Over the last for Becky 2008 ISS Summer Show Jumping Classic Photograph:Franz Venhaus

Coming into the event Amy Graham from Maitland, South Australia was in an unassailable position at the top of the leader table, and the Sydney event is highly prized and regarded as the end of year finale.  With over $10,000 in prizemoney available and all the leading combinations, the ISS sponsored event was set for a wonderful showdown.

There was high expectation that the final event would be another confrontation between returning Olympians Laurie Lever and Chris Chugg.  Instead the eventual winner was the consistent improver for 2008 Becky Allen riding Koyuna Ted who delivered two faultless rounds.  Close behind was the Atlanta Olympic Games Eventing gold medallist Wendy Shaeffer and Koyuna Sun Set.

Becky Allen and Koyuna Ted have delivered some solid performances during the year with a win in the final round of the Australian National Championship in October and consistently placing in the top rankings of the World Cup qualifying rounds, and this win ranks as a highlight in her career.  Commenting on the course built by Leopoldo Palacios, Becky Allen said “I didn’t think the course was as tough as I initially imagined, however Leopoldo again showed that his ability to understand our horses is just right”.

In the lead up days to the final event the Course Designer had to battle some very changeable weather, which impacted significantly on the arena surface.  Friday’s constant rain made sure the riders had to face a constant barrage of water, puddles and inconsistent going which made jumping particularly difficult, and then on Saturday the sun and wind dried the arena surface so rapidly, the Course Designer had to constantly work the surface to make sure the horses did not have to jump out of strength-sapping deep sand.  Overnight the ground crew worked tirelessly to prepare the arena with water, rolling and levelling, and they achieved an excellent surface for the ISS Grand Prix.

The course was a solid 1.50m track with the first line at fences two to three with a 19m distance from an oxer to a wall meaning that riders had to choose to make 4 or 5 strides between the obstacles.  The challenge out-manoeuvred both the in-form Laurie Lever and Ashleigh Drossel Dan, and Clem Smith with Benaloo Dark Ages who was sitting in third position on the overall World Cup standings. 

The following fence four, a 1.55m vertical, was the downfall of Amy Graham and the Belgian bred Transatlantic.  In an inglorious end to a very successful season, they misjudged the takeoff and the horse and rider parted company, incurring elimination.

The 4.2m open water followed by 10 strides to the tall vertical Australian flag fence proved difficult for many of the inexperienced combinations, highlighting the need for more consistent water jumping in competitions.

The next line consisted of number nine, a 1.60x1.90m wide triple bar, then 27.5m to number 10, a double of a skinny oxer to a vertical of 1.50m and 8m apart, followed by a further 21 metres to a 1.50x1.50m oxer.  This line proved the undoing of the highly fancied Chris Chugg and Vivant with a rail down on fence 11, as well as the very promising young rider Jamie Winning and Vangelo Des Hazalles who misread the stride into the double.  Adam Mellers on the stallion Animate were also a victim of this very accurate line. 

The final challenge posted for the riders was the last treble with a vertical fence at 1.50m set 10.90m from a wide oxer and a further 7.40m to the last vertical element at 1.50m.  The experienced combinations were able to negotiate the combination, however this proved to be a good learning experience for a number of the younger combinations.

At the conclusion of the first round, there were just two clear rounds for Becky Allen and Wendy Shaeffer followed by Chris Chugg and Adam Mellers on four faults and Paul Athanasoff and the effusive stallion Wirragulla Nicklaus one back on five faults and Laurie Lever on six faults.

The Course Designer set an intriguing second round with some very tight options and an even tighter time allowed.  This ensured the pressure was applied for every rider as a steady clear round would not be possible without incurring time penalties.  The challenge was taken up by Laurie Lever, who completed his round with no additional faults and a fast sub 49 second round.  Paul Athanasoff incurred a time fault as well as one rail down to add an additional five faults to his initial five.

Next came Adam Mellers who jumped a first class clear round in a time just under the 47 seconds, which Chris Chugg and Vivant challenged with no addition to his first round four faults in an amazing sub 45 second round.

Atlanta Olympian Wendy Shaeffer demonstrated a very cool but measured exhibition with a clear round but in her precision just failed to make the tight time allowed of 51 seconds and incurred one time fault.  This positioned her in front of the field and a serious challenge for the final rider, Becky Allen.  In a faultless exhibition of final round pressure riding Becky steered Koyuna Ted around the second round with a clear round in 48.57 seconds and a clear win.

The Managing Director of event sponsor ISS, Charles Blinkworth, on congratulating Becky Allen during the presentation said that this was the first time a Leopoldo Palacios course at SIEC had been won with a double clear round.

Despite her final round early exit, Amy Graham and Transatlantic were the clear winners of the 2008-09 FEI World Cup Qualifying rounds in Australia with 115 points.  Second on the leader board was Adam Mellers from Queensland on 104 points followed by Clem Smith (92pts), Wendy Schaeffer (86pts) and then promising young rider representatives Julia Hargreaves and Jamie Winning on 85 and 81 points respectively.

The winner of the Australian League is eligible to compete in the World Cup Final to be held in Las Vegas in April 2009, however the plan for Transatlantic is a European campaign in the first half of 2009, returning to Australia in time to contest the 2009 World Cup season from July.

For full results and course plans please see the World Cup Jumping page