Well, I was sure that we were about to make Australian history in the eventing discipline and come home with a swag of medals at the FEI World Championships! Unfortunately it was an inaccurate prophecy.
“Andrew and Vassily de Lassos
just did not have a good day.”
We ended up in 10th place from a team perspective, which means we are not qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics as a team and individually our highest placed combination was 13th with Shane Rose riding Virgil. However, Australia should be able to qualify for Paris elsewhere – and in actual fact our combinations showed promise, it’s just luck wasn’t on our side.
What happened? It was almost unbelievable. We had a great team that should have been almost invincible.
ANDREW HOY & VASSILY DE LASSOS
Our first attack weapon consisted of Andrew Hoy riding Vassily de Lassos, who at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics just one year ago was the individual bronze medallist and team silver medallist.
In terms of Andrew and Vassily de Lassos having a bad run, you do need to go back to 2018 when this combination was still competing in a grade below Olympic level, which was 3*. The one bad run they did have was in Poland four years ago. Since then, this combination has had zero cross country jumping penalties, including Olympics and World Championships, and just one single show jump rail down until now. Andrew and Vassily de Lassos started brilliantly at the World Championships in Pratoni del Vivario in the dressage with a personal best long-format event score of 28.1 penalties. Vassily de Lassos was perhaps not born to be a dressage horse, so this score was better than good, nothing short of brilliant!
From here, however, Andrew and Vassily de Lassos just did not have a good day at the office. Two cross country run-outs, which is 20 penalties for each one and this in turn impacted on time taken on the cross country, which amounted to 14.8 time penalties. So, two run-outs on cross country would normally convert into at least 30 time penalties, so Andrew and Vassily de Lassos were flying trying to minimise the damage. Goddamn, they did try. On the final day of competition, a rail down in the show jumping was actually a great effort on a show jumping course that did cause grief for the whole field, however for Andrew it did rub salt in the wound as this was only the second rail to come down for Andrew and Vassily de Lassos in the last four years. So, our No. 1 first attack weapon finished individually in 54th position.
“Kevin is a bit of an ice man
and very steady under pressure.”
KEVIN McNAB & SCUDERIA 1918 DON QUIDAM
Our second attack weapon was Kevin McNab riding Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam, who was also a Tokyo 2020 Olympic team silver medallist and who has gone from strength to strength since Tokyo, making everything he touches turn into gold!
Like Andrew, Kevin threw everything at the dressage phase and came home with a personal best three-day event score of 25.7 penalties. He was on fire! Kevin is a bit of an ice man and very steady under pressure and very, very steady under lots and lots of pressure. Kevin started out on the cross country in a super impressive way. The Australian team had worked out where all the minute markers were, and the five-minute marker was just after fence 14, which was called Intesa San Paolo Belvedere. Kevin checked in here about four seconds up on time. Definitely in front of time and going easy. The top riders do make it look easy. At fence 16b, Kevin’s rein snaps and he travels straight past a difficult angled apex. The horse did not realise that it was supposed to jump that fence. Kevin had the problem of pulling the horse up on one rein when it was in full flight battle taking on one of the biggest international courses in the world for the year.
Anyway, Kevin managed this and without getting off managed to thread his broken rein through the bit and tie a knot in the leather, which would hold for the rest of the course at full gallop. Pretty creative, fast thinking and lots of horsemanship. I think Kevin was worried that if he got off to adjust the gear he would be penalised a fall. The way I read the FEI Eventing Rules, article 545.4 does say you are allowed to dismount to adjust equipment or inspect your horse without penalty. There is another rule, article 549.5.1, that says if a rider needs to remount their horse, it is considered a fall. So better to avoid the whole debate. Kevin made running repairs from the saddle and then continued on. Kevin got 20 penalties for passing that fence once the rein had broken and he also incurred 24.8 time penalties.
