There is a great deal of prestige in taking out a Mini Prix Title and today saw the final of the Interpath Mini Prix Championship take place at the Pryde’s EasiFeed Australian Jumping Championships. The championship was fought out over two qualifying rounds and a final today which was moved from the Pryde’s EasiFeed Main Arena to the Homes and Acreage Arena 2, to help preserve the condition of the Main Arena for tomorrow’s feature classes.

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Round 1 was conducted back on Wednesday as a speed class. Brooke Campbell and Copabella Voltage recorded the fastest time, almost a second faster than Tom McDermott and Yalambi’s Finnigan, with local rider Brook Dobbin and Miranda MVNZ in third place by just 0.01 seconds.

All the placegetters from Round 1 are listed below.

CLASS 2: Interpath – Mini Prix Round 1 – 1.40m
The first ten placegetters in this class were:

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE	$
1st	Brooke Campbell	Copabella Voltage	$300
2nd	Tom McDermott	Yalambi’s Finnigan	$250
3rd	Brook Dobbin	Miranda MVNZ	$200
4th	Chris Chugg	KG Queenie	$150
5th	Sam Overton	Oaks Cassanova	$100
6th	Paul Brent	Cavalli Park Aliyah	$80
7th	Kristy Bruhn	Jack	$75
8th	James Arkins	Eurostar	$75
9th	Laura Sloey	Copabella Cashmir	$50
10th	Olivia Hamood	Alan 111 Z	$50

Round 2 was conducted on Thursday in what proved to be a very engaging class. In the first round there were 18 clear rounds recorded which set up a fascinating jump off. This time Chris Chugg and his mare KG Queenie, who came fourth in Round 1 went double clear in the quickest time to take the win. Brooke Campbell and Copabella Voltage could not repeat their Round 1 victory, however, had to be content with second place. Tom McDermott and Yalambi’s Finnigan rounded out the top three. Official placings for the Second Round are listed below.

CLASS 11: Interpath – Mini Prix Round 2 – 1.40m
The first ten placegetters in this class were:

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE	$
1st	Chris Chugg	KG Queenie	$350
2nd	Brooke Campbell	Copabella Voltage	$275
3rd	Tom McDermott	Yalambi’s Finnigan	$220
4th	Elliott Reeves	PSS Chantilly	$180
5th	Robert Palm	Jaybee Vibrant	$120
6th	Tallara Cameron	Oaks Come By Chance	$100
7th	Bridget Berry	Turn It Blue NZPH	$75
8th	Chelsea Kessey	Diamond B Vigo	$75
9th	James Arkins	Eurostar	$50
10th	Kristy Bruhn	Jack	$50

After the second round, all the competing combinations were ranked based on their combined performance in both Rounds 1 and 2 and the top 50% of the field were invited to contest today’s final.

A total of 27 combinations lined up for today’s final. Unlike the major championship series, all combinations came into today’s final on an equal footing as Rounds 1 and 2 only served to qualify for entry for the final for the top 50% of the ranked competitors.

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Perhaps it was the conditions or perhaps it was tiredness setting in after a long week of jumping, (or perhaps a combination of both) but only five combinations were able to record clear rounds so a small jump off ensued.

First out in the jump off were Katie Laurie and McCaw MVNZ, a combination who won the Future Stars Championship at this event last year. Making the step up to Mini Prix this year, they unfortunately took a single rail, however, by recording a fast time, they were still able to exert some pressure on the other four combinations to come. The first of the remaining four were West Australian visitor Georgie Siciliano and her gelding Gladiator P. They had a fantastic round and recorded another clear to sit on top of the competition with just three combinations to come.

Georgie Siciliano and Gladiator P

The Queenland pair of Olivia Hamood and Knock Out 111 were next and, just as Siciliano had done before them, they recorded a clear round and with a time some 6 seconds faster, now sat in the lead.

Olivia Hamood and Knock Out 111

Next to go was James Arkins and Eurostar. This pair rocketed around the course, again clear but about 4 seconds faster than Hamood. We had a new leader with just the master Chris Chugg with KG Queenie standing between Arkins and the $2,500 first prize.

However, it all turned out to be just a little bit of an anticlimax. Chugg and “Queenie”, unfortunately took a couple of rails and realising that it was not going to be their day, decided not to continue the round and settled for fifth place. All the official placings were as follows:

CLASS 33: Interpath – Mini Prix FINAL – 1.40m
The first twelve placegetters in this class were:

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE	$
1st	James Arkins	Eurostar	$2,500
2nd	Olivia Hamood	Knock Out 111	$2,000
3rd	Georgie Siciliano	Gladiator P	$1,650
4th	Katie Laurie	McCaw MVNZ	$1,100
5th	Chris Chugg	KG Queenie	$600
6th	Tom McDermott	Yalambi’s Finnigan	$350
7th	Brooke Langbecker	Beijing LS La Silla	$250
8th	Sam Overton	Oaks Cassanova	$200
9th	Billy Raymont	YPH Capulet	$175
10th	Olivia Hamood	Alan 111 Z	$150
11th	Georgie Siciliano	Diamond B Casanova	$125
12th	Jennifer Wood	Cassando B	$100

Australian Jumping congratulates James Arkins and Eurostar for their fantastic performance as well as the rest of the competitors, on what was a wonderful championship,