Quite the roll of honour at the 8/9 year old championships with Team Price having no less than 6 horses to run. They have always tried to maintain a strong sense of continuity and whilst retiring 5 star superstars at the end of the last season has been tough on the top end having this crew at Blenheim shows they are all ready with a new crew to keep stepping up the grades.
Three rides apiece so an even hand and it was Jonelle who opened the day as pathfinder on Fernhill Kankan. Jonelle had spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning with Ferdi Eilberg to hone her test riding skills and Kankan looked the epitome of a smart young horse right up until her final centre line where she dropped the bit and didn’t so much toss her toys out of the pram as to mirror image a more like a North Korea bomb test into the ocean. But the rest of the test was good enough so a score of 34.1 was fair.
Tim and Viscount Viktor are an impressive pair to watch in tails in a big arena. Viktor has immense presence and if he was guilty of anything today it was trying too hard as he cantered in the first shoulder in…all just nerves in a young horse that’s climbed the grades fairly quickly. He loves the big arena and he is elegant and balanced and it won’t be long before he is right up the top of the leaderboard. 32.4 today was also a fair mark of where he sits on his learning curve.
Senor Crocodillo (Diego) up in the late afternoon for Jonelle and he is becoming more and more Jonelle’s horse with each event that they do. He had a couple of green moments which he is entitled to…they are all just young advanced horses finding their way at this level…but his heart is in the right place and he does have that dependable gelding temperament as opposed to the sassy mares that Jonelle is more usually associated with. He doesn’t have any wow paces but he does have a great attitude and a level head which is worth just as much. 31 flat puts him in 15th out of 53 so plenty to be happy about.
Jarillo (Milo) is like Lord Flasheart from Blackadder. He’s super blingly looking with a big white blaze and 4 white socks, he’s a super mover, he is a stand out arrival in the warm up but I’m guessing his mates back at the stables think he is a right pain. He acts like he is their best mate then blows them out of the water with a 26.7 for 3rd place, he is squeaky bum scared of any other horse that travels towards him so forces Tim to ride him on the sidelines and in any space no one else is using and generally behaves like the sort of guy Lord Flasheart was. But, diva is what diva loves and it was a really solid test today with stunning changes and the whiff of a winner about him. He is just 2.1 off the lead and Jonelle has won this class twice with Faerie Dianimo (Maggie May) and Cloud Dancer (Marley) so maybe this is Tim’s chance to have a crack?
We are along way off when its day one of dressage but the sun is shining, the Palace makes a beautiful backdrop and if I were the Duchess of Marlborough I would sack whoever is in charge of the main arena as dead grass mown but not picked up , not enough water to make it vibrant green and a disappointing backdrop of a small hospitality and a watered down grandstand are just not acceptable. And if I sound like the Dowager Duchess of Grantham from Downton Abbey then so be it!
