![\"Saddleworld\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Saddleworld.jpg\")
Story by Christopher Hector and photos by Julie Wilson<\/h3>\nStory by Christopher Hector and photos by Julie Wilson<\/h3>\nWill Enzinger is used to challenges at Werribee\u2019s National Equestrian Centre, tough fences, tough going, but he was facing a tougher one today, standing alone at the mike, he was to sing Christina Perri\u2019s \u2018A Thousand Years\u2019.<\/p>\n
It had been sung at the memorial service for Caitlyn Fischer, and now Caitlyn\u2019s brave parents were standing beside him, as the crowd rose as one to pay tribute to the young life so cruelly cut short. Will need not have worried, he sang perfectly. It was a moving, dignified, and totally appropriate commemoration. Another crucial healing moment for an eventing community that has been ripped apart over the past couple of months\u2026<\/p>\n Caitlyn\u2019s parents, Ailsa Carr and Mark Fischer presented a trophy to the highest placed Young Rider in the Two Star, Molly Barry who rode her off-the-track gelding, La Muso into fifth place. Molly Barry – here with Ailsa Carr and Mark Fischer – was awarded the Caitlyn Fischer Memorial Trophy<\/em><\/p>\n The weekend was also another step to re-establishing the Saddleworld Melbourne International 3DE on a sound footing after the total failure of the oh-so-smart private PR company who took it over two years ago. Oh yes, it was part of a five year contract, with great plans to steal the Adelaide four star, a plan that didn\u2019t last into the second year. Yes, it was lovely how they set it up, but you didn\u2019t need to be that smart to know that it couldn\u2019t possibly work financially.<\/p>\n The new director, Janet Houghton, is producing a no frills event that works, even if she cannot control the weather \u2013 it is bitter cold for the three-star dressage, and this year, with the option of a CIC, our horses in contention for Rio are all in the shorter format, with the CCI not quite at the cutting edge.<\/p>\n Shane Rose and CP Qualified have looked Rio bound for about the past twelve months, and each time they come out, they look more assured, the grey Holsteiner gelding looking leaner and more like an eventer, and less like the well-bred, but very careless, showjumper that came out of the Tops\u00a0Stables\u2026<\/p>\n The horse has a wonderful big loose trot, even if it did trail its hindquarters in the half passes, it was in good company, so did most of them. The counter canter looks easy, while the flying changes are just okay – the way Qualified canters you expect them to be big and expressive. Shane grabs the lead on 38.6, with the C judge, Britain\u2019s Tim Downes particularly enamoured, scoring it 76.15! Christoph Hess has them on a 74.81, with only Bev Shandley preferring Stuart and Pluto\u00a0Mio.<\/p>\n Pluto, like very fine wine, improves with age. I can remember him rearing and dislodging his then jockey, Katja Weimann, after a test in the Werribee Indoor, back in the days when the dressage and showjumping were held, in merry defiance of FEI regulations, in the big shed. The grey seems to click with Stuart Tinney, and it is a very professional classy test, with particularly splendid transitions, and wonderful counter canter. They finish phase one in second place of 40.30, which is a little harsh from where I am sitting\u2026<\/p>\n The other serious candidate for a Games spot, Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison, has a few contact problems, and while he tosses of a lovely, if totally unwanted, flying change in his counter canter, when Sonja Johnson asks him for the first, it is sticky. The second is fine. They are sitting in fourth place on 49.90 behind Megan Jones and Kirby Park Impress on\u00a049.70.<\/p>\n The CIC contestants then headed off to the showjumping arena, where once again we learnt pretty much what we already knew. Shane and Qualified went clear, Stuart and Pluto went clear and Sonja and \u2018Ben\u2019 had a rail. Young Tegan Ashby was clear on Rockingham No Reason, while Megan Jones was also clear on Kirby Park Impress, only to retire on cross country with Impress, as she did with her other CIC entrant, History.<\/p>\n In the CCI***, Judith Clarke grabs the lead on the wonderful (18-year-old) Warmblood, Diablito. This is easy Mum, you just sit back and enjoy the trip.<\/em> It\u2019s a lovely test for a 41.7 \u2013 although Christoph Hess prefers Stuart Tinney\u2019s elegant import, Carlchen. The mare gets a little behind the vertical but she has a wonderful floating canter. They finish on 45, but with a 75.96% from Christoph. Judy Clarke and Diablito<\/em><\/p>\n Amanda Ross and Dicavalli Diesel are seriously flash, a break in the walk hurts as do two not-so-flash flying changes. 