The Northern Victorian Showjumping Club usually host their leg of the world cup circus before Wodonga and Sale but this year, with the circus being rearranged this 13th leg clashed with a relative new comer on the showjumping calendar, the pre-Tempo show in NSW and sadly the numbers at Shepparton were definitely affected and it appears that numbers were not so great in Sydney either. Perhaps the two states will confer prior to next years calendar being set and make sure that no two big shows clash!

Northern Victorian Showjumping Club run this great show in Shepparton at the WB Hunter Reserve and it is a lovely setting with a large grass arena and a second ring which runs on sand. This arena has always been one of the most attractive settings with plenty of trees surrounding the arena making it visually appealing and the arena surface itself has always been well maintained. This year (as seems to happen a lot) the sprinklers were turned on the arena in Saturday night but someone forgot to turn them off making Sundays jumping a little hazardous for some horses who are sensitive to footing. Seems like clubs can never win doesn't it - one is too hard, one is too wet - will there ever, in Australia, be a surface which is Goldilocks' "just right"?!

Again this report must start with a weather report - Shepparton was bathed in sunlight with a few gentle clouds rolling around the sky - thankfully there was quite a strong wind, which kept the temperatures comfortable, for most, and dried out the overwatered grounds quite quickly!
Timmy Clarke - pictured left - seemed to melting before our eyes, whilst Melissa Froesch - pictured below - seemed to be feeling quite chilly! And this was all on one day at the same moment in time!

Gavin Chester was in charge of course design for the weekend for all classes excepting the World Cup - which he is not yet qualified to build and he also wanted to jump in!

Gavin's Mini Prix track looked to jump well and was a good design with flowing and encouraging lines, which still tested the rider's ability without tricks for horses.

Leeson Sirrett came in for the World Cup class and more of this later!
The Mini Prix class was for horses not entered in the World Cup qualifier and was run immediately prior to the world cup class on Sunday. Four horses from the world cup class at Sale opted to start in the Mini Prix this weekend and the class saw 31 starters.

First to test Gavin's Mini Prix track was Miss Sully with Brad Trewin in the saddle and they jumped a credible 8 fault round which was also the result for Billy Raymont and Ampolla.

Third to go, Kristy Bruhn and Belcam Advisor - pictured below right - set the new standard when they jumped a very neat clear round and so the challenge was no on to see how many would jump off against her.

Anthony Thomas and Kinnordy Goerlitz did not have a great turn around the dance floor when they lowered 6 fences to finish with 24 faults.

Adam Johnston and Woodleigh Don Juan jumped a nice round but were not to enter the jump off when they lowered 2 fences to finish with 8 faults.

Amy Graham and Secret Idol lowered 4 for 16 faults to keep themselves out of the jump off today, while Timmy Clarke and Freedom Road -pictured below -

gave the crowd the jump off they were looking for when they came through the finish flags with all the furniture firmly in place.

Ally Lamb and the lovely mare Little Lisa looked the goods but a couple of unlucky rails saw them leave the arena with 8 faults while Ken Weir and BP Spectre had a round they would rather forget, as would the ring crew who had to rebuild after this round!

Jeff Bloomfield and Belcam Alida - pictured below - looked as if they were going to join the jump off until the final fence fell leaving them with four faults.
Des Gleeson was next out on the very tall chestnut horse, Mingarra Gamble - pictured below - and they had a lucky round where quite a few fences were tapped but everything stayed in place and they came through the finish flags with time right and everything standing so they joined the jump off, making it three at this stage!

Kristy Bruhn was definitely the busiest rider in this class and her second ride, Habarty jumped well but had one down for four faults.

Brook Dobbin and Woodmount Crusader lower the first part of the final treble for four faults.

Billy Raymont from Queensland was next to go sporting the latest fashion accessory, an imported grey! Commentator Paul Williams referred to Cardoso - pictured right - as being "fully imported" which created giggles around the grounds - has anyone yet partly imported a horse?

Cardoso is a very imposing looking grey and jumped well today to have just one fence down for four faults

It seems fitting at this time to mention that many Australians simply do not realise how hard it is for these imports to adjust to Australian conditions, with this year being especially hard because of the terrible drought throughout Australia. The imported horses are, generally speaking, used to jumping on the most perfect of synthetic surfaces and if jumping on natural surfaces their riders will not start them unless the ground is excellent under foot. This means that coming to Australia and jumping on the hard and every changing surfaces (often within one arena as was experienced this weekend at Shepparton) is very hard on the imports and it takes them some time to get used to. Often we do not see the best of these imported horses until they have done one or two seasons in Australia.

