Camden’s Shane Rose has victory in his sights in the Sydney CCI3* three day event and a confident performance in today’s cross country phase has given the Olympic silver medallist a four penalty buffer leading into Sunday’s show jumping decider.

Photo Left: Shane Rose and CP Qualified

Rose and his mount CP Qualified are 5.4 penalties (one show jumping rail) ahead of Olympian Megan Jones and Flowervale Maserati who move into second position after leading at the end of the dressage phase.

South Australian Jones had a tidy performance but was marginally slower around the course which added 10.8 time penalties to her score. 

“We could have been faster but at fence four and five he backed off and I did a circle which is where our time faults came from. I was as fast as I could possibly be, and he was as fast as he could possibly be but I just couldn’t make it up after that.”

“We haven’t been competing together for that long but I trust him immensely and he jumped those fences like they were nothing and he just felt great,” she said.

Rose is also holding third position after an impeccably timed round with second entry Taurus added just 0.8 time penalties to this horse’s score. 

“It was tough out there.  Taurus went out early and at fences four and five he just had a little bit of a second thought of what he was supposed to be doing, which saw him get a little bit down on time. Other than that he was super.

“CP Qualified just keeps getting better and better with each start. Leading into the event he missed a couple of weeks with a hoof crack so I’m pleased with how he’s gone today.

Following the cross country phase of last year’s Australian International Three Day Event CCI4* Rose was in second and third position with Taurus and Qualified but both horses knocked down rails in the show jumping phase which proved costly.

“I have been trying to come up with a plan to make them jump clear tomorrow, but we have done a lot of work since then and CP Qualified is always improving. Adelaide was only the third Show Jumping round he had ever done at a Three Day Event.

“I was learning a lot about him then and we certainly have taken a lot out of that.

“All going well hopefully they will both jump clear tomorrow. I have done all I can do so hopefully it goes well,” he said.

Not one combination in the field of 18 was able to complete today’s cross country course without penalty. Olympian Sonja Johnson who was third leading into the cross country phase moved down the order to fifth position after an uncharacteristic refusal at an early fence with her thoroughbred chestnut Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison added 20 penalties to their score. Johnson’s day didn’t fare any better with her second mount Belfast Mojito which picked up 40 penalties for two refusals.    

The Sydney CCI3* is an important event for Australian based event riders vying for a position on the Australian team that will compete at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France in August. 

Competition concludes on Sunday with the deciding show jumping phase.

Story: Equestrian Australia.
Photo: Julie Wilson