45.6.<\/p>\n Stuart Tinney is also holding down fourth spot with Warhawk. The grey Warmblood from New Zealand is in a lovely frame, but he too has problems with the flying changes. They finish on 48.3.<\/p>\n Shane Rose is lying fifth and sixth going into the cross country: on a neat 50 with his homebred, Shanghai Joe, and 51.2 with Glenorchy South Park.<\/p>\n Bitter cold, the occasional drifts of light rain, it\u2019s Werribee, beastly one day, revolting the next\u2026<\/p>\n It is actually a little more civilized the next day for the cross country, I mean at one stage I actually removed a layer of clothing.<\/p>\n It may be a no-frills Werribee, but Ewan Kellett\u2019s fences look great \u2013 even if a few of the senior riders questioned whether the three-star was really up to three-star standard.<\/p>\n Sonja Johnson who has ridden more cross country tracks than most, was determined she wasn\u2019t going to take it too lightly, no matter what anyone said:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a number of riders telling me that it is really quite soft. I\u2019ll believe it\u2019s soft when I have galloped home clear and under time. I\u2019ve got old enough that I don\u2019t take anything for granted any more \u2013 something I learnt at Beijing is that the hardest fence is the next one I have to jump. That\u2019s very much the philosophy that I am going out with. Towards the end of the course, a number of the combinations are really positively forward. The stumps \u2013 I think it\u2019s 15, I\u2019m never good at numbers, the one through the Rose Garden, those are really positive distances, you have to be on your line, you have to be forward because there isn\u2019t room to chip in there. It\u2019s probably not as tough as Sydney, but from the point of view of the horses that are aiming towards Rio, I think it is probably a nice confidence run \u2013 hopefully. And the going is some of the best I\u2019ve ever seen here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll probably back off a fair bit when I get to the Mansion Gardens, because with that narrow running track, already it is bogging up badly, and the last thing I want to do is tweak a leg trying to go fast through there. I suspect I will go at normal Sonja and Ben pace until we get there, and then we\u2019ll back off and take it quietly, which is going to cost me some time, but that\u2019s life, I\u2019d rather have a sound horse.\u201d Amanda Ross and Dicavalli Diesel<\/em><\/p>\n Amanda Ross arrived at the finish to a flurry of action, sliding off Diesel as the team swung into action, stripping tack, as the vet checked the gelding\u2019s pulse and the buckets of water were poised for action. Amanda told me this was her normal operating style:<\/p>\n \u201cI just like to get him cooled off and stripped down, all that sort of stuff \u2013 I\u2019m a big one for recovery. He was really really good. He has got a massive stride, and I just buried him at fence three and fence six, because I tried to bring him back and all off a sudden the fence is on me \u2013 it\u2019s not that he\u2019s going too fast, he just eats the ground, and that\u2019s been probably the only trouble I\u2019ve had reading him. I suppose as you get more experienced at the levels, you can pick them off a rolling stride, which we are getting to do. So I apologized a lot to him, which I tend to do, sorry Diesel, sorry Diesel, sorry Diesel, and he\u2019s like just sit there Muppet, don\u2019t interfere\u2026<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Obviously you\u2019ve clicked with him?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I sold the red ones, I said I am not going to ride anything unless it is amazing, and it was a very big call, but I knew the amount of blood, sweat, tears and finance that you put it, it has to be a really great horse, and what do you know? Here it is! So we have clicked, and I love him to death. Probably coming from Shane and Niki Rose, he\u2019s a really positive forward going horse, he doesn\u2019t have any funny quirks, he\u2019s just lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n Still the dressage leader, Judy Clarke and Diablito was not about to surrender the lead without a fight:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was good\u2026 I had a couple of rough moments because I was very very set on going for the speed, because I knew that if I didn\u2019t go fast, I would lose the win. He\u2019s not a fast horse so I had to really push to get him close, he still had a couple of time penalties, but he was going as fast as he could!