Just from an interest point of view, the reins were in good condition and it was the D connecter on the pelham that broke. It actually wasn’t the leather that broke, but the elastic inside the leather casing. Anyway, the Australian team was of the opinion that had this rein not broken, Kevin would have finished the course clear of cross country jumping penalties and clear of time penalties. Had this happened, Kevin could have achieved an individual placing of eighth and the Australian team could have finished fifth and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Oh, my goodness! So close and yet so far away. Ouch, ouch, ouch! As it was, Kevin finished 47th and the Australian team just couldn’t recover.
SHANE ROSE & VIRGIL
Shane Rose was first out for the Australian team and this made him the pathfinder. First to go for Australia in the dressage and Shane and Virgil did a really good job scoring 31.5 penalties. To score well early in the dressage competition is always difficult enough; perhaps more difficult than scoring well in the last third of competitors. Anyway, this was 2.1 penalties behind his personal best dressage score from four years earlier at the last World Eventing Championships in the USA, but still a top score. Shane on the cross country with Virgil was impressive and he came home with a clear jumping cross country round and just 2.8 cross country time penalties. A very solid performance from the pathfinder. Shane went on to have one rail down in the show jumping, which was also very good considering how tough the show jumping course was. I am sure Shane was disappointed not to be clear.
Pratoni del Vivario World Eventing Championships had the lowest number of clear show jumping rounds in the last 20 years. The show jumping was super tough. The Equiratings people stated that the quality of the riders and horses at these World Championships was the highest in 10 years. This was based on the Equiratings ELO. The Equiratings ELO refers to the rating that measures proven ability to consistently beat high quality opponents. Even with this rail down, Shane and Virgil ended up being Australia’s highest placed combination at 13th, and not only were they the Australian trailblazer, but also the Australian anchor man.
HAZEL SHANNON & WILLINGAPARK CLIFFORD
Hazel Shannon was the baby of the Australian team on her seasoned three-time Adelaide 5* three-day event winner, WillingaPark Clifford. This was Hazel’s first time on an Australian championship team. Hazel, like all of the Australian riders, started the competition very promisingly with a score of 30.3 penalties in the dressage. This was 0.4 penalties shy of her personal best score, which she produced in Badminton earlier this year – so, another great score. Hazel looked as though she was at the top of her game. On the cross country, Hazel and Willingapark Clifford looked really good and did jump clear, however, they did come through the finish line with 11.2 time penalties. Hazel was frustrated with this result as Willingapark Clifford is traditionally very quick on the cross country. Hazel’s remark was that the ground was very undulating and galloping over this was something that neither she nor Willingapark Clifford were used to. Nevertheless, this was a solid performance.
Show jumping is WillingaPark Clifford’s Achilles heel. Hazel and WillingaPark Clifford have spent the last 12 months in England working on this phase and had lessons with some of the most famous show jumping coaches in the world, including Nelson Pessoa. As a result of this study, WillingaPark Clifford has produced clear show jumping rounds in competition. The problem was that the show jumping at Pratoni del Vivario turned out to be the most difficult course in the past 20 years of World Eventing Championships. WillingaPark Clifford jumped well but had five rails down. Hazel felt that WillingaPark Clifford had tried and jumped well and it was just a really tough course that took advantage of his weakness. Hazel was disappointed, but felt that WillingaPark Clifford had tried very hard and, in her eyes, he would always be a champion.
I did quiz Hazel a little bit trying hard not to be too intrusive on obviously sensitive topics. Hazel did spend something like 13 years based at Ryans with Rozzie and I, and I will always be her biggest supporter. I was curious though! I just couldn’t help it, so I asked: “So Hazel, given the team experience, do you still think you can mix it with the top riders in the world at Olympics and World Championships?” Her answer was really, really interesting and I think lots of us really need to think about it. Hazel felt that her year in England was of enormous value in just talking to the other top riders and understanding how they go about being superstars and what it takes.
Hazel felt that the horses that jumped clear in the show jumping at Pratoni del Vivario were beasts that you had to see to believe. They were immensely powerful and innately careful not to touch rails beyond anything she had thought possible. Hazel felt that she did not realise horses of this talent existed. They do. Finding them is very difficult. Most of the top riders spend a lot of their life searching for these horses.
