What went wrong some punk kid from Germany beat you?
“Yeah, one second too slow and also they were five marks short in the dressage, anyway…”
So you are saving him up for Rio?
“Hopefully we can take Michi over there – that would be the go.”
It’s a light bulb moment for Australian eventing, it’s a long time since we’ve had a really big uplift…
“I think the team did really well. Obviously Chris has been over there and been competing very successful individually. He said it was his best Aachen experience so far, so that probably puts it in perspective a bit.”
Rider: Christopher Burton
Nationality: Australia
Horse: Nobilis 18
Sire: Nobre xx
Studbook: HANN – Hannoveraner Verband e. V.
Sex: Gelding
Year of Birth: 2005
Dam sire: Lemon xx
“The team all did really well, we were in front after the dressage, further in front after the showjumping, and that far in front after cross country. Really happy with everyone.”
Rider: Shane Rose
Nationality: Australia
Horse: CP Qualified
Sire: Quite Capitol
Studbook: HOLST – Verband der Züchter des Holsteiner Pferdes e.V.
Sex: Gelding
Year of Birth: 2003
Dam: Mareike II
Dam sire: Corofino I
“Firstly very happy with my guy, he definitely did the best test he’s ever done. He had been working really well and it was good to put it together the way he did. I still think there’s a bit of room for improvement, and I certainly felt that some of the judges weren’t as generous towards him as they could have been. I was really happy with the way he showjumped, and cross country was great.”
That was interesting Shane, that the great German Machine had a little hiccup in the showjumping…
“That certainly was, as a group they certainly didn’t jump as well as they can, and we certainly are under no illusion that they are going to continue to showjumping like that in a few weeks.”
The future looks bright?
“It’s a great team that is going to Rio, and Aachen was a confidence builder as well. We were good enough to match it with them – and just on an Australian thing it was great, it proves that we can be competitive from the other side of the world. Our best over there is as good as it needs to be. Obviously we need to keep pushing ourselves, but it does prove you can be Australian based and still competitive.”
That’s a pressure cooker cross country track at Aachen…
“Interesting. If you look at the track it probably wasn’t the biggest and if you wanted to just find your way around, you could probably do it reasonably safely. The thing about it was the extremely tight time. He did a good job of building a track, where if you wanted to go quick, the quicker you went the more difficult it became. The wagons/angled brush fences, whatever they are called, before you went into the main arena, that was a seriously tough test, you could find that on any course around the world and think it was tough. It proved to be fairly influential. It was a good track, the ground was great, some of the Europeans may have thought it was a bit on the firm side, I thought it was just amazing.”
“The experience of galloping into that main arena, it was quite an amazing noise, something you would never experience anywhere else. It was a great experience, and I was really happy personally with how we went, and as a team how we all came together. First time the Germans have been beaten in a Nations Cup in Aachen, pretty impressive.”
The nice thing is that there were some pretty cool combinations sitting back in the UK – Stuart and Pluto, Sam and the mare…
“Absolutely. They are certainly going to add to our team, and Christopher on Santano – that’s a pretty amazing horse as well. We are certainly looking forward to Rio.”
Rider: Samantha Birch
Nationality: Australia
Horse: Hunter Valley II
Sex: Gelding
Year of Birth: 2005
“It was good to see Sammi Birch ride, it was the first time I’ve seen her since she was Sammi McLeod in Australia, and she was every bit as good as she was back then, hopefully this will give her the confidence to put her name back in those big spotlights. She has been in the UK for a long while, and it is great to see her back out competing on a super super horse. Good for her, and good for us.”
Rider: Sonja Johnson
Nationality: Australia
Horse: Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison
Sire: Made of Gold
Sex: Gelding
Year of Birth: 2000
Dam: Gourmet Star
Dam sire: Luskin Star
“Sonja did an amazing job. To travel round the world and continue to perform at a level she is good at. We are really happy with the team, and so far everything has been good…”
Photos: www.eventingphoto.com