\u201d<\/p>\n His dad (Leonardo 68, an imported Hanoverian, a Grand Prix dressage horse that Glennis Barrey used to ride) wasn\u2019t built for speed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo, his mother was a New Zealand Thoroughbred but he is just not fast. He is quick in through combinations and things, round corners \u2013 he\u2019s balanced and light on his feet, so he makes up for it a little bit. He\u2019ll never be a Thoroughbred, but I wouldn\u2019t want him to be.\u201d<\/p>\n What is next for this extraordinary horse?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s having a spell now, he\u2019s rising nineteen. He really didn\u2019t do anything much in his life until I got him as a ten-year-old. I\u2019m not qualified for Adelaide four-star, I have to do another CCI three-star and there really isn\u2019t one. I couldn\u2019t have done Sydney and Melbourne, it would have been too much for an 18-year-old. I don\u2019t know \u2013 the NSW events, Goulburn and Equestriad, but he\u2019ll have a spell now, and I\u2019ll do a bit of work with my young horses.\u201d<\/p>\n Shane Rose rode \u2018only\u2019 three horses around Werribee, two in the CCI and one in the CIC, after his second entrant in the CIC, Virgil, stayed home nursing a virus.<\/p>\n Nice day at the office?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt was an easy weekend, I had to leave one at home. I\u2019m really happy. Niki\u2019s little horse, Glenorchy South Park, was super \u2013 a little green at fence 6 abc, but kept poking his nose through the middle and I had a really nice round. Shanghai Joe\u2026 I need to go back to the snaffle, I had him in the rubber Pelham and he is just too strong in it. He was just a bit rusty, and with the bit, I had to slow down earlier than I would normally. It wasn\u2019t his best round.\u201d Shane Rose and CP Qualified<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cQualified was awesome, like really really strong. Super gallop, super brave, super rideable, he felt awesome. He\u2019s lead up heading in towards Rio is spot on, he\u2019s really close on the flat. I was a little annoyed with my test, he just got a little up in the neck when he went into the warmup ring, with all the yellow jackets in the distance, and I couldn\u2019t quite get his neck down and his back up. I think we could take another five or six marks off that test, which is good \u2013 going 38 and being disappointed with the test. He\u2019s just going to get better and better. It\u2019s a bit of a shame that Virgil couldn\u2019t make the trip because he\u2019s got a bit of a temperature, hopefully he\u2019ll be right again by the time I get home.\u201d<\/p>\n And Sonja, did the course ride how she thought it would?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very pissed off with my watch. It didn\u2019t start at Sydney in the CCI on Valentino, and it didn\u2019t start here again either. I lost some time fiddling with that\u2026 maybe I need a new one. As a result of that I\u2019ll have a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n But you were always planning on getting time\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat was the plan. You get into the Mansion area and you are the second last horse around there and you know it is going to be mucky, and it was. He jumped fabulously, he\u2019s\u00a0good.\u201d Sonja Johnson and Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison<\/em><\/p>\n So as the day got rapidly gloomier and colder, Shane was still in the lead on Qualified with just 1.6 time, while Stuart and Pluto were second with 14.8 time. Sonja and Ben had moved up to 3rd with 4.8 time, while the fastest run of the day came from Sonja\u2019s understudy, Shenae Lowings, last month\u2019s Saddleworld Rising Star, who added just 2.4 to her dressage score of 51.5 on Ballyhoo.<\/p>\n In the CCI***, Judy and Diablito were still in the lead with just 5.2 time, while Stuart and Warhawk had moved into 2nd, still on their dressage score. Shane and Shanghai Joe had slipped up to 3rd with just 0.4 time, just in front of Shane and South Park who went clear clear.<\/p>\n On the final day, in the showjumping, it is once more the triumph of the Tinneys. Stuart goes clear clear on Warhawk to snatch victory from Judy Clarke and Diablito who have one down. Tegan Lush has a clear clear on Belfast Mojito to go into third, just in front of Shane and Glenorchy South\u00a0Park.<\/p>\n Stuart\u2019s daughter, Gemma takes out the Off the Track <\/em>CCI 1* on Annapurna, who is out of Pluto Mio\u2019s dam, but while Pluto is by Daley K, Annapurna is by the Donnerhall son, Donnerblitz (out of a mare by the good jumping sire,\u00a0Landadel). Gemma Tinney and Annapurna<\/em><\/p>\n Nice weekend at Werribee for your crew, Stuart?