ward, Margie Engle… so I left a stride out to the triple bar, did a couple of inside turns and Alaska jumped awesome.” he concluded.
Minikus will show his other horse, Pavarotti, in tomorrow night’s $100,000 CN FEI World CupTM Qualifier, as Alaska won the President’s Cup at the Washington Horse Show and this week it’s “Pavarotti’s turn to be the Grand Prix Horse.”
“I didn’t see Todd go,” explained runner-up Skelton, “I knew he was quick though so I just went around as quick as I thought I could without going too crazy and having a rail down. I’ve got to jump him tomorrow night (in the CN class) and I’ll be happy if I’m second then too!” Rounding out the top three was Yann Candele of Caledon, ON, who has finally received his red jacket to ride for the Canadians, having received his citizenship after riding for his native France in previous years.
“I was very pleased with Mustique tonight – she was very efficient and not ‘by description’ a speed horse. I went early in the evening so I did what I had to do and took all the options and inside turns available to me to save time. She is a little slower in the air than a regular speed horse – I did all the inside turns which put me in third at 64 seconds, and the winner was 59 so that tells you something! But we were clean which was the main thing.”
$25,000 Jolera International Jumper Welcome
Rider / Hometown / Horse / Score
1. Todd Minikus / Wellington, FL / Alaska / 0.00:59.090
2. Nick Skelton / Great Britain / Nemo 119 / 0.00:63.740
3. Yann Candele / Caledon, ON / Mustique / 0.00:64.440
4. Gerco Schroder / NED / Eurocommerce Seattle / 0.00:67.170
5. Amy Millar / Perth, ON / Romanov / 0.00:68.920
Tuesday evening was also the final competition for the Royal Horse Show’s Good Crop Services Indoor Eventing. The win went to 2003 Pan-American Games Team Silver medalist, Penny Rowland of Orangeville, ON, followed by Waylon Roberts of Port Perry, On while Sinead Halpin riding for the United States finished third overall.
Roberts noted that mom (Olympian Kelly Plitz) and dad (Olympian Ian Roberts, also a competitor in the series) had made some suggestions following his 20-fault round last night. “My parents said ‘fix it’, and then they told me how to fix it, and for once I listened to them!” laughed Roberts following the class tonight. “They said ‘just ride it better’ so this morning we went back to the basics, working on flatwork and balance, to try to be more in tune with each other.” The strategy obviously paid off.
While in previous years the course has been dramatically altered from the first to second nights, this evening’s course was nearly identical to that of last night. The changes came in some of the distances between the fences, and in the strategic placement of ring decoration, which impacts where riders can cut corners and perhaps shave off those all-importance few seconds.
“Some of the angles were different tonight and with the placement of the decorations you really had to think about whether or not to try and make those tough turns,” explained Rowland. “I would have tried a couple of those turns but when Oliver had problems I just thought ‘nahhhh!’ and I played it safe. I was a little slower tonight but went for the clean.”
British superstar and current European Champion, Oliver Townend came the final competition in second, having had a fantastic ride on a young horse in the first round the night previous. Unfortunately they took two chances tonight which just didn’t work out, and ended up costing them many valuable seconds in added time.
“He was much improved jumping-wise, in terms of carefulness tonight, but I think I treated him a bit like a more experienced horse and got caught out,” explained Townend. “Once he had his run-out at the keyhole I thought we might as well go for a placing – we have nothing to lose – and then we had a stop at the corner. I should have taken a bit more time but that’s the difference between winning and losing. I went to win and it didn’t work this time. But it will next time!” grinned Townend as he departed.”
$10,000 Good Crop Services Indoor Eventing Championship – Final Standings
Rider / Hometown / Horse
1. Penny Rowland / Orangeville, ON / Roundabout
2. Waylon Roberts / Port Perry, ON / Chocco De Pomme
3. Sinead Halpin / Gladstone, NJ / Showdown
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