It was a successful weekend at Tamworth International Eventing for Andrew Cooper and 12-year-old Sharvalley Thunder, with the pair taking out the Britt Grovenor Photography CCI4*S on a score of 35.1.
Andrew and Thunder were the only combination in the 23-horse field to finish on their dressage score.
Bred by Sharen Gotts and brought up through the levels to two-star by her daughter, Amy Gotts-Wheeler, Thunder was sold to young eventer Eliza Harvey before landing with Andrew Cooper in 2021. Andrew stepped out at FEI three-star level in 2022 with the horse – who he says had excellent foundations – and they haven’t looked back. Last year, Thunder was short-listed with for the Paris Olympics. Thunder is by KWPN stallion Valhalla 3 out of Indi, by the notable Thoroughbred stallion Mr Prospector.
Remarkably, the only other combination to go under time on the CCI4*S cross country was Andrew with his other ride, Hey Arnold; unfortunately, they did have two rails in the jumping, but still finished fifth on 42.2.
Andrew also finished on his dressage score (41.5) with Ocean Eight in the CCI3*S for fifth place and added just 4.4 time faults to his dressage score with Omega Star in the same class to finish ninth on 48.1.
“Very happy with my team of horses! Thank you to the event sponsors and committee for a great first event of the season!” said Andrew via social media following the event.
Second place in the CCI4*S at Tamworth went to Shane Rose and off the track Thoroughbred The Bandit, with this combination adding just 0.8 cross country time penalties to their dressage score to finish on 39.6. Third went to Cathryn Herbert and Wimborne Constable on 40.9, while Sam Woods and SS Eight Count were fourth on 41.4.
Georgia Rohde and Cassio Xtreme won the Amy-Sue Alston Photography CCI3*S on 33.5, while the Red Aussie Co. Photography CCI2*S went to Niki Rose and Cooley All Over on 30.6.
