A split day for Tim at Blenheim as the jumping for the 8/9 3*S was in the middle of the cross country for the European Championships so an early start with Garcon (Tibo) and Gloire de Marchenval (Louis) then a long break until The Highlander (Ivar) after the cross country had finished.
Tibo stepped up to a great clear with just a few seconds over and looked very ready for his next gig at Boekelo.. Louis has not had the 4*Short experience of Tibo or Ivar this year and it showed as he went quite green in his first 4 star international and gawped down the treble to clatter the in and copped another fence as he assimilated the associated pressures he hasn’t yet seen. He might have picked up some 8 jumping but he also showed his class with some beautiful fences and how far he has come this season in such a short time.
A long break for Tim whilst the Euro cross country caused plenty of problems and the Bris spectacularly failed to finish as a team. They were not alone and it was good to see a shake up of the team standings but fair to say when you have Laura Collett & London 52, Michi Jung on fisherChipmunk and Tom McEwen on JLS Dublin as 1, 2 and 3 you have to agree the cream rose to the top.
And then Ivar cruised on in and does what Ivar does… a superb clear to retain his 5th spot going into cross country tomorrow. And he started the season at novice as well so quite the climb!
Meanwhile Jonelle was landed with the Didi ( for the uninitiated no living, basic 4 horse) for her trip to Little Gatcombe with J’Orange (Daisy) and Brookfield Royale Love ( Edward). Daisy is on the rebound from injury and is ticking a couple of boxes before she goes novice next and Edward has one novice at Aston under his belt with his producer so today was a tick the box exercise before their season finalé at Bovington. I know… some seasons end at Boekelo and Pau, some at Bovington. It’s just the way the ladder works.
Anyway, Jonelle described Little Gatcombe as indeed being “Little” but said it served a purpose and both horses obliged with double clears. They were both HC so no prizes and as she heads back to Dorset tonight there are two happy horses on the truck.