Sunshine Tour 2016
IT was an Indian summer at the ten day British Showjumping Sunshine Tour at The Cabin Equestrian Centre, Inverurie on July 22 to 30 with hot days and occasional monumental monsoon downpours.
Now in its fifth year, the Sunshine Tour boasted over 130 horses from Caithness to the Borders on site, which increased daily with local horses coming in to compete. Jumping ran from 9am through to 9.30pm with over 50 entries in some of the classes. Course design was by Diane Beaumont and Shaun Sands.
The leading horse/rider combination for the Sunshine Tour winning the Annual Sunshine Tour trophy and leading rider prize trophy, sash, bottle of Tattinger and a free stable for next year was 23 year old professional rider Declan Irvine on Zirko 1.
Based in Coatbridge, where he works full time for Richard Duncan bringing on horses, Declan headlined no less than nine classes on 12 year old warmblood Zirko I and eight year old Keeford Carousel. These included the Connolly’s Red Mills Senior Newcomers first round and the 1.05m opens on ZirkoIplus the Senior Foxhunter first rounds and a place in the winning senior team competiton on Keeford Carousel. Declan added numerous additional placings on both VandoraWeering and Hero II.
“We took 12 horses for the full 10 days. The main reason is we have a lot of young horses needing shows so this is a great way to give them experience.”
“We have only had Zirko I for a couple of weeks as he was bought to sell on and this was the second time I’ve ever ridden him. He’s a very easy amateur sort of horse and really knows his job.
“In contrast, I’ve had Keeford Carousel for four years. He’s part of family and can be abit naughty, but the more he mis-behaves outside the ring, the better he’ll jump in the ring.
“There were some great tracks at the Sunshine Tour. I always find Diane’s courses technical and up to height which is a good thing. Shaun also built some good tracks on the second weekend and it’s good to see someone doing something abit different.
On fighting form was Fraserburgh’s Sarah Gibb who won the prestigious Senior 1.30m Open including the Scottish North East Championship on Sunday, 24 July.
Fellow Fraserburgh rider Aimee Bell on Cameron Poe championed in Friday's (July 22) 1m 30 class and closed the show sealing the deal in the final class of the day – the National 1m30 open championship including the Cabin open championship.
“He felt really good and fresh; it was a good start to the show. In the North East Championship we had the fastest time in the jump off but unfortunately the last fence down. It was my fault - I just pushed too much and got too excited since it was the last fence. I always like to do well there as it's such a great show and Poe loves the arena!
Poe and Aimee are no strangers to the spotlight having notched up a second place win in the Scottish Extravaganza 1m 40 Grand Prix a couple of weekends ago with her older sister Lucy Guild taking first place.
Heading up from her Fife-base was well-known face Sandra Low Mitchell who brought an impressive 16 horses up to jump over the ten days….riding some herself and mentoring others.
Also heading north was Stirling-based Jane Ault who had a super show. Taking four horses – two of her own (TriompfL and Lisnamarra) and two belonging to Avonmill Equestrian (Heatherside Clover and Purdie) – Jane notched up placings throughout the ten days. She then headed July 27 KBIS Senior British Novice Championship first round and the novice six bar on Heatherside Clover and the senior 95m open on Triomf L.
“I have ridden Triomf L for the past three and a half years and she was recently gifted to me by my boss Joanne Fairbrother. This was our first show back from an injury that she sustained this winter and the first show I have jumped at with her as my own horse. She won her second class back and finished third in the Cabin 1.05m final. She was full of beans and mad as a box of frogs.
“Heatherside Clover jumped great too. This was our second show together. She jumped lots of double clears.”
Aberdeen-based rider Yolanda Geddie jumped to victory in both the Open Top Score and Open Six Bar classes on July 26 and 27 respectively, clearing a staggering height of 1m 55 in the open six bar on BishopstonZicher (Zac) and winning joint with Fife rider Craig Hamilton on Viellefond.
“After being off with a small injury for a few months, it was so nice to have BishopstonZicher (Zac) back to his usual self! He is actually feeling better than ever and we had a very successful run throughout the whole Sunshine Tour.
“The highlights for us were the open top score where he was foot perfect and picked up a great score in a quick time to win the class. It was something a little different from our usual 1.30m classes which can carry a lot of pressure so it was nice to have more of a 'fun' class.
“On Wednesday evening (July 27) we competed in the six bar challenge and reached the fifth and final round and cleared 1.55m which was an amazing achievement. We had never competed in this class before so I went in with no expectations and came out with the win!
“To round off the Tour, on Sunday (July 30) we competed in the 1.30m championship and were double clear and finished second, only 0.3s away from the win. It was a competitive jump-off and it feels great to now have the confidence as a partnership to really go for it in the jump off at the height.”
Oldmeldrum-based Carolyn Andrews championed in the novice six bar on Firado II ( Diarado x Quidam de Revel), starting at 90cm and finishing at 1m 30.
“This was Firado II’s first six bar class and I was delighted with him and to come joint first. Definitely a keeper. He also came third in the Newcomers/1.10 (double clear). It was a decent track and he made it feel effortless and is showing great promise.”
Carolyn’s winning streak continued with a lovely “confident” double clear in the British Novice on seven year old Either Way (Hemmingway) in only his third competition and a third with a very quick round on her 19 year old mare Peniki (Liostro) in the 1m 05.
Aberdeen rider Emma McIntosh won the 90cm open two days in a row on her “spur of the moment purchase – now horse of a lifetime” 15hh mare Bright Eyes T (Luna) by Verdi. She also notched up two second placings in the same class on two other days.
“I feel we are becoming a great partnership with the continuous support of my trainer Holly Miller who rides and competes her when I'm offshore. I'm really looking forward to moving up the classes with her. She's a scopey little mare that loves her job.”
Cabin owner Fiona Quennell commented: “The atmosphere was great throughout the Tour and people who said they’d never been before said how much they absolutely loved it as it was so friendly and fun.
“We actually had more minor injuries in the extraordinary evening entertainment than in the actual showjumping due to the competitiveness of the participants who gave it their all.
“A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible – the competitors, judges Brian Watson and Alison Bradley who worked tirelessly, the wonderful course designers, the Cabin team who were amazing and of course our generous sponsors who we can’t run it without.”
A full evening entertainment programme ran throughout the ten days for those competitors staying on site including a race night which raised £277 for Marie Curie, sump wrestling, a disco and a ride and drive competition.
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