The Tempo Summer Classic is one of the premier shows on the Australian Showjumping circuit - the organisational side of this show is slick and professional under the care of Jane Frankum and John Vallance of ESP Equestrian Sports Promotions and the sponsorship comes from Charles Blinkworth of Tempo Services and the NSW Showjumping Council.

This year the show holds greater importance than usual - Tempo Summer Classic hosts the final leg of the Pacific League of the World Cup each year but this year the final World Cup class is also a Selectors Series competition, with all eyes on the World Equestrian Games later this year.

Let me begin with an editorial:

The four selectors, Graham Watts, Peter Cooke, John Wilsher and Leeson Sirret have a tough task as they have criteria to adhere to which sees them having to be confident of a top 12 teams finish and of having riders in the top 60 at the WEG - if the selectors are not confident that they can select a team and individuals who can achieve this then they have the task of telling the powers that be, that no team should be sent as their own criteria cannot be even vaguely guaranteed!

And from what things look like on paper, one would certainly have to assume that Edwina Alexander can pen it into her diary that she will be going - her current form has her hovering consistently around the top 50 in the world on the FEI Riders Rankings and she is currently the only Australian with her Certificate of Competency.

The next highest ranked Australian rider being Chris Chugg who sits on number 340, Rod Brown is ranked 373 and David Dobson sits on 381 on the list, while the fifth highest placed Australian is 20 year old Jamie Kermond who is ranked 478th on the FEI listing.

If one was to take a simplistic view then the 5 highest ranked would be our team - but this is of course a foolish way to look at selection for the World Equestrian Games - there are formulas, there are expectations and there are hopes and dreams and hopefully none of these will be confused as reasons to send a team. If we do not have a team who will not be annihilated and will not repeat the poor result from Athens Olympics then we must not send a team - surely we must never again have sacrificial lambs heading to these important events without the horse power or the training and experience at the required level.

If it is so important to the officials that they go to these events then perhaps the membership of the Equestrian Federation of Australia should consider sending the Australian Coach and Chef d'equip as observers to see just what is required of horses and riders competing at the level of World Games and Olympic Games - this would be cheaper and less soul destroying than sending hopeful lambs to the slaughter!

And now to the jumping - it would seem to me on day one that the numbers are down but that could be due to so many factors - the cost of fuel has become extortionist in Australia with diesel running at around AUD$1.39 + and this has perhaps deterred many from making the trip. There are those who have complained about the cost of stabling, entry etc. for this show but I do not think this is reasonable considering the venue on offer - but having said that I believe the venue to be one of the lease horse friendly venues in the world which perhaps justifies those not wanting to come to the event.

The venue includes huge amounts of walking horses from pillar to post, there is no shelter offered against the usually scorching conditions at SIEC for this event which discourages specators making it a lonely attempt at SHOW jumping - there is no-one to watch the show!

The jumping began on Friday with the main arena hosting a double class, the 1.20m/Young Rider Qualifier and it ran from 8.30am till 12.30am.

The second class of the day was the 1.30m one round with a jump off class which saw 27 starters and just 7 clear rounds. Of these 7 clear rounds Vicki Roycroft had three through to the jump off but opted to to withdraw Infatuation and Ricardo D and Chris Chugg opted to withdraw Alondra so these three horses took equal 5th placing in the class which saw 4 combinations fighting it out for the prize money.

First to go was Vicki Roycroft from New South Wales with the handsome coloured stallion, Copabella Visage and they set the standard with 4 faults in 45.06secs which was a very fast time which would prove an unbeatable time.

Next out was Olympic Eventer, Wendy Schaeffer riding Koyuna Sun Magic and she listed a clear round in 51.07secs giving her the provisional lead at this stage.

Mashiko Ito and KC Discovery were next to give it a go but they too recorded four faults and with a tim eof 51.30secs they at this stage slippedinto third place.

Last out was Andrew Inglis on the gorgeous Silver Braid and it looked like he was on track to take the lead from Wendy until the second last fence fell and they finished with four faults in a time of 46.08secs.

Final placings saw Wendy Schaeffer taking home the $200 frist place money - Vicki Roycroft took home second place $150 and Andrew Inglis was buying dinner with his third place money of $120 with the $90 for fourth going to Mashiko Ito.

Two of the people who are instrumental year after year in this event running so smoothly - pictured left - Jenny Sheppard and pictured right - John Vallance

The viewing platform - pictured below - is always well used by coaches, parents, riders and supporters and this year is no different.