The Stars of Sydney 3DE

The Sydney 3DE kicked off at Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC) on Friday under glorious blue Sydney skies. In the feature class, the CCI4*, Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture came out early and held on to the top spot for much of the class with only 28.10 penalties until Andrew Barnett and Go Tosca stole their thunder with 25.30. In the CCI3* Hazel Shannon and Willingapark Chelsea took and ealy lead on 27.60 penalties with

Jess Somerfield and Finch Farm Carpentaria close on their tail with 28.20.

The Cross Country phase of the competition certainly didn't disapoint, with SIEC looking fantstic under clear blue skies. In the CCI4* Andrew Barnett and Go Tosca solidified their lead, just picking up 3.6 time faults – taking their overall score to 28.9. Kenya Wilson and Sandros Salute MW made a big leap up the board to sit in second after a great cross-country phase with nothing to add to their Dressage score. In the CCI3* Jess Somerfield and Finch Farm Carpentaria have taken the lead after going clear and under time in the cross country phase. Olivia Barton and APH Sodoku also jumped up to sit in second after also going clear and under time. Andrew Barnett and Oscar Park Deluge also had a super cross-country phase to bring them up to third spot.

It was pretty tight at the top of the leaderboard for these international competitions, so it is was all going to come down to the jumping. As was expected with such tightly packed leaderboards, an exciting finale it certainly was. In the CCI4* Andrew Barnett and Go Tosca who had been leading the competition right from the start, had a lovely jumping round to seal the deal on their win. Olivia Barton and Henrik APH went clear to jump from third spot to 2nd and Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture also had a super clear round and climbed from 5th after the cross country yesterday to 3rd.

In the CCI3* Jess Somerfield and Finch Farm Carpentaria who were sitting second after Dressage and climbed to the lead yesterday after the cross country continued their fantastic form with a great clear round in the jumping phase to seal the win. Will Enzinger and Epic Xtreme who were 3rd coming out of the Dressage phase and then slipped to 5th after the cross country had a magnificent clear in the jumping phase today to climb three places to take out the second spot on the podium and Olivia Barton and APH Sodoku with just 4 penalties in the Jumping phase held on for third.

Courtesy of a super clear round in the jumping, Oliver Barrett and Sandhills Briar took the top spot from Christine Bates and Bloomfield Findon in the CCI2* with Sam Lyle and Revelwood Stedintine holding on to third place.

For full results visit www.sydney3DE.com.au