The first major championship to be decided at the Pryde’s EasiFeed Australian Jumping Championships was the Horseland Junior Title.

The Championship was held over two qualifying rounds and today’s final and gave the cream of Australia’s Junior Rider contingent the opportunity to perform on the big stage, as well as to compete for the prestigious title. Let’s take a look back as see how the Horseland Australian Junior Championship unfolded over the week.

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Round 1 was held on Thursday morning and was run as a speed class.

From NSW, Sally Simmonds and her gelding Oaks Chifley were the clear winners of this class, they absolutely dominated proceedings, finishing in a time of 60.07, over 5.5 seconds faster than the second placed Chloe Mannell and CP Fleur De Lyse. Third place went to Queenslander, Phoebe Riordan and Diamond B Versailles a further two seconds back. Sally Simmonds demonstrated her class by also finishing fourth on her other ride Chio MS. All the placegetters from Round 1 are listed below.

Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley

CLASS 6: Horseland – Australian Junior Championship Round 1 – 1.20m
The first twelve placegetters in this class were:

Round 2 was conducted on Friday first thing on Friday morning. Very wet conditions probably contribute to only six combinations being able to record a clear round. In the jump-off it was Round 1 winners Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley again asserting their dominance. On a course with a jump off time of 55 seconds, they completed it clear in just 40.84 seconds, again more than 5 seconds faster than their nearest rival. Second place went to Clemency Hughes and Nicolette, with Hughes also filling third with Diamond B Corvina. Official placings for the Second Round are listed below.

CLASS 21: Horseland – Australian Junior Championship Round 2 – 1.20m
The first twelve placegetters in this class were:

As this was one of the major championships to be decided at this year’s Titles, the Championship scoring system was used. Here is a brief summary of how the system works.

Before starting in today’s final, calculations were done based on each combination’s placing in the First and Second Rounds, to determine the relative starting position of each combination.

Title Class Scoring Sumary

ROUND ONE 1st place receives points equivalent to the number of combinations in the class, plus one (eg. If 30 combinations are in the class the winner receives 31 points) 2nd place receives one less than the number of combinations in the class, with 3rd receiving one less again (eg. 2nd receives 29 points, 3rd receives 28 points etc) Eliminated or retired combinations receive 0 points.

ROUND TWO Round Two is calculated in the same way as Round One, regardless of the number of starters in the round, (eg if only 26 combinations start in Round 2, the winner receives 31 points, 2nd 29 points, 3rd 28 points and so on).

FINAL ROUND For each combination, the points scored in both rounds are added and the combinations are ranked according to the total points scored.

The points are then converted to penalties using the following formula:

The leader after the first 2 rounds starts the Final on zero penalties.

Other combinations have their penalties calculated by subtracting their total points from the leader’s total points, and dividing by two. Any fractions are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

The winner is the combination with the least number of penalties at the end of the Grand Prix final. If there is a tie for first or runner up, those competitors will jump off and penalties and time will decide the winner in the jump off round.

So, what all that means is that the best performed combination in the Two Rounds starts the final on zero penalties, with each of the other combinations, starting on a penalty score which represents how far behind the best performed combination they were. These “Carry Forward Penalties” for the final are listed below for the top 30 combinations going into the final.

Going into today’s final Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley, thanks to wins in both Rounds, were certainly at a distinct advantage over the rest of the field. If they could continue their stellar run, they could not be beaten for the title, however just one or two slip-ups would bring any number of very keen aspirants back into title contention.

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After the first round in the final, Simmonds and Oaks Chifley were still in the lead, thanks to another clear round, their fourth of the week. Simmonds also manages do go clear on Chio MS, to consolidate her position with that entry. Unfortunately for some of her nearest rivals, they did not perform so well. Emily Baldwin and Twins Ava, who also came into todays final on four penalties took two rails todrop back to 12 penalties, while Clemency Hughes and Nicolette started on five penalties, but was eliminated due to multiple refusals.

Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley

The top 15 still in the title race were invited back for a second round in the final.

Many of the top combinations were able to record clear rounds which was the best that they could do, as they could only make up ground if the leaders slipped up. Once again Sally Simmonds and Chio MS went clear to remain on 4 penalties and by the time she reappeared on Oaks Chifley as the last rider in the second round, the only danger to this combination taking out the title was Simmonds herself.

Sally Simmonds and Chio MS

As they had done all week, Simmonds and Oaks Chifley were absolutely magnificent. If they were feeling the pressure, it did not show as they made the course look easy. A fifth clear round of the week assured them on victory and being crowned Australian Junior Champion. Simmonds and Chio MS finished second with the NSW Junior champion combination of Anneliese Wansey and KS Saint Patrick filling third place.

Anneliese Wansey and KS Saint Patrick

Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley had a perfect week and were well deserved winners of the title. Australian jumping might just have a new star!

CLASS 43: Horseland – Australian Junior Championship FINAL – 1.25m
The first twelve placegetters in this class were:

Australian Jumping congratulates Sally Simmonds and Oaks Chifley for their fantastic performance as well as the rest of the competitors, on what was a wonderful championship