Sheridyn Ashwood is hoping her victory in Thursday's Grand Prix at the 2013 CDI Sydney has set the tone for the remaining two days of competition. On her way to victory, Ashwood and her 16-year old stallion Prestige (by Silvano N) defeated a top calibre field which included Olympian Heath Ryan, his wife Rozzie and David Shoobridge.
The 2013 CDI Sydney kicked off on Thursday 2 May 2012 and Ashwood was awarded a winning score of 68.85%.
“I’ve been the bridesmaid for the last four shows and I’ve always been so close but before today it just seemed so far away," said Sheridyn. "I’m really excited with how the horse is developing, he’s still continuing to improve. Every time we bring him out he’s just that little bit better."
It is Ashwood’s first big victory at a CDI and the Queensland rider is full of confidence leading into Friday’s Grand Prix Special. “I always ride better on the second and third day. I don’t do any warm-up events, I only compete at CDI’s so I come in without any practice runs. It’s a lot different riding at home than in a test environment so I definitely feel more confident once I’m through the first test.”
New South Wales riders filled the minor placings and leading the charge for the home state was David Shoobridge and OO Seven (by Rubinstein) which scored 67.70%. In just their fourth CDI Grand Prix, Nadia Coghlan and the 13-year old gelding Carlyle achieved a personal best score of 66.89 which secured them third place.
The first competition of the 2013 Sydney CDI started at 8.15am in the indoor arena, the Prix St Georges. It was a large class with 34 horse and rider combinations. Throughout the day, the top six places changed regularly but at the end of the day, it was a competition between four horses and two riders. Brett Parbery and Tor Van Den Berge have battled it out a number of times and today was no different. Brett and DP Weltmieser (70.737 - owned by Susan Duddy) ended up pipping Tor and Lauries As (70.263 - owned by Cheryl O’Brien) at the post. Third went to Brett and Aber Hallo 29 (67.605 - owned by the Farrell family) and fourth went to Tor and Donna Bonita (66.105 - owned by Kaz Roe). A mighty battle it was!
One of the great competitions of the day was the Under 25 FEI Intermediate II. Out of the five horses competing, One had been competing at this level for a few years, two for a couple of years and for the remaining two this was their first year competing. It was inspiring to see the improvement in Alexis Hellyer on Waca W. This is only their second year doing Big Tour and the improvement in her Piaffe was considerable – well done! This was enough to put her in second place with a score of 65.447, which was just enough to beat her boyfriend, Elliot Patterson on Leandro (62.842 - this is their first season at Big Tour so Alexis better watch out). First place went to Queensland rider, Jayden brown and his beautifully conformed horse, Furst Friedrich, scoring 65.632. This is a great combination to watch – the horse is so on the aids. This was great effort as it also their first year competing at this level.
Photos © Franz Venhaus
Related Link
Scores 2013 CDI Sydney