Hazel felt that there were a lot of fantastic riders out there who nobody has heard of and unfortunately no one will hear of; the problem these fantastic riders have is that they are doomed to never partnering a super-elite horse. The horse is totally critical to a rider’s performance. Hazel pointed out that most of the top riders who are household names, including Michael Jung, have and compete on other horses which are not champions. On these horses, these top riders struggle to be competitive along with the rest of the field.
SHENAE LOWINGS & BOLD VENTURE
Lastly, Shenae Lowings riding her Australian Thoroughbred, Bold Venture, was the individual rider for Australia. Shenae did a cracking dressage test to score 26.3 penalties, which was just behind Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam. Shenae did a cracking test. True to form, Shenae and Bold Venture galloped around the cross country impressively, going clear over the jumps and having 8.4 time penalties. Again, I am sure Shenae was disappointed about the time penalties, but quite frankly, what an amazing performance from our youngest rider at 26 years of age. Just don’t lose sight of the fact that the World Championships are really a prelude to the Olympics in Paris in two years’ time. Shenae’s horse is just 12 years of age so it will easily be still in its prime come 2024.
The show jumping we had hoped would produce a clear round, because Bold Venture has a great track record. Bold Venture has been 4* for the last two years and in all that time he has only had two rails down. Unfortunately, this show jumping track at Pratoni del Vivario just surprised everyone, including Bold Venture, and this time he had three rails down in just one competition. So Shenae finished on a score of 47.1 penalties and in 29th place. With a young combination as brilliant as Shenae and Bold Venture, I guess I along with lots of other people barely dared to think that, just maybe, the World Championships might fall her way and she would win. It was just a tiny thought in everyone’s mind. It didn’t happen, but I am still not taking my money off her; I think she’s a good bet for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED
In years gone by, I have had conversations with different riders and coaches including Shane Rose and Wayne Roycroft, and both have said that up until the year 2000, the Australian eventing riders brought more horsemanship, riding skills and a competitiveness to eventing than any other country. We had great horses in the Thoroughbreds and we could ride them better than riders from any other nation. We would beat the rest of the world and win three consecutive Olympic team gold medals because we were better riders.
Today, things have changed. Our riders are still just as good, but the northern hemisphere riders are as good, and rapidly evolving into better and better riders. We are now flat out trying to keep up with them. The northern hemisphere riders have, however, now got superior horses to what the average Australian is riding. We used to win gold medals because we were better riders; today the northern hemisphere riders are just as good and have better horses. We need to recognise this part of the equation in the ‘better horses’ aspect and we need to produce guidelines to all of our Australian-based riders on just what they should be looking for in terms of their next Olympic horse. These guidelines should be promoted not just to our top riders but also to mums and dads who have a child who is showing talent and has ambitions to ride at the top.
Right now, of course, I am referring to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. So we are specifically needing parents with, I guess, 12-year-old kids upwards to understand that special jumping horses are now a prerequisite for their kids to graduate on to an Australian Olympic team. This does not necessarily mean that the horses are now very, very expensive. It means horses have to be bought more astutely. These jumping horses are not necessarily more expensive. Without question, these horses will exist in Australia and surprise, surprise, probably in reasonable numbers.
In Australia, lots of people have enough land to breed a foal and some of these people breed two or three and then there are crazy people like me, who are expecting 20 foals this season all of them seriously thought out. We don’t have the industry that revolves around eventing as they do in the northern hemisphere and so the horses are not anywhere near as expensive as they are in the northern hemisphere. They are affordable, especially when they are really young.
I think that when studying the top horses at the World Championships, it quickly becomes evident that most of the top horses are bred for the job. Most of the genetics are here in Australia. At the moment the top eventing horses the world over have genetics that are heavily influenced by the straight show jumping genetics. You do need jumping lines that are tough and that can gallop. Some of the really beautiful show jumpers are only good for a round or two of show jumping before they tire. These lines can be very successful in the show jumping ring but struggle to make a contribution to the eventing world. It is tricky, but these horses are here in Australia – it’s just identifying them and pairing them with the right riders. EQ
Cheers,
Heath
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Thoroughbreds in Their Element – Equestrian Life, October 2022
