Tom Mc Dermott wins 2023 Australian League FEI Jumping World Cup Qualifying Series

The final leg of the 2023 Australian World Cup Qualifying Series wrapped up at the Sydney Summer Classic Show at Sydney International Equestrian Centre over the weekend.

Starting back at Shepparton in March, the eighth and final leg to determine who would qualify to represent Australia at the World Cup Finals, scheduled to take place in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia next April, sawTom McDermott and Cooley Gangster came into this event in the lead on 78 points from Sarah McMillan and Madeline Sinderberry both tied in second place on 71 points.

With the competition moved forward to a 9am start to beat the expected extreme temperatures in the afternoon, it was the Queensland combination of Sam Overton and Oaks Cassanova who took the prize. No strangers to success at this level, this combination who won the 2022 series and represented Australia at the world cup finals in Omaha, Nebraska in April earlier this year, were the only combination to master the course, putting together two clear rounds over what everybody agreed was a difficult track.

Tom and Cooley Gangster, who took a rail in the first round before a clear second round in 52.92 seconds, secured second place in the class ahead of Billy Raymont and Caprino who finished with a total of four faults, due to a second-round time of 58.18, which incurred four time penalties.

As a result of their consistent performances over the year Tom secured the Australian League Title and Cooley Gangster was awarded the Golden Grand prize for the best performed horse over the course of the eight-leg-series.