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Melbourne 3DE at Werribee
 Henton Attorney General and Lizzie Brown. © Claudia Graham, Cyberhorse |
Kathy Scott was there to watch a New Zealand bred Hanoverian competing in the CCI**.
On the 7th June this year, I visited the Melbourne International 3 Day Event at Werribee with my son James, with the intention of seeing Lizzie Brown and Henton Attorney General in action on the cross country.
Thirty-six years ago I had lived next door to what is now the National Equestrian Centre, so it was with a certain amount of nostalgia that I set out with James to show him the area and watch a New Zealand Hanoverian horse in action - a horse of special significance to me, as Henton Attorney General is by Anamour and out of the Distelfink mare Delphi, a half sister to my Thoroughbred stallion Tandarra Crown xx.
Much to our relief the weather was sunny after thunderstorms had been forecast. We had already checked out the 3 Day Event's excellent website the day before and knew that Henton Attorney General (Frank, as he is known at home), was leading after the dressage phase from a field of twenty-nine, so it was with great anticipation that James and I set off for Werribee.
What a wonderful venue set in the magnificent grounds of Werribee Park, dominated by the opulent Werribee Mansion, a superbly restored 19th century Italian building. The cross country course runs around the perimeter of the Park and then through the 10 hectares of formal gardens, which include magnificent trees and the Victoria State Rose Garden. We arrived in good time to collect our programme, update information and start times. The start box was inside one of the indoor arenas, an excellent place to protect horses and officials from bad weather.
We set out to walk the course watching the Intermediate horses on our way. Our final destination was towards the end of the course on a rise near the Shark Net Splash (main water jump) where we could view at least seven jumps and several combinations.
I had my binoculars and James had his camera. The people in front of us let us move nearer to the action when they knew we were New Zealanders there to watch a New Zealand horse!
Finally we heard the announcer say Frank had started, he was on his way! In time he came into view across the far side of the paddock, over the hayrack and then we glimpsed him behind the trees over the big logs of the Vibrac Challenge combination, galloping on steadily to the Picnic Table and the Camel Flyer. The horse was covering the ground and jumping well.
He went out of view at the Equissage Edge, a jump missed by a previous rider, and then he was right in front of us over the roll top, a stride to an upright, then carefully and neatly into the water. A hard turn right took him up a rise to line up for a rather difficult combination of the Victorian Hollow, over an upright and down to a wide ditch, up again on an angle to a carved wooden Wombat - all jumps negotiated neatly and precisely by horse and rider.
From there, they were out of sight through the Farmyard combination and into the Mansion grounds, through the Victorian Ornamental Lake and over the IRT Rose Garden Mounds and on to the finish, a total of 25 fences with 37 jumping efforts. That was the end of day two. Back in the city we checked the website to find that Frank was still in the lead - what a result!
Monday was the showjumping and all of the horses took rails. Frank had a rail in hand, but unfortunately, a refusal at the last fence led to time faults, which relegated him to third place, still a good result in an Intermediate class against some very good Australian horses.
What an excellent result for Dave and Bridget Sutton of Henton Lodge and rider Lizzie Brown. Also, it was a thrill for me as a member of the Anamour Syndicate to see this lovely horse by Anamour competing internationally in the Eventing Discipline.
