An English summer day at West Wilts….in reality some sunshine for sure but a biting north wind that was both annoying and freezing. Tim was trotting down his first centre line at 8.30 am which is one way to ensure an early finish with three horses and it was Mercurial (Meryl) who posted a 35 in her first 100 whilst Supplejack (Jack) did a sweet test for a 32 in his first start at the level.
Different backgrounds for these two….Meryl is a homebred by Herald whilst Jack’s sire Australia not only won the Epsom Derby but another son of his won the Derby yesterday. Safe to say the horse that won yesterday, Lambourn, is a far more talented racehorse than Jack ever dreamt of being, having won a tidy £892,000 yesterday whilst Jack could only peruse the saddlecloths and dandy brushes on offer for a win today.
Difficult to say who impressed Tim more in the tricky showjumping between the two as they were both stepping up a level. They are both just 5 years old and its a busy, small warm up which isn’t the easiest to navigate on young horses without allot of experience and its a spooky track that the cross country runs below for added atmosphere. Meryl wants to be careful and jumped a clear but her personality dictates a spicy attitude which keeps Tim on his toes. Jack caught sight of the cross country in the warm up and got very excited as he realised (this being his third start) that the best bit was coming next! He bounced around, tested out a couple of rears and then knuckled down to do his best in the ring and just picked up 4 faults.
Tim ran Jack cross country first as his half owner Cam Price was looking at his this watch and getting bored as he realised there was no Keyflow hospitality tent to retire to as there normally is when he goes eventing. Added to that yours truly had forgotten to add him to the ownership so the commentator allocated Jack to Tim as a whole which was most unfortunate. Jack duly didn’t disappoint and scampered around a really tricky course with lots of surprises around corners for a fast clear in what for him is clearly cruise mode. Meryl made everything look very easy which was good as there are allot of ditches at WWEC but despite jumping the trakheners she managed to skid to a halt at the open ditch at fence A. As always with Tim she popped it at the second time of asking and came home pretty chuffed with herself although she possibly didn’t hear Tim mutter something about going home past Longleat Safari Park.
Jonelle had Osz Lo (Tommas) in the 100 for his second start of the year. He is 5 as well and he is big lad with a pretty dapple grey coat and quite a large head which houses his brain, and, at this point, some vacant space waiting to be filled up one imagines. He is uber laid back and the actual event itself didn’t raise his heartbeat by much which his solid test of 30.5 backed up. He came down to the showjumping looking like an old timer and cantered into the ring with a look on his face akin to those around the coffee shops in Amsterdam, nearly fell over the first with a “who on earth put that there” stance and then jumped a beautiful round.
He also went cross country with an attitude beyond his years with a lovely clear. He finished 11th at Ston Easton and 11th here so cant beat that for consistency.
LSF The Boss scored a 32 on the flat in his first novice start and followed that up with a solid clear in the showjumping. Boss has had a sheltered start to life it would appear in Ireland as is transpires his field mate was a cow. He is adapting to life in fast lane at warp speed however and his attitude of ‘if you don’t quite understand the question just go higher’ is both commendable and beneficial to an event horse. He applied the same technique to cross country and came home for a double clear and his first ever BE point on his card.
Tim just had Indy du Loir in the novice and his 29 dressage was very smart. Indy is a bit like a Formula 1 car when he gets a bit tense, he loses all downforce and gets a bit undriveable. He wasn’t over happy in the showjumping atmosphere despite Tim giving him the quietist of warm ups and ran through Tim’s hand for an early rail. The rail out of the final treble really wasn’t his fault, it was really short and he simply ran out of room but its easy to forget it’s just all a learning curve at this level and he’s definitely still learning!
Indy had a drive by at a skinny cross country but crucially came around the second time of asking and popped it nicely. That really is learning on the job and ticks all the right boxes. Indy was happy back at the truck having learnt allot today and he may have some catching up to do compared to his younger mates but when he gets there he really is going to be the business.
Jonelle heads out to Luhmuhlen 5 star on Monday afternoon and she and Rosie will drive through the night with Senor Crocodillo (Diego). Cosby Green is also en route with a first for her, two rides at a 5 star with Jos Ufo de Quidam and (Ufo) and Highly Suspicious (Puff). From 100 to a 5 star in consecutive weekends sums up eventing in Europe.