The jog was at 8.30 this morning for the three 4*L horses and as Tim looked pretty sprightly with Chio 20 and Happy Boy, Jonelle could have been forgiven for feeling a tad jaded with Senor Crocodillo (Diego) as she had actually had a sleepless night. Alys had brought Otis and Abel up for the weekend and as Jonelle is possibly the lightest sleeper ever she was kept awake by returning party goers in the trucks around her up until 2.30 am. Then she was aware of Otis suddenly making barking noises around 3am. Having discovered he was having trouble breathing she ended up at A & E with him in the middle of the night where he was diagnosed with croup ( a respiratory infection) and his condition was much improved by some steroids. All of this took a bit of time, not least due to the fact that Tim had moved the car from its normal parking place so she had to hunt that down first! Jonelle finally got back to Blenheim at 7.30am and since the jog was in an hour had no time for a kip…..she had to get changed and head on up to the Palace gardens in the drizzle. It’s just another chapter in the “Give me a break” time that Jonelle seems to be going through at the moment but happy days that Otis is on the mend.
Tim and Dromgurrihy Gold (Dara) were out bright and early on a very gloomy morning at Blenheim in the 4*S with the sunshine days well and truly over. Dara loves his cross country and he has always been a natural in this phase and he looked super classy round the track as he jumped everything with a confidence that belies his age and experience. He even got quite strong coming home which is impressive for just an 8 year old who was not at all backed off by the combinations! Tim hacked him around for 22 time which ticks the MER box without putting any pressure on Dara as he wasn’t going to win a prize and its a super way to end his 2024 season.
A long while later it was Jonelle’s turn to head out on Full Monty de Lacense (FM) as the top crew run in reverse order and they were lying 5th. We had had torrential rain, misty rain, a few murky dry spells and the order of the day was pretty much icky weather. If anyone hates riding in the rain more than Jonelle I have yet to meet them! Luckily for her FM wasn’t at all bothered and despite lying in 5th place he was very much an unknown quantity at this level as he hasn’t done an advanced and his last big run was back in Millstreet 3*L which seems many months ago! Such is the impact a Championship has on a season, it’s tough on the other horses but FM was up for this right from the get go.
It just goes to show that perseverance and faith pay off. For a horse who struggled to get the 3*Long box ticked as he had an innate suspicion of coffin ditches and had downed tools once or twice even on the flat cross country as he was wary of what was coming next. Today he galloped around the track with his ears pricked, was bold, brave, careful and zipped through the tricky coffin in the woods. He did baulk at the crowds once he got to fence 4 where they are suddenly very much in view and he did go a bit left and right down the hill to the first lake crossing but as Jonelle says, last year he would have taken that as a flat no, this year he trusted Jonelle to say “ok, I’ll deal with this”. They came home with just 8.8 time which left them in 6th spot in a huge class of over 90 horses and with his newly acquired Advanced status (which he only acquired at Cornbury!) showed him well worthy of the tag. Jonelle put yesterday’s setbacks behind her and rode like the pro she is and dealt with the weather with just tiny grimace! As she said, if she could have shaved 10 seconds off that time they would have won but he is, to be fair, very under exposed for a 9 year old having missed out on the Le Lion’s and the bigger competitions along the way. As Jonelle commented, he probably exceeded expectations this week for sure!
Jonelle and Senor Crocodillo (Diego) had jumped a beautiful clear round in the 4*L showjumping in the morning which at least was some compensation for yesterday’s uncharacteristic cross country faults. Tim and Chio 20 jumped later in the day in soggy conditions to add just 8 faults which for his first 4*L is no disgrace at all. It was an ever changing scoreboard with in fact just 15 clear rounds all day with only 4 in the top 10 when the rain was literally chucking it down making conditions very tricky. Chio ended up in 11th spot which was majorly impressive and he has certainly earnt his autumn holiday.
Happy Boy has won Le Lion d’Angers in bottomless mud, in fact the last year before they put in the all wether surface in the main arena. He has also won Boekelo and Le Pin au Haras and despite the fact he hasn’t got past the dressage in 2023 and not past fence 7 of the cross country in Saumur this spring he came into the arena with a fence in hand.
He didn’t need it…despite the conditions he yet again pulled it out of the bag and won by 5.7 marks and added Blenheim to his incredible tally of wins. It’s not often that you get a horse that can win at every level but Happy is that pony. A peach of a ride from Tim and congratulations to his owners Therese Miller and Susan Lamb who have been so very patient for the last 18 months.
And the rain continued to fall so they let the horses go back to the stables and held the prize giving in the tent! I don’t think I have ever seen that at Blenheim before but it was a move that must have been appreciated by all, especially the grooms and the horses!
