Barbury Day Three: Avebury and Nicholson primed for fourth victory - and all the fun of the chaotic Champions Challenge delights the crowds
Nicholson and Avebury clear one of the Olympic fences at BarburyFor the third day of the St James's Place Barbury International Horse Trials the weather stayed dry - and Avebury and Andrew Nicholson stayed top of the leader board in the feature competition.
Nicholson and Avebury were clear in the showjumping phase of the CIC*** competition. With the neatest of rounds, the little grey gelding showed the wisdom of his fifteen years.
Alex Hua Tian & Don GeniroChina's Alex Hua Tian and Don Geniro are in second place - they also had a clear round. Nicholson and Avebury's stablemate Nereo are in third position and fellow New Zealander Sir Mark Todd on Leonidas II are fourth - they are based not far from Barbury at Badgerstwon, on the edge of the Marlborough Downs.
Francis Whittington & Easy TargetThen four British pairs - Sarah Bullimore & Lilly Corinne, Louise Harwood & Whitson, Francis Whittington & Easy Target (their four faults in Saturday's showjumping bumped then down from their overnight second place) and Laura Collett & Grand Manoeuvre.
There is keen competition amongst the British riders to gain a place in the British squad for the Longines FEI European Eventing Championship at Blair Castle in Scotland in September - as host nation the British team will have a twelve members team rather than the usual six.
A huge crowd assembled on the bank overlooking the main arena for the second running of the JCB Champions Challenge between teams of jockeys and eventers - and winners of the Inter Hunt Team Relay - in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund.
Captain of the Eventers
Captain of the Jockeys The two teams were: for the jockeys - AP McCoy (back in the saddle for the first time in public since he retired in April), Sam Twiston-Davies, Richard Johnson and Wayne Hutchinson (who rides for Barbury trainer Alan King.) For the eventers - Andrew Nicholson, Sir Mark Todd, Harry Meade and Tina Cook. And it takes the vague form of a relay.
The two teams chose their horses from those which had previously run in the hunt relay races. There had to be a little manipulation of the results as, amidst the chaos, a hunt team won one of the heats - and the whole point was to have a ride-off between the jockeys and the eventers.
The races had rules and rule breakers all of their own - and Richard Johnson managed to plough his way through two of the jumps. But unlike one of the young hunt riders in the semi-finals, none of the jockeys or eventers ended up in the water.
If you believe social media, the eventers won. But if I was on the jockeys team I would ask for a review of the photo finish. Was there one? And see below for further photos...
Eventers make a successful handover
Was that a handover ...?Back to the serious competitions: locally based New Zealand riders swept the board in the three sections of the CIC** class with Andrew Nicholson, Tim Price and Jesse Campbell taking one apiece.
The in-form Andrew Nicholson was unstoppable in section B, winning on the Headley Stud’s Loughnatousa Joey on the first occasion he had ridden the horse. He was the only rider of the 93 cross-country starters in the section to achieve the optimum time.
It would take more than a spot of rain to dampen the crowd's enthusiasm if Nicholson and Avebury achieve a fourth CIC*** win in a row.
Rosettes all round...