Twenty-four years since he first stood on the podium in Adelaide, David Middleton has won the prestigious five-star once again – this time with homebred WEC In The Money. As David explains, it’s taken a while to re-enter the top echelons of the sport, but with two talented five-star horses in his stable he’s excited about the road ahead.

“My primary focus was to stay on the podium and get some money,” says David Middleton of what was going through his head as he entered the show jumping arena for the final phase of the Adelaide International CCI5*L.

Focused on his own ride with 12-year-old gelding WEC In The Money and having only had one rail down when first out on his other horse, 11-year-old mare WEC In The Breeze, David was unaware the horses in between had all had quite a few rails.

“When I finished clear, I thought, ‘Thank God, I’m going to keep hold of third place!’ I hopped off and wandered over to watch the last two… I certainly didn’t expect to finish up winning.” It was the second time David has won the five-star at Adelaide – and it’s the third time he’s lifted the perpetual Jack Walsh Trophy.

David was born into the horse world, as his parents owned and ran a riding school at Sherbrooke Equestrian Centre in the Dandenong Ranges – however he wasn’t a serious rider from the get-go.

“I rode a bit when I was younger and then when I was teenager I went sailing,” explains David. “When I left school, I had to do something… so I went and worked for my parents. I decided to take up riding again because the horses were a lot closer to get to than the beach to go sailing!” he laughs.

David bought a Thoroughbred named Unprovoked Vengeance from Dandenong market in Melbourne’s outer south-east. “I started to train for my instructor’s exam on him as well as do a few events, and that’s when I decided to get serious about eventing,” explains David.

The pair ultimately went on to win the last ever Gawler Three-Day Event in 1996, before the event relocated to Adelaide parklands the following year (and then went on to become the equivalent of today’s CCI5*L by 1999).

In 2000, David was part of the final training camp for the Sydney Olympics with another Thoroughbred, Willowbank Jack. After narrowly missing team selection, the pair ultimately went on to claim victory in the top class at Adelaide.

“That win was so exciting… I had missed out on a chance to qualify for the Sydney Olympics earlier in the year, because at the end of the previous year I had a fall from a client’s horse and got brain damage. I was a bit slow getting back up to speed…. and so it was quite nice to win Adelaide just after the Olympics. Willowbank Jack won it really well; he was way ahead of second place,” recalls David.

The Jack Walsh Trophy, awarded to the winner of Adelaide CCI5*L, is the same trophy that was awarded to the Gawler Three-Day Event winner from 1959 through to 1996, meaning David has three horses on this coveted perpetual trophy: Unprovoked Vengeance, Willowbank Jack, and now WEC In The Money.

Adelaide wasn’t David’s only success with Willowbank Jack; among other accolades during that time, he was part of Australia’s 2002 World Equestrian Games team in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain where he was eleventh individually.

THEN & NOW 

David spent a decade out of the sport from 2008 until he returned to the lower FEI levels with WEC In The Money in 2017, and he’s noticed several changes in that time.

When David won Adelaide in 2000, the event was of course run under the original longer format that included a steeplechase and roads and tracks prior to the cross country.

The roads and tracks phases totalled an hour and a half alone, and David doesn’t miss it. “I’m quite happy about [the format change] to be honest. Those days are gone because there was a lot of unnecessarily miles on the horses.”

However, despite the format change, David says Adelaide as an event is very much as he remembers it. “It’s fantastic being in the city with big crowds. It’s just an awesome event and everything else in Australia is going to seem tame in comparison!” he laughs.

While some may say eventing standards are tougher now, David feels it’s all relative and perhaps in some ways not all that different to 20 years ago. “It’s a slightly different sport, and sure, the show jumping is higher and the dressage standard is higher, but you’re breeding with Olympic dressage horses and Olympic show jumping horses. So it just makes sense that the standard is going to improve – but that doesn’t necessarily make it tougher.

“Also, the show jumping might be 10 centimetres higher and wider, but you don’t have an hour and a half of roads and tracks and four minutes of steeplechase in their legs – in addition to the cross country – from the day before.”

CROSS COUNTRY HICCUP

“I personally don’t worry too much about the crowd but sometimes the horses do!” laughs David in reference to the spectators that flock to Rymill Lake on cross country day. When David first took WEC In The Money to Adelaide in 2019 for the CCI3*L, things didn’t exactly go to plan at the water. “He jumped brilliantly into the lake the first time, but when I came back down to the second water, he was too focused on the crowd… he literally just hung a leg and I fell off in the water!”

Last year, the pair returned for the CCI4*S and jumped clear for eighth place – and this year with a lot more experience, they were once again clear on RB Sellars Cross Country Day on their way to winning the CCI5*L with just 8.8 time faults.

That’s not to say the cross country wasn’t without drama. “Jump 8 was in between the trees and I galloped straight past it,” groans David. “Being in lanes [the course at Adelaide is marked out with ropes to keep spectators out of the way], I had to almost come back to a stop to turn around, and then I had to almost stop again to turn back to the fence.

