The fourth and final round of the 2019 Stal Tops Young Rider Series was held yesterday as part of the Chatham Park Summer Showjumping Classic CSI2*-W at Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC).

The Stal Tops Young Rider Series was instigated by Edwina Tops-Alexander, who is an outstanding ambassador for our sport. Edwina has been our leading rider for many years and has represented Australia with great success at innumerable international competitions including Olympic and World Equestrian Games.

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Last year, along with husband Jan Tops, Edwina established the Stal Tops Australian Young Rider Series to give back to the sport in Australia and encourage and challenge Young Riders. This event was a highlight of the 2018 jumping calendar and thanks to their generosity, was run again this year.

In 2019, the Stal Tops Australian Young Rider Series comprised of four rounds. The first round was held at the Aquis Champions Tour in May and won by Amelia Douglass and Cassis Z Ten Halven.

The second event in the series was held at Willinga Park in September, won by Erin Buswell and Quero Quero.

The third round was held at the Boneo Cup show in November and was taken out by Amelia Douglass and Sirius Du Granit which took them to the top of the leaderboard. In fact, this combination were placed just one point clear of three other combinations tied in second place, including Douglass and one of her other horses Cassis Z Ten Halven.

Amelia Douglass and Sirius Du Granit

Amelia Douglass and Cassis Z Ten Halven

Going into the final round where 11 points were on offer for the winner, there were six combinations within striking distance of the lead. They were:

Rank	Rider	Horse	R1	R2	R3	Tot.
1	Amelia Douglass	Sirius Du Granit		9	11	20
=2	Amelia Douglass	Cassis Z Ten Halven	11		8	19
=2	Jamie Priestley	Kolora Stud Optimus	9	4	6	19
=2	Will Dight	Thea	4	8	7	19
5	Erin Buswell	Quero Quero		11	3	14
6	Lucy Evans	Vivajoy		1	9	10

Lucy Evans and Jamie Priestley did not start in yesterday’s Young Rider Final meaning they were not in contention. Two of the other combinations in contention, Erin Buswell and Quero Quero and Jamie Priestley and Kolora Stud Optimus each took a rail, meaning that they did not make it through to a class-filled four-way jump off. With clear rounds on both her horses, Amelia Douglass had the Stal Tops Young Rider title in the bag, the only question was which horse would she win it on.

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In the jump-off, Isobel Guinness and Copabella Verdi took a rail to finish in fourth place. Madeline Sinderberry and Ciel went double clear but with a time of 45.82 seconds could only split Douglass’ podium positions. Winning the final, with double clear in a jump off time of 42.99 was Douglass and Cassis Z Ten Halven and filling third was that girl again with Sirius Du Granit.

Madeline Sinderberry and Ciel

The first six placegetters in this class were:

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Amelia Douglass	Cassis Z Ten Halven
2nd	Madeline Sinderberry	Ciel
3rd	Amelia Douglass	Sirius Du Granit
4th	Isobel Guinness	Copabella Verdi
5th	Charlie Eason	Oaks Coolangatta
6th	Nicolette Evans	Crispi 4

With the points for the final round allocated, the unofficial final standings for the series are as follows:

Rank	Rider	Horse	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot.
1st	Amelia Douglass	Cassis Z Ten Halven	11		8	11	30
2nd	Amelia Douglass	Sirius Du Granit		9	11	8	28
3rd	Will Dight	Thea	4	8	7	3	22
4th	Jamie Priestley	Kolora Stud Optimus	9	4	6		19
5th	Erin Buswell	Quero Quero		11	3	4	18
=6th	Lucy Evans	Vivajoy		1	9		10
=6th	Nicolette Evans	Crispi 4			5	5	10
=8th	Georgia Price	Batman Xtreme		7		2	9
=8th	Madeline Sinderberry	Ciel				9	9
10th	Sophie Smith	Bellhaven Jazz	8				8
=11th	Jess Rice-Ward	CP Southern Cross	7				7
=11th	Isobel Guinness	Copabella Verdi				7	7
=13th	Tess McInerney	Alpha Centauri	6				6
=13th	Isabella Evans	Joker XIX		6			6
=13th	Charlie Eason	Oaks Coolangatta				6	6
=16th	Samantha Dernee	TP All Class	5				5
=16th	Mitchell Peulic	Black Currency		5			5
18th	Sally Simmonds	Oaks Charliville			4		4
=19th	Victoria Hoy	Falklands	3				3
=19th	Jessie Rice-Ward	Dusky Farm Cavalier		3			3
=21st	Olivia Dalton	Cil Dara Bonsparte	2				2
=21st	Sally Simmonds	Oaks Castanza		2			2
=21st	Paris Castledine	Cortehz			2		2
=21st	Christopher Holland	Elsa			1	1	2
25th	Cade Hunter	Vasari NZPH	1				1

By taking the win in two of the four rounds, Amelia Douglass and Cassis Z Ten Halven were deserved winners of the Stal Tops Young Rider Series. Douglass and Sirius Du Granit took one win in the series and it is fitting that this horse fill a place in this Series as he was imported from Stal Tops and was once competed in CSI5* classes by Tops-Alexander herself. Third place went to Will Dight and Thea who consistently picked up points in each round.

Australian Jumping would like to thank all the riders and horses who took part in the Series and especially congratulate Amelia Douglass on her fine performance over the Series. We look forward to watching another chapter in the Stal Tops Young Rider Series unfold in 2020.