What a perfect venue - the perfectly maintained grass jumping arena is what showjumping is all about! All the new synthetic surfaces are fine but horses jump so well on a good grass arena and that is what we had in Balmoral this week.

The main arena is divided into two big jumping arenas for the first 4 days of jumping and on the final day for the IJM Grand Prix class it is opened into one huge jumping arena which is a beautiful sight.

With so many events running, jumpingaround.com will bring you coverage of a few selected events.

Firstly the Young Riders - the future of the sport - the 180+ young riders vied for 20 places in the Final event through 2 qualifying events at the show.

Of the 20 riders, only 6 jumped clear in the first round to go through to the jump off proving that Mark Magowan was not going easy on these kids. The track was tough enough, built to maximum height and width but all the riders did very well. No particular fence or combination caused major problems and it was more a case of unlucky fences dropping perhaps due to the light equipment being used - the were no disasters on the course and the worst result from round one was 3 fences down, most came through the finish flags with just four faults.

Nicola Wright was possibly the unluckiest of all - riding her mother's Leitrim Big Time, - pictured below right - she had a round which was a little unruly but everything was staying in place until the final fence fell leaving her with four faults and no place in the jump off today.

Another very unlucky rider was Sarah Curran who had the first fence down and then continued to ride a great round leaving all the fences in place with her dad's Chicago III.
So to the jump off - first to go was Sara-Jane Tracy with Sheila Tracy's Holmestead Saddlery Dot Com - pictured below - and they set the standard with a very good clear round breaking the finish beam breaking at 39.48secs putting the pressure on the following five riders!
second to go was Sarah Jane Russell with the handsome Irish gelding, The Gangsters Diamond - pictured below - but today was not to be their day when three fences fell for them in the jump off and they came through the finish flags with 12 faults in 36.78secs.
Third to go, Nicola Fitzgibbon is the girl of the moment having performed brilliantly in Compeigne and then at the European Championships, following up with placings in the National Grand Prix League on her return to Ireland. Nicola was aboard mother Kathryn's, Equestrian Direct What a Joker - pictured below - and they set a cracking pace from the moment they came through the start flags and all was going well until the penultimate fence fell leaving them with 4 faults in the amazing time of 33.06secs.

Next out was Australian Young Rider, 19 year old Amy Graham riding Kathryn Fitzgibbon's mare, Joie de Vivre - pictured below. Amy was thrilled to have qualified for this Championship and when she walked the course she commented that this was without doubt the toughest 1.20m track she had ever ridden. Amy also commented that she was very grateful that she has grown up in South Australia where the main Course Designer is John Wilsher who she said "built tracks which nearly prepared her for what she faced this week at Balmoral".

Congratulations must go to Amy for her professionalism and great riding - Amy had only had 4 days to get used to Joie de Vivre before coming to Balmoral and she rode her superbly and to qualify for the Championship was a tremendous effort.

Thanks must again go to the Fitzgibbon family for so kindly allowing Amy the ride on their mare.
Amy and Nicola - pictured below - hit it off as great mates and Nicola happily helped Amy when walking their first round track and then the two girls discussed the jump off track together.
Amy's trusted pal and Groom Zoie - pictured below - has also been with her on this trip and she has had a great time watching how things are done in Ireland and having a well deserved break after a long and hard season in Australia.
Thanks also must go to Leo Larkin from Flatout Media - pictured below - for sponsoring Amy during her visit to Ireland. Leo provided his brilliant video footage of the Young Rider class for Amy to take home on DVD as a memory of her ride in Balmoral.

So with two riders to go we only had the one clear round from Sara-Jane Tracy and Holmestead Saddlery Dot Com.

Next out was Tegan White and Roy Shields' Rockrimmon Senator and this combination left

the spectators in no doubt that she wanted to win the class and she jumped a super clear round breaking the finish beam at 35.33secs which put her provisionally into the lead. Tegan- pictured below left - has been doing very well on this horse this season.

But Tegan could not rest easy as last to go was one of the speediest combinations on the Young rider circuit - Lisa Priestley and David Campbell's Ye Wee Girl - pictured below right - and always they came through the start flags at full speed and that is how they came through the finish flags with everything in place and the unbelievable time of 32.43secs giving them the win today!
So the final placings saw Lisa Priestley at the top of the line, Tegan White was in 2nd place. Third place went to Sara-Jane Tracy and fourth went to Nicola Fitzgibbon. Fifth place went to Amy Graham and Sarah Jane Russell took sixth place.
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