“I think I turned up about five or six strides out and realised it looked very big from that distance with not enough canter… but he boomed it, so it was alright! We would have been pretty close to the time without that hiccup. He’s pretty good to ride cross country as he’s getting more experienced. He certainly felt like I was able to just keep galloping him and not waste any time. So that was pretty good.”

JUMPING BLOODLINES

David’s two horses, WEC In The Money and WEC In The Breeze, were the best performed horses when jumping on the final day.

“It was a big track, and it was quite technical… plus the crowd and the atmosphere – not to mention the horses – had a lot of lot of running the day before,” says David of the show jumping phase that caused plenty of issues for the CCI5*L field. “My horses tend to be very, very athletic, fit horses and they pull up very well [following cross country day]. They did on this occasion as well, and they felt great in the show jumping.”

WEC In The Breeze may have finished down the list a little due to a few problems out on cross country, but she’s certainly not short of talent. David says the mare can jump; the tricky part is staying in the saddle!

“She is just an athlete, she’s an awesome jumper. She tends to give a bit much air, which can be a bit tricky at times… it can be a long way down, especially when you’re jumping down into water. You need to ride with a very old school defensive position, because if you get too forward, you’ll probably end up on the ground. She takes a bit of riding!”

Both of David’s horses are homebreds with the same parentage that features blue-blood dressage and jumping lines. “They’ve probably thrown a little more to the show jumping bloodlines, but they should be able to do dressage as well… I’ve just gotta get better at it!” laughs David.

Their sire, In The Black, is a homebred by Dutch dressage stallion Olympic Ferro – and he also has a very strong jumping pedigree that includes names such as Le Mexico and Farn. In The Black’s dam was a lovely moving Thoroughbred by Sumayr, with a very good jumping technique.

“In The Black is a wonderful stallion; my daughter rode him from when she was 11 years old and competed him at Interschools and Equestrian Victoria events. He just has the best temperament,” says David. In The Black, now 17, has retired from competition but is still standing at stud.

WEC In The Breeze and WEC In The Money are both out of a mare named Roxie, who is by famed jumping stallion Balou du Rouet. Of course, bloodlines alone didn’t power David to victory on the final day in Adelaide. A regular in the jumping ring at Boneo Park, he’s had plenty of practise over coloured poles of late. “Both horses have jumped at Mini Prix and won at 1.40m, so they’re very handy show jumpers. Show jumping was never my forte, so I have been trying to get a bit better at it!”

THE NEXT GOAL

David says he’s thankful for the support he had in Adelaide, including from his three daughters, Emma, Jazz and Heidi, alongside chief groom Andrea Kellett. “Andrea is amazing and always does an amazing job helping at all the events for us,” says David, who is also appreciative of his wife Michelle, who stayed home and kept everything running at Warragul Equestrian Centre while the team was away.

David says that he couldn’t do what he does without his mother, Anne Middleton. “Mum really helps me out… I wouldn’t have been able to get where I have otherwise.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, David says he’s yet to make plans but will probably fit more show jumping in and less eventing, before coming back out more seriously with his five-star horses again next year.

With a little more time – as well as space on the horse truck – he says he’ll hopefully get a few up-and-coming horses out for the remainder of the season.

“I’ve got another young one, WEC In The Ditch, who’s had one start at four-star. He’s very green and completely different to my other two, but very exciting. I then have another who I haven’t really done much with named WEC In The Mail. My daughter took her to an event recently and she’s exciting… we’ve been umm-ing and ahh-ing about who’s going to ride her. She is out of the full sister to my two five-star horses, who was also a four-star mare, and by French stallion Jaguar Mail [sire of Andrew Hoy’s Vassily de Lassos].”

“Long term, I don’t know how I’ll run them all,” muses David. “I just didn’t have enough time and it all costs too much money, plus the truck doesn’t have enough room because Emma wants to get a couple of horses on as well!” he laughs.

Owning his horses gives David autonomy – but that trade-off is the financial cost. “There are lots of things you might like to do that might improve your performance, but you just can’t because it’s too expensive. You try to work out how you can do things and not spend money you don’t have,” he explains.

“Adelaide is not so bad because it’s good prize money, but other events… you need to win just to cover your costs. Running a team of two five-star horses and a four-star horse, it’s just very, very expensive and very, very time consuming. You’ve got to get the time into them, you’ve got to ride them well… and then hope it all clicks and works for you.”

“It was exciting and nice to nice to finally get back to the top [in Adelaide]. I’ve been out of the top echelons of eventing for a long time, and having such a good team of young horses, well, it’s exciting for the future,” says David.

So where to from here?

“Adelaide really is the event to aim at in Australia… so one aim is to possibly get back there next year,” he says, adding that the alternative would be to aim for the Oceania Eventing Challenge, set to take place at Melbourne International Three-Day Event in June, 2025.

Beyond that, David has dreams of heading to Aachen, Germany in 2026 and once again representing his country. “I want to aim for the FEI World Championships in two years’ time, we’ll see how we go!”

An Australian team appearance 24 years on from the first? Here’s hoping 24 is David’s lucky number! EQ

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