The scene was set for an exciting weekend of showjumping at the venue which hosted the Equestrian events of the 2000 Sydney Olympics - and the atmosphere is electric as this weekend sees the final chance for combinations to "pull one out of the hat" and gain the chance to represent Australia at the World Cup Final in April in Milan, Italy this year.

The weekend also sees Sydney Olympics Course Designer, Leopoldo Palacious who will be an FEI Technical Delegate in Athens later this year was in charge of Course Design. Olympic Certificates of Capability were also be on offer for those who can complete the first round of this weekends World Cup Grand Prix class with 8 faults or less.

The Australian World Cup circuit saw 19 classes this year but to ascertain the winner the best scores from 9 classes are taken and this year we have seen a constantly changing leaderboard with leaders changing virtually after each round - we have seen many of the rounds this year won by a lone clear first round and this has certainly thrown the cat amongst the pigeons in regards to the leaderboard situation.

What does this say about showjumping under the World Cup banner in Australia? Many will have their own opinions on this and at jumpingaround.com we are more than happy to publish any discussion papers anybody wishes to write (editorial reserves the right to not publish at their discretion and no papers will be publish anonymously) - and perhaps there will be some brave enough to have a say!

I do have to ask the question about whether we would not perhaps be better off suspending Australian participation in the World Cup series for perhaps a period of 4 years allowing riders and horses to come up to the standard required - in all honesty Australian's have hardly excelled themselves at the past World Cup Finals and it is a huge ask for these riders to head off only a short time prior to the Final and try and acclimatise themselves and their horses in time for classes bigger and more technical than most dream of in their sleep - perhaps Australian showjumping could be better served with a National Grand Prix and Mini Prix circuit where the tracks can become progressively more demanding allowing riders to "produce" their horses to a standard. I just feel sure that the money currently paid into the World Cup Final coffers to stage the event could be better used in Australian showjumping.

And remembering that it costs organisers AUD$1650 to stage a World Cup class, with 19 on this years calendar perhaps the approx.AUD$30,000 that it costs could be better spent.

Sometimes it shows more courage to NOT compete than it does to join the fracas and come away with a demoralised rider who will perhaps finish up selling a promising horse because getting the horse home from the Final is just too expensive for the rider or owner to even contemplate.

And with all that said - I will sit by my email box and await any comment from interested parties who have ideas and suggestions about perhaps helping Australian showjumpers based in Australia to improve the way things are done!

So let's move on to the jumping here at S.I.E.C in Sydney's Horsely Park.................

John Valance and Jane Frankum know how to organise a showjumping event complete with entertainment and Tempo was no exception - this show looked after everyone from sponsors and owners through to riders and their entourage and that makes for a fabulous atmosphere. I would have to say that perhaps the venue is not all that "user friendly" when the scorching sun comes out as there is very little shade around the venue and getting from stables to truck park to arenas certainly requires fitness and stamina from those making the various treks - but this is a fault of the venue and definitely not the organisers!

Some of the tracks appeared from the stands to appear not too difficult and yet Saturday mornings C Grade saw no clear rounds with a four faulter jump off and in the 1.25m class which was the same track exactly as the C Grade there was only the one clear round and that came from Billy Raymont who in fact took out both bue ribbons for the C Grade and the 1.25m.

Again from the "armchair critic" perspective it appeared that the riders were quite obviously not used to riding on such a large arena and there were issues with rhythm between the fences which then caused problems over the fences and then there was the issue that the horses appeared to be lagging in energy half way around the big arena - a symptom of jumping in the outdoor classes at shows in a size which would normally be expected from an Indoor class.

For full results from the three days at Tempo Summer Classic click here and come with us for a photographic journey of the event.