A heap of travelling for the team today with some 5 hours North from Chedington to Cambridge for Little Downham before a 2 and a half hour trek to Dover at the end of the day followed by 6 hours South from Calais to Lignieres. Kerryn left early doors with the Lignieres horses and Tim and Jonelle will meet up with them after the Pau and Fairhill runners have had their last big run at the one days.
Tim’s horses were in the advanced so he got to finish a bit earlier and both Happy Boy and Falco were on flying form. It was a tough marking section with nothing under 30 but Happy was a close third after dressage with a 32 and just pipped Falco who sat on 32.1. They both jumped super classy clear rounds and it was Happy who took the runner up slot adding 15 time for a solid placing and Falco sat in 8th with 30 time. Falco never goes fast before a big run, in fact apart from Classic Moet who had such a high cruising speed, none of Tim and Jonelle’s ever go quick in their last runs. It’s all about the 5 stars and Falco is set to take his first flight and his first trip out of Europe whilst Happy has a final outing at Oasby OI before he heads down to the South of France and his first 5 star.
Jonelle’s horses were in the 4S as they both needed box ticking qualifications. Hiarado (Jools) is really starting to knuckle down on the flat and a score of 31.6 is a very credible one in a section of big names where she finished 6th after the test and a marked improvement. Jools is no stranger to jumping great rounds and a comfortable clear in the showjumping followed by 17 time left her in 10th spot and the princely sum of prize money of £30. That doesn’t even cover the start fee! But Jools now has her Paris qualification all ticked and done (bar a 4S MER next spring which is compulsory for all Paris horses) and that’s a great feeling ahead of Pau 5 star.
Clever Louis can be forgiven for feeling a little miffed as he has barely been at home this week and being plaited again yesterday must have been a “WTAF” moment in his head. He scored a 35 on the flat which is also a work in oprogress, rolled a pole in the showjumping and tackled his first 4S cross country in over a year with gusto. Well, as much gusto as he was allowed with the handbrake firmly on for 38 time faults as it was most definitely a schooling exercise today to pick up the Boekelo qualification. The most ridiculous thing about the 13 month off the field of play rule is that although in order to run a 4L you have to do a 3S and a 4S you only have to complete, not pick up an MER. Which seems totally pointless!
So with the day finally done at around 5pm Tim, Jonelle and Cosby set off for Dover and the next big adventure in France. Cosby also had a great run today with Copper Beach (Sean) to set him up for Pau and the weather in France looks amazing which is more than can be said of here with Storm Agnes blowing in tonight.