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt was good, we were pleased with how we all went, Gemma and Anna included.\u201d<\/p>\n All it needed was for Karen to win the raffle\u2026 Let\u2019s talk about Pluto and Rio?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI hope we get to go, that\u2019s number one. He\u2019s going better than he\u2019s ever gone in his life, I\u2019m really pleased with him. I\u2019ve just changed the way I ride him, asking a little bit more of him and he\u2019s really stepped up to the occasion. Hopefully we\u2019ll get at chance to have a go at Rio.\u201d<\/p>\n Are you planning to join Shane at Aachen CIC in the runup?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo, I pretty much want to do what I did in the runup to the WEG in Normandy, get there, just train a bit. He performed well in Caen, so I\u2019ll be doing much the same.\u201d<\/p>\n Did you think the CIC track was test enough for you, or don\u2019t you criticize course builders now you are one yourself\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Stuart is laughing \u2013 \u201cNo, I think I try to tell the truth. The track was good. CICs are always difficult time wise for Pluto, he is much more of a three day event horse, because he has such a wonderful gallop. The track was good enough, certainly the jump into the first water, very early in the course, was as big as you\u2019ll get anywhere for a fence into water. There were some nice lines, no I thought it was a nice\u00a0track.\u201d Stuart Tinney and War Hawk<\/em><\/p>\n You must be pleased with your young horse, Warhawk, winning the CCI?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s lovely, he\u2019s just such a nice horse to deal with and be around and to train. I was thrilled with him. We went all the straight routes everywhere, no problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Are you looking over your shoulder, you might get pushed out of the team for Tokyo\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIf you are talking about Gemma, if I\u2019m going to be pushed out of the team by anyone, that would be a good option. She\u2019s riding the mare really well, they get on together. That was a qualifier she needed to move up the grades, hopefully onward and upward to that combination.\u201d Stuart Tinney and\u00a0Pluto Mio<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m guessing that the mare is a little less tricky than Pluto\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe thing about Pluto these days is that he is not that tricky any more. He really is quite rideable, very different \u2013 it has taken him a while. Anna is similar to him in some ways. She doesn\u2019t \u2018go\u2019 quite so much as he does, but they are actually quite similar, luckily we are getting a handle on them and they are going quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the Tinney family, the Three Day at Werribee is looking fairly solid as it heads towards its 60th Birthday, next year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christopher Hector reports from the 2016 Saddleworld Melbourne International Three Day Event…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1244,1537,1223],"class_list":["post-27638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eventing","tag-eventing","tag-melbourne-international-3de","tag-saddleworld"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27638"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32159,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27638\/revisions\/32159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Will\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Will.jpg\")
“I have loved you for a thousand year, I will love you for a thousand more…”<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Molly\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Molly.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Diablkito\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Diablkito.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Diesel\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Diesel.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Qualified\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Qualified.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Illicit](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Illicit-Liaison.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Gemma](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Gemma-Tinney.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"War](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/War-Hawk.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pluto\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Pluto.jpg\")
<\/p>\n