Amanda Ross on Koko Popping Candy
© Michelle Terlato
By Equestrian Life
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are just nine months away and the excitement is really starting to build! Australian eventing combinations are beginning to stake their claims for team selection, at events on home soil and abroad.
Ariat athletes Shane Rose and Amanda Ross are two riders who are giving team selection a red-hot crack — and they are taking different paths towards the same goal.
Shane and superstar Virgil began their campaign this year with a win in the CCI4*-S at Camden in March, before following it up with another win in the CCI4*-S at Canberra in September. Both were pretty impressive sub-30 scores. The big decision was then made to put Virgil on a plane to Europe at the beginning of October with the plan being to tackle Pau CCI5* in France. Well, that plan paid off.
They produced a good dressage test to begin the event in 14th place — and then it was onwards and upwards from there. Just 1.6 time penalties in the cross country was the only addition to their score by the end of the competition, and they finished in third place behind winners Tom McEwen and Toledo De Kerser of Great Britain, and fellow Aussie Chris Burton and Quality Purdey.
“It is amazing how much you learn from coming away on such a big trip,” said Shane following the event. “Whilst it wasn’t an ideal preparation to begin with, I think I have learnt a lot of things about how I am going to manage him (Virgil) going forward. I felt like he was in a lot better physical shape here than he was in Tryon (World Equestrian Games, 2018), I think he is certainly improving.
“A top three place is what I came over to do; hopefully it will give the selectors the confidence that I can travel away and compete how we normally do, albeit under more stressful situations than what we are used to. Overall the trip has been a really successful one and hopefully I can go home now and prepare him towards Tokyo. He is a very good horse, his record has been impeccable over the last couple of years, so I don’t feel like he needs to do a lot to prove anything, he just needs to be fit and sound and competing.”
With a CCI5* completion under their belt, Shane and Virgil have met the Minimum Eligibility Requirements for Tokyo (MERs for Tokyo require combinations to complete a CCI4*-S and CCI4*-L OR a CCI5*L to a minimum standard between January 2019 and June 1, 2020). The pair will not contest Adelaide this year, however Shane will pilot mare Easy Turn around the CCI4*-S.
Shane Rose and Virgil
© Jenelle Christopher
Fellow Ariat athlete Amanda Ross also has her eye on an Olympic berth. Her primary hopeful, thoroughbred Koko Popping Candy, has produced a number of strong performances at short format four-stars this year. The pair won at Wandin in March and Werribee in early September, before running second to Shane and Virgil at Canberra later that month.
Following Canberra, Amanda has opted for a different path towards selection. Last year, she took Koko Popping Candy overseas and completed a top ten finish at Blenheim, thereby missing Adelaide. However, this year she is keen to remain on home soil and contest the only CCI5* in the southern hemisphere — thereby ticking off the mare’s Olympic MER and hopefully impressing selectors along the way. She is confident the mare will take the step up to five-star in her stride:
“She’s naturally a very good candidate for the long format events, being a Thoroughbred; she’s quick and has great endurance. I thinks she’s the best ever choice I’ve had for Adelaide!” says Amanda. Speaking about the step up from short format to long format, Amanda explains that her training hasn’t had to change too much: “She’s naturally very fit. In the lead up to Adelaide we’ll do fitness work every four days and keep that as a priority.”
Amanda opted not to take Koko Popping Candy beyond the dressage at the recent Albury Wodonga Horse Trials, as the ground has been quite hard with widespread drought. The three short-format events this year have been enough to boost her competition fitness.
Alongside Koko Popping Candy in the CCI5* at Adelaide, Amanda is also competing Dondiablo and RLE Poynstown Will in the CCI4*-S; both are viewed as her “Toyo back-ups.” With completions at multiple CCI4*-S events and a CCI4*-L at Werribee back in June, Dondiablo has already achieved his MER, while RLE Poynstown Will still needs to complete a CCI4*-L. He will get his chance to do so at Wallaby Hill in December.
Based on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Amanda plans to head over to Boneo Park for the Boneo Cup and Australian Show Jumping Championships prior to Adelaide, as these will give her horses a little bit of an outing and sharpen their skills at the all important final jumping phase — while remaining close to home and on forgiving surfaces. Looking further afield and if all goes well, Amanda envisions the CCI4*-L at the 2020 Sydney Horse Trials as being her final hit-out before the teams are named.
Changing formats
The Tokyo Olympic Games will see a different eventing format to previous years. Teams will be made up of three competing combinations, with all three scores counting — there is no “drop score”. However, there are also complex rules allowing a once-off reserve to be substituted into the team at a cost of 20 penalties, should a combination be eliminated, retired or withdrawn (for medical or vet reasons) in any of the three tests. So in short, four riders are named on the team and travel, however only three ride unless a substitution is required.
A number of Australian riders are already posting very good results in the race for selection, and it’s going to be tougher than ever to land a coveted place on the team. These two Ariat athletes may be taking different paths as Tokyo draws nearer, however they are working towards the same goal: to ride in the green and gold! ?
READ THE LATEST NEWS ARTICLES HERE
