Above: Izabella Stone and Oaks Ventriloquist.

The first of the Group A Sections on the Jumping program at Sydney Royal wrapped up yesterday, with what was unfortunately a rain marred class on the main arena. The result of the final was a three-way tie, when the riders and officials decided that it was unsafe to conduct a jump off. Let’s look at how the week unfolded.

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The Section got underway on Monday with a single round class with 12 combinations taking to the course. Six of these managed clear rounds so it came down to times which made for a very close competition with the top four being separated by less than two seconds. First place, with a time of 58.18 seconds were the Victorian visitors, Russell Johnstone and Daprice. Aaron Hadlow and Vahlinvader, with a time of 58.92 seconds secured second place while Amanda Madigan and Diamond B Vivienne were third in 59.84 seconds.

The owners of the winning horse in this class (0856) each year are awarded the Bob Chittick Memorial Perpetual Cup, donated by the late T A Field and Mr R A Field. The trophy this year went to GD and SL McCann, the owners of Daprice.

The top six placings in this class were:

ROUND 1 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Russell Johnstone	Daprice
2nd	Aaron Hadlow	Vahlinvader
3rd	Amanda Madigan	Diamond B Vivienne
4th	Amber Fuller	Nopal Van Tallaert
5th	Izabella Stone	Oaks Ventriloquist
6th	Izabella Stone	Tulara Stolzette

Tuesday saw the Section 1 horses out again, late in the afternoon. This time the 12 combinations entered produced seven clears and in the jump off, three of these managed to produce a second clear round. Once again, the competition was very tight with less than a second separating the podium positions. The fastest jump off time of 50.87 seconds and the win went to Amber Fuller and Nopal Van Tallaert. In second place were another pair of visitors from Victoria, Ally Lamb and her beautiful grey, Eagle Rock with a time of 51,48 seconds. Rounding out the podium were the winners of Round 1, Russel Johnstone and Daprice in 51.54 seconds.

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The top six placegetters were:

ROUND 2 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Amber Fuller	Nopal Van Tallaert
2nd	Ally Lamb	Eagle Rock
3rd	Russell Johnstone	Daprice
4th	Amanda Madigan	Diamond B Vivienne
5th	Izabella Stone	Oaks Ventriloquist
6th	Amber Fuller	CP Aretino

Wednesday was a rest day for the section 1 horses, but they were back on Thursday as the only jumping action at the show. Only eight of the combinations in the class fronted for the competition with several horses being rested before the Friday final. There were only two clear rounds so these pair came back in a jump off to battle it out for the win. First place, with a time of 51.65 seconds went to Aaron Hadlow and Vahlinvader. They were about 2.5 seconds faster than the other double clear performers, Izabella Stone and Tulara Stolzette. An unlucky Amber Fuller and CP Aretino were an unlucky third, having missed out on the jump off action by just a single time penalty.

After the class, the Jim Barnes Memorial Perpetual Trophy, donated by family and friends of the late Jim Barnes AM, was presented Aaron Hadlow as the owner of Vahlinvader.

The top six placegetters in this class were as follows:

ROUND 3 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Aaron Hadlow	Vahlinvader
2nd	Izabella Stone	Tulara Stolzette
3rd	Amber Fuller	CP Aretino
4th	Tom McDermott	Cooley Gangster
5th	Amanda Madigan	Diamond B Vivienne
6th	Brook Dobbin	Gina MVNZ

And so it came to the big finale to the Section 1 competition, which was scheduled for Friday morning. The class of 10 combinations started under blue skies, however, by the time the last pair took to the course, a storm had reached the showground, dropping a sudden deluge across the course. After a brief period of torrential rain, the course was deemed unsafe and as a result, the three riders that had gone clear and qualified for the jump off, agreed that the spoils should be split and were consequently crowned as joint winners. The three joint winners of the class were Amanda Madigan and Diamond B Vivienne, Russell Johnstone and Daprice and Izabella Stone and Oaks Ventriloquist. The top 6 placegetter in the final were:

GROUP A – SECTION 1 – FINAL

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
=1st	Amanda Madigan	Diamond B Vivienne
=1st	Russell Johnstone	Daprice
=1st	Izabella Stone	Oaks Ventriloquist
4th	Aaron Hadlow	Vahlinvader
5th	Tom McDermott	Cooley Gangster
6th	Amber Fuller	CP Aretino

Each year, the winning horse in the Section 1 final is awarded the EFA Perpetual Cup. Darren Gocher, the CEO of Equestrian Australia was on hand to present the cup to each of the three riders of the winning horses, which were accepted on behalf of their owners.

Also at the presentation, the very prestigious David Asimus Memorial Perpetual Trophy, donated by Peter Asimus & Virginia Russell-Asimus was awarded, as it is each year, to the Best Performed Section 1 Jumping Horse. This year, that honour went to Diamond B Farm as the owner of Diamond B Vivienne. Amanda Madigan accepted the trophy on behalf of the owner. It was a reward for consistency for this combination who finished no worse than fifth in the three rounds and the final.

It was a wonderful competition held over the course of the week, with quality jumping thrilling the large crowds who gathered to watch. We look forward to seeing these horses again on Sunday in either the Grand Prix or the Mini Prix competitions which will wrap up the jumping program at the 2023 Sydney Royal Easter Show.