The twenty-two-year-old, who was on Australia’s World Championship team at Aachen, led after the dressage phase with a personal best mark of 25.6. Oliver and 10-year-old homebred Sandhills Briar (Christian x Sandhills Beetle, by Stirling Sprite) jumped clear in both the cross country and showjumping phases, adding 19.2 cross country time faults to their score for a total of 44.8 and eighth place in a very competitive field of over 70 entrants.
British rider Tom McEwen claimed first and second in the class riding The Fieldmaster (34.4) and Brookfield Quality (34.5).
Another Australian, Sam Jeffree, finished a fabulous 12th with Santoro, adding just 11.2 cross country time faults and 0.40 showjumping time faults to their dressage score to finish on a total of 46.6. The combination had enjoyed a confidence-building CCI3*S run at Cornbury in the lead up following a mishap at Burghley, and now with a strong result at Blenheim under their belt, Santoro will head for a spell in England and Sam will travel back to Australia to finish the year off with the team here.
Christine Bates and Bloomfield Findon had produced an excellent dressage test but were unfortunately eliminated on a tough cross country track. “Unfortunately, Bloomfield Findon and I didn’t have the best day… I came off him at fence five. We are both okay. We will take a few days and reassess what our next plan will be,” said Christine.
In the CCI4*S for eight- and nine-year-old horses, Australians were also in action. Isabel English and Cil Dara Bombay S finished seventh on a total of 37, adding just 6.4 cross country time faults and 0.4 showjumping time faults to their dressage score.
Sammi Birch finished 10th with Rosa’s Party on 39.1, adding 10.8 cross country time faults to their dressage score. Sammi also placed 28th with MBF Quidam’s Touch on 53.2 from a big field of 60 combinations.
