Facing the Eliminator

The Eliminator came to the Dilmun as Shakhoora riders jumped into ‘treasure’ during Friday’s full day of equestrian excitement.

There was only ever going to be one winner but so many of the competitors deserved to be rewarded in the toughest of contests at the Dilmun Stables in Saar.

Eleven riders took part and competed in each class Ö until eliminated.
 
The first class was designed as a warm-up with six fences at 70cm. The only way to be eliminated was with two refusals or a dismount.
 
Andrea Gowdy had flown in from Dubai especially for the competition so the first refusal by Tess was not going to be tolerated. She manoeuvred her to carry on and completed the round. 

Sharon Nicklin had her work cut out on an over-excited Mia Vita, AKA Zorro, but skilfully kept him in the running.
 
Liz Sinclair chose to withdraw at the end of this round as the second course was too much for the unpredictable Inca.

The second class was an accumulator with eight fences at 80cm and an optional Joker at 110cm. As well as the usual dismounts and two refusals, anyone with less than 20 points also left the competition at this point.
 
Fences were worth five points with the Joker at 20 points and the points were subtracted for knockdowns.  The event lost three competitors during this round. Andrea unfortunately had a dismount, Sharon had two refusals on the still very energetic Mia Vita and Andrew Scopes decided to try Porphyry over the Joker and had two refusals. This was a shame as they’d scored a clear round to this point.  Sam Bicknell decided to withdraw on a high after two great rounds on Nelson. 
The third class had six fences starting at 80cm with each rider choosing a fence to be raised by one hole.  Knocking or refusing their own chosen fence in that round attracted double faults and anyone picking up 12 or more faults in one round was eliminated.

This class went on far longer than anyone expected with both horses and riders performing brilliantly.  As fences got higher and tactics came into play with the choice of raised fences the class proved to be very exciting.

As juniors rode against adults many parents were understandably nervous.

The first round saw the end of the competition for Charlotte Gunby on the wonderful Magnum while the second round saw off Fran Downes on Lollypopp Man. All remaining riders got through the third round.
 
Hannah van der Eyken was eliminated on Billy in round four with two refusals, leaving three riders to go through to what proved to be the final round. Danielle Shaw raised fence two and managed another clear round on Rangerino, Aimee Keen raised fence four but was eliminated with two refusals and Sami Mendis raised fence five and, with a refusal and knocking down his chosen fence, attracted 12 faults in total.

What a nail-biting finish – some of the fences finished the class at 130cm. 

Danielle Shaw was awarded The Eliminator Trophy for a well-deserved win but I’m sure she’ll admit, two juniors gave her a tough time right to the end. Congratulations Danielle and Rangerino!

This Friday will see the Dilmun Show Jumping League back in action.

Shakhoora Riding Centre held its second Show Jumping league competition last weekend, sponsored by The Latif Al Khajah Company.

Shakoora started Friday morning off quietly with a Clear Round Class, allowing newcomers to claim a rosette if they clear the course.

Junior rider Mohammed Al Riffai rode Quest beautifully to claim his rosette, and for the adults it was Yulia Frolova with Dream, who received the first of her day’s winning accolades.
 
The second class was a one round with jump off class with fences standing at 50cms. Yulia took her second win of the day.

Class three was another one round with jump off, however, the fences were raised to 80cms. Claiming victory in this class and the first of his trio of wins on the day was Ashraf Atabani riding Udreikus. He was followed into runner-up position by Valerie Puls astride the lovely Pippa, with Jerri Taylor on Airforce One manoeuvring into third position.
 
The final class of the day was one with a difference, a Treasure Hunt. The fences, standing at 100cms, had a secret amount of points allocated to them. The object of the class was to jump as many as possible within one minute to gain as many points as possible.

This proved to be a winning combination for Ashraf as with the fabulous Uno Van De Zannehoeve he took top position and he came back to the podium in runner-up position with Udreikus. Jerry Taylor and Airforce One remained consistent and the pair picked up their second third placing of the day.
 
February will see Shakhoora host the fourth dressage competition of its current league and its third show jumping event.
And, Twin Palms Riding Centre will move its combination show back to a Friday morning slot – the Show Jumping and Dressage event with be staged this weekend, starting at 10am.

Next month promises to be extremely exciting for all those at Twin Palms with the long-awaited one day event TWIXTEAD, which will be held on February 17.
 
This event will consist of two classes, however, each will have three phases – a cross-country, show jumping and dressage. To enter horse/rider will have to complete all three phases.  The two classes will be split into levels, A will be a preliminary dressage test, and show jumping fences to 50/60cms, B will be a Novice dressage test and show jumping fences approx  80cms with both A and B classes having to complete the Cross-Country course.  
This promises to be the event of the month!