Rome CHIO Nations Cup

The Australian team, representing us in the Nations Cup event overnight, has come in ninth out of a ten nation start list at the beautiful Piazza di Siena venue in Rome. It was tough going for the Aussies who represented us well, in what was one of the last chances for combinations to impress selectors prior to the Paris Olympics at the end of July.

First out for the Australians were Netherlands based Hilary Scott and Oaks Milky Way. This experienced combination, who were part of our 2022 World Equestrian Games team got the team off to a solid start, incurring just the four penalties and completing the course with a couple of seconds to spare.

Above: Hilary Scott and Oaks Milky Way. Photo credit: Morgan Froment.

Next out was the Sydney based pair of Amber Fuller and the Douglass Family-owned gelding, Nopal Van Tallaert. They incurred eight jumping penalties and a couple of time faults, finishing on a total of 10. Not an ideal score, but with each team being able to discard their worst score in each round, there was no damage done, just a little bit more pressure on the two combinations to come.

Above: Amber Fuller and Nopal Van Tallaert. Photo credit: Morgan Froment.

Christopher Burton and his mare Chedington Hazy Toulana were next to go. Burto, who competed at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016 in Eventing put in a great round to finish on a total of four.

This set up our final combination, US based Thaisa Erwin and the mare Hialita B. Thaisa, who was also part of our team in Kronenberg last week, and Hialita B were the stars of the first round today with a great clear round.

Thaisa Erwin and Hialita B. Photo credit: Morgan Froment.

Unfortunately, the second round did not go as well as the Aussies would have hoped for. Once again Hilary and mare Oaks Milky Way lead the way, replicating their first round four penalty effort, to once again get the team off to a solid start. Amber and Nopal van Tallaert took a pair of rails to finish on eight penalties, which the team would have been hoping would be the second round drop score, however, it did not turn out that way. Both of our final two combinations, Christopher Burton and Chedington Hazy Toulana, and Thaisa Erwin and Hialita B, each incurred 12 penalties, meaning only one of these scores could be dropped. The Australians had to add 24 points (4 + 8 + 12) to their first-round score of 8, finishing on a total of 32.

While the result may not have been what we would have hoped for, the team can go home proud of their efforts.