It might have been a cool and grey morning in Ireland but fair to say that it was pretty similar in England. With the jet stream firmly in situ over/below the UK for the entire month of July it has been a cool and wet month for sure and we are mourning the loss of our June weather like you could not believe.
Green green grass in the Emerald Isle though and it was a Kiwi whitewash in the 4L with a win for Clarke Johnstone and Menlo Park (Jacko), a fabulous runner up slot for Jonelle and Hiarado (Jools) with a super clear round today over the coloured poles, 3rd for dressage leader Sam Lissington and Ricker Ridge Sooty who added a rail to some time cross country and another great clear round for Tim and Viscount Victor to hold 4th spot and super MERS for both Tim and Jonelle at the all important pre Olympic 4*L format.
In more good news Clarke won the 3L as well with an emphatic win with dressage leader Domasco (Baby J). It’s an unusual path for a Kiwi win…Domasco was sold to NZ as a huge price yearling thoroughbred, tried to race for a good few years with little success and then was offered to Clarke as an eventing prospect as a 5/6 year old back in 2018. Clarke was a bit over eventing at that point, Heelan Tompkins bought Baby J, found his 17hh frame too big and his behaviour too naughty and sent him to Clarke for schooling and the rest, as they say, is history. Clarke bought him from Heelan and he has been the subject of many offers since he arrived in the UK for sure! He has “Future Superstar” stamped all over him!
And talking of future superstars…they come in all sorts of packages. Chio 20 redeemed himself with a lovely clear round today in the 3L and Dromgurrihy Gold (Dara) just dropped a single rail to end up 5th which was a solid effort for sure.
So all in all a great week for the Kiwis and awesome to see Tim and Jonelle back on flying form. This all made the news that Irish Ferries had made a massive error in overbooking the Rosslare/Pembroke return so all the big trucks were being re routed through their Dublin route. The route from Mallow to Dublin is pretty much equidistant to the route to Rosslare but Rosslare docks in Pembroke ( South Wales) whilst Dublin docks in Holyhead (North Wales). That is a massive difference in return journey and since the Team Burto/Price residential camp begins tomorrow with Jonelle down to teach at 10.30 am she is currently at Rosslare waiting to board in one of the 2 horse trucks whilst Tim has stuck with Megan Hodder and the 8 horse double of Maxi and Drag as it would have been “pretty mean”, in Jonelle’s words, to cut her loose on her own with that rig!
Tim is due to start teaching at 1.30 tomorrow so fingers crossed its a smooth run home!