Rose takes the early lead in the Adelaide CCI4*

Beijing silver medallist Shane Rose has taken an early lead in the Adelaide International CCI4* which started Thursday at the Adelaide Parklands.

Rose and his 10 year old gelding APH Moritz have a slim lead over the field and will start Saturday’s Cross Country Cross phase with a 1.5 penalty advantage after their dressage score of 45.80 narrowly edged out the second placed combination of Craig Barrett and Wendela Jamie who scored 47.30.

Sydney Olympic gold medallist and defending champion of the event, Stuart Tinney (Pluto Mio) is sitting on a score of 49.80 which currently has him in third position.  

With a challenging cross country course still to contest and hot conditions forecast for the remainder of the weekend, Rose is all too aware that this year’s competition will be decided over the forthcoming days.   

“I’m certainly going to do my best tomorrow. Craig and Stuart are on very good horses and they’ve very capable riders so it will be interesting to see how we finish up tomorrow.

“Stuart has won a gold medal, Craig’s got a super horse which has won major three star events and they’re both really good competitors so I really need to be on my game,” Shane said.  

Second placed Craig Barrett is searching for his first  four star win.

“My competition career at this level is definitely limited. The horses that I’ve had in the past have been good horses but they’ve never quite made the top level.

“We come to this event knowing that if you’re competing against the likes of Shane and Stuart, you’re actually competing against the best in the world because they’ve been there and won Olympic medals,” Craig said.

Earlier today, event organisers made the decision to shorten the cross country course, ordered extra ice and water trucks and installed water-spraying archways and sprinklers for horses.

“It’s going to be hot on cross country day so hopefully the horses will be fit enough. Pluto Mio’s been doing a lot of galloping so hopefully he can pull through,” Stuart Tinney said.

The Adelaide International Three Day Event is the second leg of the 2012/2013 HSBC FEI ClassicsTM – a six series competition made up of the world’s only four star event competitions. The AI3DE is the only four star event in the southern hemisphere.

Cross Country action commences on Saturday and will see horses and riders weave their way through the stunning Adelaide Parklands. CCI2* competition will start from 10am with CCI4* action to begin at 1:30pm.