Welsh Masters
Wednesday 20 April 2011 12:04Thrills and spills!!!
Well it's very late on Tuesday evening and I'm on foal watch!!! No-one stepped into the world while we were away and now Lucy is huge and 2wks overdue!
We are only just recovering from the Blue Chip, Weston Lawns and then a hectic four days at Broomes. Wales and west was heaving they had record entries and the weather was fabulous. The show had its ups and downs for us Avola did a little jumping on grass and didnt seem too phased by it and achieved a double clear in a Newcomers although when we took her in the Castle arena for a jump prior to the 6yr old she told me the water was far too scary and pulled up several strides away so we thought it best to withdraw her from the 6yr the following day. Anouk jumped in the Newcomers and then her first Foxhunter as a warm up for the 6yr old she jumped clear until the last fence - the water and after a peep at it the first time she jumped it but for her the 6yr old was a little too technical and Carl retired her. Applebee who we thought was a good prospect for the 6yr jumped the Foxhunter the first day and was jumping fabulous until the water where she decided I should have an early bath which is most unusual for her as she has jumped water before with no problem, so the 2nd day she jumped the Fox on grass and flew the water no problem and did a lovely double clear so with this in mind the next day she jumped the 6yr old and again decided to give me a bath!! Naughty pony!!!!!! Other people seemed to be having as many water issues and issues in general infront of the water in the main ring it got quite chewed up as lots of people had problems in all standards of classes. Lord Castell jumped the Fox the first day for a stop in the treble, then a fab double clear and low placing on the 2nd day then as star of the show for us he produced a treble clear in the National 6yr old qualifier so he has his ticket to scope. Cecile and Balia both jumped clears in the 5yr old the first day then Cecile repeated this the second day whereas Balia had his first run on grass which he wasn't quite his ususal self but coped well. Both jumped the final but Balia was unlucky at the penultimate fence and Cecile showed her greeness at this level. Ulrich stepped up to 1.30 and was very good the first day he was jumping with great confidence until the next rider entered the ring when I was at fence 6 which was far from the end of the single-phase course!! It distracted me as I had the back rail off the double at fence 5 and started to wonder if it was two phase and had the bell gone and should I stop, so as a result of my concentration lapse we had another fence for being too deep- then as I came around to the last stile a man strolled in front of me to put a fence up so we added the stile to out tally. Alan Jones did say they would allow me the stile as the man was wrong but as I had 16 faults it wouldn't change things-so with this I was really upset as we'd only had 3 down which to me is 12!! Anyway in his 2nd qualifier he jumped around for 4 faults and showed some really good jumping and I was pleased with him especially as 4 out of the 6 horses before me had stopped at the first fence several of which deposited their jockeys. Then last of the string to mention is Avalon he actually had a good show jumped in the 1.25 twice for 4 faults in the jump off and then again in the final had a clear and 4 so he stepped back up a level well even at a championship show!!
So as I write this in between foal watching I'm busy washing and restocking the caravan in preparation for 3 days at Southview!!! I wonder when I'll get chance to sleep??
