Cooler in Belgium than in the UK this weekend which was nice for the horses. Brookfield Future News (Matthew) kicked off the day with his 3 star showjumping and he popped around with his neat style to bag a clear round and move up some 6 places into 10th spot.
The massive Nations Cup section preceded the individual riders so Tim had a long hang around but plenty of time to watch the track and pick out the tricky fences. A double of timber verticals on a little mound caused problems from the off at 7a and 7b with a fair few horses hitting the A pretty hard and then hitting the B even harder which is pretty unusual for a fence early on and the team were quick to remove the B element as for some reason the horses simply were not reading it. Those who picked up an 11 had their faults taken away and just unfortunate for the rider that hit the ground as it’s not possible to turn back time (as Cher lamented so well back in the day).
Plenty to play for in the Nations Cup and Tim was on hand to help Cosby Green who was riding Clever Louis. Cosby had been given the coveted 4th spot for the USA team and she certainly proved she deserved it with the first clear inside the time which was impressive, and there were only 2 more after her. Louis has been such a stalwart for Cheddington having been ridden by Chris Burton and Jonelle before Cosby picked up the reins and he and Cosby moved up to second place overall at the end of the day which is incredible!
Some 3 hours after the class had started Tim set out on Garcon (Tibo) and they looked pure class as they answered all of the questions posted on the track. Faults had been spread around the entire course all day and there was plenty to look at from coffins to big drops, forward lines through the waters and plenty of skinnies and corners. Tibo showed huge promise for the future and looked to have enjoyed every minute of it! They added 13.6 time to a superb round and looked very established at the level for a horse stepping up.
A couple of hours later Tim headed out on The Highlander (Ivar). Tibo is a pretty cocky lad, he doesn’t doubt himself at all and he sometimes queries Tim’s approach to the fences as he thinks he is a superstar that doesnt need to slow down but Ivar is a bit different. Tibo also has the luxury of being a year older and having more experience at three star level. Ivar is a careful jumper that uses his huge scope to over jump on the In (A) and then lands in trouble as the distances suddenly become very long in the combinations. Ivar has always been honest but today he genuinely left the start box a boy and came home a man.
I don’t recall ever seeing Tim praise a horse so much during a round. Everytime Ivar gave a massive jump in he then had to fight all the way through to get to the B and C and sometime D and he simply just kept making it through the flags no matter how difficult it was. Tim used all of his considerable experience to continually show him the way through and held his hand for the entire track. He looked an utter pro today and displayed all the qualities of a gutsy determined true international. They added 26 time but its still well inside an MER and an amazing debut at the level for a horse that did his first intermediate at Burnham Market this year where he accrued 40 jumping as he struggled to realise he didn’t have to jump over the wings of every fence and has has not had a rail or a cross country fault since.
Both the horses were pretty magical for young guns climbing the ladder and Matthew just added to the sparkle. A jog for the 4S boys tomorrow and showjumping and Matthew’s chance to shine cross country.