Next to go was another of the grey imported fashion accessories, Transatlantic, with Amy Graham in the saddle - pictured below left. This combination spent some time in the stables of jumpingaround.com and I have to say the 9 year old gelding is a gem to house and he is one I know for certain had never seen hard ground until he came to Australia - this combination are a young pair who will go along way together. Having had a lot of success so far this season, today was not one of their best days when they lowered two fences to finish with 8 faults.
Just returned from his first year based in Germany, Phil Lever is home for his 21st and some warm christmas cheer with his family at Treehaven Equestrian Club in Victoria. Lucky lad that he is, Phil's dad, Laurie gave him the Mini Prix ride on the recent Champion of Champions (Dressage and Jumping with The Stars) horse, La Laina and Phil looked very smart sporting his Boeckman riding jacket. Phil rode the horse very well and just a little hold to the nasty red planks caught the combination out and they fell leaving them with four faults today.

Pictured right - Phil Lever and La Laina.

Melissa Froesch and Dom Perignon II were another combination to finish with four faults today.

Kristy Bruhn and her longtime chum, Murph were next into the ring (Kristy's third ride in the class) but Kristy made the right decision when the horse knuckled coming over the first fence and refused at the second - Kristy tipped her hat and left the arena

Ian Hamilton from Queensland was another of today's 8 faulters when his horse Novak lowered two fences on course today.

After 19 combinations through the start flags we still only had 3 clears over this good Gavin Chester course - with 12 combinations to go, would we get more through to the jump off?

Number 20 into the ring was Timmy Clarke, this time on board Dreamtime Road and it looked for a moment as though he was going to have two roads into a jump off until the first part of the final combination fell leaving this combination with four faults.

Trevor March and Mitre 10 Missy had a bad start when the first fence fell and things got worse after that when a further 2 fences fell leaving them with 12 faults.

Russell Morrison gave his young up and coming superstar Joonderee Farms Digerido - pictured below left - a very sympathetic ride today allowing the horse to gain in confidence rather than looking to push the horse too quickly. Digerido and Rusty left the arena with 12 faults which included a turn away from fence 12A when the approach wasn't quite right.

Des Gleeson returned to the ring hoping to get a second horse through to the jump off but this was not to be today when Mingarra Solitaire lowered 3 fences fro 12 faults. Young Rider, Lachlan Brennan was next to give the fox-trot a whirl and finished with a very respectable 8 faults with DP Humphrey Bogart.

Kristy Bruhn's fourth trip around the dance floor was with Romantic Idol and this combination did not make the jump off when they finished with 12 faults.
Queensland based Paula Hamood was next to go on the crowd pleasing little buckskin pony so well named, Bucks Bunny - pictured below right - but today was exceptionally uncharacteristic for this super jumping pony and Paula, obviously sensing something not quite right with her super performer opted to retire after a couple of fences fell.

Billy Raymont and Vertical Horizon were next to try for a clear round but again the planks took their toll as did last fence and this combination finished with 8 faults.

Morris Clarke and the "cutest" Contagious - pictured below left - around were another combination who fell foul of the planks in the middle of the track plus adding another couple including the final fence to finish with 12 faults.

Just two to go and still only three in the jump off - Wes Joyce, the man with the most noticeable laugh in the world was next out with Irish Ace but today was not their day when a refusal and a couple down saw them leave the arena with 12 faults plus time penalties added.

Last out - Mark Nichols and Hidden Agenda were the last combination who could enter the jump off but it wasn't to be when they were eliminated for

two stops on course - just for confidence this combination jumped a fence on their way out after being eliminated and the horse flew over with no issue!

So just three made it through to the jump off - first out was Kristy Bruhn and Belcam Advisor and they set the standard when they came through the finish flags with everything standing and a super time of 43.32secs.

Second out was Timmy Clarke and Freedom Road and they knew what they had to do and they did it in fine form coming through with all in place and their time of 42.25secs put them in front of Kristy.

Last out and the only one to take the win from Timmy was Des Gleeson and Mingarra Gamble but the win stayed with Timmy when Gamble lowered 4 fences to take 3rd place today.

Timmy Clarke wins the class, with Kristy Bruhn in second spot and Des Gleeson in third.

Fourth place went to Phil Lever and La Laina - fifth went to Kristy Bruhn and Habarty.

Sixth place went to Billy Raymont and Cardoso and Melissa Froesch and Dom Perignon took 7th spot while Timmy Clarke filled 8th place with Dreamtime Road.

An excellent class over a well designed course.
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