Australian Eventing Team Claim Third at CHIO Aachen

The Eventing competition at CHIO Aachen 2019 was fiercely contested with eight nations vying for the top place at the prestigious equestrian festival.

The Australian team consisted of Chris Burton riding Polystar I, Andrew Hoy riding Vassily de Lassos, Kevin McNab riding Willunga and Isabel English riding her Connemara X TB Feldale Mouse.

The dressage phase of the competition opened with Isabel English being the first competitor in to the arena. Isabel and 'Mouse' set the competition in motion with a score of 34.50. 

"He was really good, Mouse was very good. It is not his best phase but we did the best we could. It is a great honour to be riding here as part of the team, hopefully I can do Australia proud" said Isabel following her test.

Next into the arena was Chris Burton on Polystar I who produced a beautiful test to score 26.40, followed by Kevin McNab and Willunga who were close behind Burton with a score of 26.90.

Andrew Hoy and his WEG 2018 partner Vassily de Lassos, owned by Paula and David Evans, delighted the audience with a beautiful test scoring 28.30. 

“The highlight of the whole test was that he was able to keep a really good outline and stay really focused on what I was asking. He was very rideable and that was the thing I was really pleased about" said Andrew.

Chris Burton also competed as an individual on Quality Purdey earning a score of 27.00.

Following the dressage phase the Australian Team sat in fourth place.

The showjumping took place in the main stadium later the same day in front of a full house with an electric atmosphere. 

Chris Burton finished the phase as the highest placed Australian on his individual ride ‘Quality Purdey’ with a clear jumping round. 

"It is always exciting to be at Aachen, we love Aachen it is the most amazing venue and we are very lucky to be here" said Chris.

Isabel English was in 29th position with 1 rail down, Kevin McNab was in 30th position with 3 rails down, Chris Burton on Polystar I was in 13th position with 1 rail down and Andrew Hoy was in 9th position with a clear round moving into cross country.

The Australian combinations looked all class the following day on the cross country course as they all delivered incredible rounds - with no Australian combinations accumulating any jumping faults! 

At the end of the competition Chris Burton finished in 3rd place on Quality Purdey and Andrew Hoy finished 5th riding Vassily de Lassos.

The Australian team finished in 3rd place behind Germany and New Zealand in the overall standing.

"The competition at Aachen was, as always, a world class event in every way. We are incredibly proud of our Eventing team who delivered a sound performance, resulting in third place.

Aachen was an important event in our Tokyo 2020 Olympic preparation and we remain on track as we head towards the Test event in August. Congratulations to Chris Burton, Andrew Hoy, Isabel English, Kevin McNab and their connections." said EA High Performance Director, Chris Webb.

Full results can be found here