By Roger Fitzhardinge

The Sydney CDI will again be conducted at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre from the 7th to the 9th of May and for sure looking at the entries the standard has yet again leapt to another level. The small tour and big tour classes will have to be the best fields ever representing the levels and this year will also see some New Zealand horses travelling here for the competition.

With names such and Mary Hanna, Maree Tomkinson, Heath and Rozzie Ryan, Brett Parbery, Sue Hearn, Judy Dierks, Rachael Downs of the internationally famous riders who will be out to defend their prowess with young guns such as Robbie Soster, Victoria Welch, Kate Taylor Wheat, Katherine Farrell,  Alexis Hellyer, Jayden Brown, David Shoobridge and John Thompson to mention a few who will be out there to prove themselves all with fabulous horses and all professional and competent. In actual fact every rider at this competition is a top gun. They have all worked hard to qualify for this competition and with great scores and it really is a win simply to be in the classes. The riding will be outstanding and the standard is really quite something and for sure the scores will be the proof. 

From New Zealand in the big tour there will be Penny Castle and her bay Magnus Spiro and Julie Brougham and Vom Feinsten and in the small tour there will be JW Darjeeling for Jacqui Winspear.  The NZ riders are in form having just competed at their Horse of the Year show where Vom Feinsten raised the bar to gain the highest ever Freestyle Grand Prix percentage in Australia and New Zealand beating the recent percentage of …..set by Mary Hanna and Umbro at the Bradgate Park CDI this year.

Of course there are the Advanced classes and again jam packed full of interesting and talented horses about to make the step up to the FEI ranks and they are always great classes to watch. There will be young horse classes from 4 5 and 6 year olds in the dressage and then on the Saturday there will be the young horse showjumping as well. When you talk young there is also Young rider classes at FEI level and a new section called Medium Tour which consists of two tests and a freestyle called Inter A and Inter B and there are some really good horses in here as well.

This classification was brought in to help horse make the jump from Small tour (Prix St George and Inter I ) to Big tour ( Inter II Grand Prix) as it was a big step up and now this intermediary class is a great introduction for the up and coming Grand Prix horses.

There will be at the same time a Para Equestrian group of tests as well.

It is a jam packed event and with a huge trade village the show is a must. It is really the whos who of the dressage world and the fields are all class. There are so many horses with a chance to win and this is what will make it such a great competition as the riders cannot afford to make a mistake yet they have to push for the big marks. Its all going to be happening at the Sydney CDI.

***Also keep an eye out in the coming days for exclusive audio interviews from Roger Fitzhardinge for Equestrian Life at the Sydney CDI as he discusses the competition and talks with riders***

Source: Sydney CDI

Roger Fotzhardinge and Amerigo ©Franz Venhaus