Faerie Good Golly was as bright as a button at the vet check this morning and by the time she cantered into the arena for the showjumping she was beginning to appreciate the massive crowd. Interesting to note that just 24 hours earlier she had been deadly suspicious of them as she left the start box but today she looked at them appreciatively as she had clearly decided that they were there for just her. Classic Moet (Molly) never cared a jot about whether there were fans around or not but another feisty mare, Faerie Dianimo (Maggie May) cared very much indeed and only ever performed at her best on front of them. If Golly was a demon yesterday then today she had upgraded to Mephistopheles as she bounded around the jump track in the main arena, never looking for a second like she had run 9 minutes yesterday at speed. It was a delightful round as she exuded confidence and, it has to be said, jumping far more carefully and in a much better frame than her mother could ever have hoped for! She may look like Molly and have Molly’s grit and determination but that jump is all Upsilon for sure.
Golly and Jonelle climbed up all the way to 6th in the World Championships for 6 year olds. Jonelle was delighted with her and we were all glad to see. a glimmer of light at the end of the 2024 season for Jonelle as it is a long old winter when you finish on a rubbish result. Of all the hopes and dreams before Paris who would have thought that it would be this little mare that gave Jonelle the best result of the autumn season when she only qualified at Cornbury? She’s a proper pocket rocket, she defied the odds when she was so sick as a foal to pull through and who knows how far she will go……but the future is (finally) looking bright.
Meanwhile in America Falco was still in bed and hadn’t even jogged when Jonelle and her team were packing up at Le Lion d’Angers. To be fair the jog at Fairhill was a ‘blink and you will miss it’ sort of affair with just 8 horses who all breezed through on a cold morning in Maryland.
Beautiful sunshine again this afternoon though and Falco blitzed everyone away in the warm up as those stateside are not used to his phenomenal scope and he went right on in and jumped his socks off as per normal. David Doel went in and had a rail which moved Falco up into second and then Ollie Townend and Ballaghmor Class went in with no rails in hand but a scattering of time.
You have to go back to Kentucky in 2021 to see a clear round from Thomas at 5 star level but today he pulled it out of the bag. He is an extraordinary horse for sure, with now 4 five star wins to his credit which is pretty spectacular. He is 17 and surely on the wane of his career, Falco is 15 and is much lower mileage , with a 1st and a 2nd at 5 star we would assume he is entering his golden phase. And it is not lost on us that quirky Thomas is by the same sire as uber quirky Ringwood Sky Boy ( Ozzie) who was another to shine at the tough ones!
It’s a huge gamble to fly across the pond and take the risk and it’s a big credit to owner Sue Benson that she took the plunge with Tim. Sue has been a massive part of Falco’s trajectory ( I would use ‘journey’ except that all the Strictly Come Dancing contestants use it every week and have therefore trashed it) and to her credit has never lost belief or love for the horse that is now fast becoming a firm fan favourite.
Falco, we salute you. You have been absolutely incredible this year.
Tim’s amazing autumn season continues as he now flies to Paris tonight and then on down to Pau to meet up with first time 5 star debutante Jarillo (Milo) for the Pau end of season 5 star. Just the one left for 2024 and it’s one of the best.
Photo credit https://shannonbrinkman.zenfolio.com