Garcon (Tibo) was first up to showjump in the morning and he showed his inexperience by tapping out the first fence which is always annoying! Apart from the out of the treble he jumped a lovely round and he was happy to hang out in the barn and watch the 4 star boys go to work for the rest of the day.
It was a massive day of cross country for the 4 star with some 112 competitors to get through. Rudiger Schwarz had designed a technical track that involved allot of fancy footwork, some forward distances and a real test of boldness and accuracy.
Chio 20 is nothing if not bold and he used all of his scope and power to answer the questions asked of hm around the track. There was a tricky combination at fence 20 which consisted of a big drop off a steep bank followed by two skinny brushes on a forward distance. It was not unlike the Leaf Pit question at Burghley although smaller in dimension and Tim let Chio trot off the bank so as not to land much further downhill than he would have wanted. Chio popped quietly and most politely down the drop and Tim held him in a short canter to the first skinny whereupon he promptly spooked off it at the last stride! It was totally out of character with the rest of the round and he jumped it neatly at the second time of asking and had to put four short strides into the second skinny which he did most correctly before finishing in a lovely rhythm. Nothing like Chio to keep you guessing although he did make the rest of it look pretty fancy and he only added 13 time despite the hiccup at that combination.
Dromgurrihy Gold (Dara) had plenty to deal with with just being 8 years old and there were plenty of experienced scalps scattered around the track as proof that it was no walk in the park. Tim has always believed in Dara’a natural cross country ability and he really stamped his card today with a clear round adding just 11.6 time to his score, gained masses of educational info for the future and impressed his rider. To put it into perspective, Dara’s clear round and time faults moved him from 98th spot after showjumping to 43rd after cross country! That shows how influential the track was!
All boxes ticked for the three boys and they head back to the UK with a planned run at a one day after Burghley before heading to their respective Autumn finalés. It maybe that we are only three quarters of the way through August but with it being such a disappointing summer weather wise it’s a bit sobering to think that Burghley is just around the corner!
