Future Eventing Superstar Emerges at Tryon

An Eventing superstar of the future emerged today at Tryon.

Andrew Hoy’s 9YO Vassily de Lassos sailed over the challenging Mark Phillips designed cross-country course to finish six seconds under time.

The French-bred Anglo Arab’s effort pushed his highly experienced and decorated rider to declare it one of the best rides a horse has ever given him.

“He is just phenomenal. I only got him in May last year and he has just given me one of the greatest rides in my life and I have sat on some good horses in my time,” said Hoy.

With no jumping penalties they finished on 29.8 which was the best effort from the Australian team.

“He was just running and jumping and just enjoying it.”

Hoy said he’s excited about the long term with this highly talented horse.

“He’s a serious horse of the future being only nine years of age.”

Emma McNab and Fernhill Tabasco had an encouraging round and are now the second best placed Australian combination after cross-country. She finished with 6.8 time penalties and no jumping penalties (33.8).

“It was really special, it was amazing out there,” said McNab.

“I was quite nervous before I went out there as there were quite a lot of problems with the course.”

She praised the effort of her team mate Andrew Hoy who de-briefed with the team straight after his round to discuss options for the course and how it rode.

“Andrew was amazing to watch he did it perfectly,” she said.

Chris Burton and Cooley Lands incurred 20 jumping penalties after a run out (48.6) and Shane Rose also racked up 20 jumping penalties and 8 time penalties with Virgil.

Unfortunately Bill Levett who was competing as an individual was eliminated after a fall at the water jump. Both horse (Lassban Diamond Lift) and rider have come through unscathed.

The current leader of the competition is Germany’s Ingrid Klimke. Her teammate Julia Krajewski, the runaway leader after the dressage didn’t have such a good day at the office. The devastated 29-year-old and her mount Chipmunk ran into problems at fence 14 and faded to 47^th overall.

As a result, Germany slipped back to sixth in the team standings, the final qualification place for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Disappointing days for the likes of Blyth Tait, and Boyd Martin saw New Zealand and the USA drop out of that all-important top six.

Due to the bad weather expected in Tryon, Eventing competition will now conclude on Monday.