Above: Julie Davey and LT Holst Freda. Credit: Amy-Sue Alston Photography.

The sixth leg of the 2024 Australian FEI World Cup season was held last night at the AELEC indoor arena in Tamworth NSW. A field of 17 combinations tackled the David Sheppard built course in what was the second indoor competition of the season, following Waratah Showjuping last weekend.

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After the first nine combinations had competed, we had not seen a clear round, however, of these nine, five of them had produced rounds with just a single rail down. It wasn’t until our tenth combination on course, that we saw our first clear. Maverick Miles and Verdasco put in a fantastic round, not only going clear, but recording the fastest time of the night. A couple of combinations later, we witnessed a second clear, this time by New Zealand visitors, Julie Davey and LT Holst Freda with a time more than 5 seconds outside that recorded by Mav and Verdasco.

By the end of the first round, these two stood as the only clears sending them both into the second round at an advantage over the rest of the field. While the 12 best performed combinations from the first round were invited back for a second round, a total of three combinations who were on either on 15 or 16 faults elected not to participate any further in the competition. This left nine combinations to compete, comprising the two clears, the five four-faulters and a pair of eight-faulters. With just two rails from first to last the second round was full of promise and it did not fail to deliver.

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The first combination on course for round 2 were Brad Frankum and Oaks Calypso. They took a pair of rails to add eight faults to the eight they carried with them into the second round to finish on a total of 16. Nicholas Taliana and Jaybee Vision also carrying eight faults, put together a carbon copy performance to also finish on 16 faults.

The next pair on course were the first of the four-faulters, Billy Raymont and Caprino, who had already won two legs of the series this year. They put together a fantastic clear, in just 50.76 seconds, taking them to the lead and putting some real pressure on those to follow.

The first to feel the heat were James Mooney and KPH Cavatina. If they felt any pressure, it did not show. They went clear, however, a time of 55.51 second slotted them into second place behind Billy and Caprino. The experienced Clem Smith and Oaks Conjuror were next into the arena. Unfortunately, a rail down at about the half-way mark put paid to their winning chances, but as it was their only mistake, they finished on a total of eight.

The next combination, Gemma Creighton and Dada Des Brimbelles Z, joined the ranks of those going clear in the second round to finish on a total of four. Their time of 53.44 slotted them into second place ahead of James Mooney and KPH Cavatina. They were followed by the 2022 series winners, Sam Overton and Oaks Cassanova. They were absolutely brilliant, sizzling around the course in just 48.40 seconds to claim the lead, with just two more combinations to come.

Above: Sam Overton and Oaks Casanova. Photo credit Amy-Sue Alston Photography.

Now we had just the two combinations carrying zero penalties with them to come and with four combinations finished on a total of four, there was no room for errors.

The first of these two to go was Julie Davey and LT Holst Freda. They put in a careful and measured round, which resulted in a second clear round of the night for them. Claiming the lead with just one combination to come, they would have been holding their breath as 27-year-old Maverick Miles in his first season competing at World Cup level and Verdasco entered the ring.

At the half-way point of their round, Maverick Miles and Verdasco were on target for the win. They had left all the rails in place and were just ahead of the time required when a rail down at the third last saw their chances of victory evaporate, but a steady head saw them get home with just the single rail down. Their time of 53.95 seconds was faster than just one of the five combinations who finished on a total of four, so they had to settle for fifth place on the night.

The win to Julie Davey and LT Holst Freda follows on from their fourth placing in the Waratah World Cup last week. All this comes after them finishing in third place in the most recent World Cup Series in New Zealand. Sam Overton and Oaks Cassanova were placed second as their scintillating time made them the fastest of those finishing on a total of four. The ever- competitive Billy Raymont and Caprino rounded out the podium in third place.

Congratulations to all involved for organizing such a wonderful competition

The full listing of the top 12 placegetter in the World Cup Qualifier are listed below.

TAMWORTH WORLD CUP QUALIFIER CSI1*-W

Results sourced from online-equipe.