Señor Crocodillo (Diego) and Jonelle floated through the jog early this morning which saw 4 combinations withdrawn before it and a further 3 not accepted by the ground jury which left just 25 horses to jump in the main arena. The 5 star jump first in Luhmuhlen which is nice with a long journey ahead of them and the enthusiastic crowd were enjoying the sunshine when Jonelle and Diego cantered into the arena.
It was a technical track as we have come to expect at Luhmuhlen with forward lines and a short treble which tested ride ability on the third day. Diego simply jumped his socks off with a superb round that was a real show piece. He picked up 0.8 of a time fault as the time was really tight (with just 4 combinations making it inside) and moved up some 5 places by dint of his clear jumping, finishing in 13th. It was a really strong finale and Jonelle was absolutely delighted with him even if the 11 penalties for the pin did rankle somewhat!
Credit to Cosby Green who added a rail to Jos Ufo de Quidam’s score and just 0.4 to Highly Suspicious (Puff)’s dressage score for 4th and 8th which is very impressive and marks a sterling week for her. It’s a long old drive back to Calais but one that is made so much easier when the three horses that left Chedington on Monday all blitzed through their 5 star debuts with aplomb.
Shout out to Rosie Thomas and Tilly Conder as well…two superb head girls who work so hard and got to see their charges shine this week.