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SEA News
In the Winner's Circle - Asian Showjumping Challenge, Thailand
By Media Release
Apr 4, 2005

The Thailand leg of this year’s Challenge took place at Khun Sunetr Burakasikorn’s Equestrian Paradice stable just outside Bangkok on the weekend of the 26^th – 28^th March. It was very exciting as Hong Kong was holding their competition the same weekend and so constant phone communication was maintained between the two countries to find out the most current standings.

The weekend kicked off on the Friday afternoon with a selection of smaller classes from 50cm – 100cm giving our younger competitors and less experienced horses the opportunity of competition experience without the pressures of the bigger tracks that were to follow over the next two days. All of the smaller classes were extremely well supported with horses and riders coming from many different clubs and stables and it was nice to see competitors from Chonburi, Saraburi, Nonthaburi, Pattaya and Bangkok.

The outstanding rider in the smaller classes was young Jacob Lousche from Equestrian Paradice riding his wonderful palomino pony Wattles as well as his mother Carol’s ex- polo pony Calita. Jacob was placed in or won all the classes he was entered in and it was great to see this very professional looking young man riding with such style and confidence.

The Asian Challenge began in earnest on Saturday morning with all the entered horses flying through the horse inspection with no problems at all. The first class was the105cm Challenge which saw a total of 13 starters. Times were tight in the first round with many competitors incurring the odd time fault or two but on the whole the course jumped quite well. In the top placings after the first two rounds was Pavinee Sripraput from the Horse Guards riding the fiery Thoroughbred Chana, Sira Konglapamnuay riding Kate Chong’s Salandro, Wanaporn Mor-O-Sut riding Chaiyai from the Cavalry Centre and globe trotting Japanese rider Jin Kanno on the inexperienced Daiquiri from The Horseshoe Point.

The 115cm class had a total of 9 entries but last minutes withdrawals from the Horse Lover’s Club meant that the field was reduced to 7. Charlotte Weber on her consistent campaigner Hurricane kicked off with a steady 4 fault round just taking out the rail at fence 2. Then Helena Gabrielsson came in on her young Holsteiner mare Nikita who cruised round easily just tapping out the front rail of the oxer at Fence 4. Helena was delighted at the way the mare performed and commented that she had been “so easy to ride”.

Veeya Kotaratititum, the reigning Thai National Champion then blitzed round clear on her game little mare I Love Lucy to show how easy it really could be. Nicole Pearson came in on the ever keen Happy King who showed some lack of match practice by having a major spook and run out at Fence 7 when the sign behind the fence rustled in the breeze. The subsequent 4 faults plus 2 for time meant that they finished on 6 after round 1. In round 2, Hurricane had one fence down again and rider Charlotte Weber felt that something was not quite right with her faithful friend. He was found later to have some muscle soreness behind and Charlotte subsequently decided to withdraw him and save him for another day.

Helena and Nikita jumped a copybook clear round with Helena clearly delighted at the bay mare’s new found maturity and fitness. Nicole and Happy King managed to find each other again and the hot little bay Thoroughbred flew around clear to make up for his lack of attention in the first round. Young Kelsey Martens, in her first competition at this level, made up for a difficult first round due entirely to lack of experience, by jumping a lovely clear round in the second round on her mother Autumn’s Holsteiner gelding Wizard. Veeya finished 1^st after Day One with Helena in 2^nd and Nicole 3^rd.

The 125cm class had a small but high quality field. Many of Thailand’s top riders were there as the weekend was also a SEA Games qualifier. Helena riding her newly sponsored King Power Aladdin was first out and showed just how to do it with a beautifully powerful clear round. However, the clock showed her just outside the time allowed and she incurred 1 time fault.

Varat Ngawabunpat on his lovely Oldenburger gelding Luxor sailed round with just one fence down to show that they were in contention. After a grey day with intermittent showers, the rain really started to fall during Varat’s round and had truly set in when Sira Konglapamnuay on his brother Akkara’s experienced Dutch Warmblood mare Heatwave came in. It suited Heatwave just fine and she jumped a neat and careful round with just one fence down. Sira was saving his own Mecklenburger mare Amber for the next day’s SEA Games qualifier class and so did not start her in the Challenge. Helena and King Power Aladdin didn’t allow the clock to get in the way in the second round and flew around clear to take the class from Varat and Sira much to the delight of the horse’s owner Khun Tao!

Sunday dawned hot and humid and the 105cm class started bright and early at 8.30 a.m. The introduction of box filler at Fence 4 proved fairly challenging with some horses taking huge exception to it and stopping dead or running out. Salandro and Chana were careful and reliable with Salandro finishing the competition on a double clear and Chana with a couple of rails. The real find of the competition was the tiny Ausana Kummanpol riding the Cavalry Centre’s Thai bred chestnut Kutyut who flew around skipping over the fences as if they were 10cm high! They finished the competition in overall 2^nd place with 13 faults and are definitely ones to watch for the future. First overall with a total of 9 faults was Pavinee and Chana with Kamolnant and the consistent Appaloosa Chocolate Chip in 3^rd.

The 115cm class took place at the height of an increasingly hot day. The withdrawals of Hurricane and Angela Navaraj’s Caspar meant that there were only 5 starters in the class. Helena and Nikita were first in and had jumped a lovely clear up until the very last fence when Nikita just took a look at the filler and stopped in surprise. She circled around and then jumped the fence with ease finishing round three on 8 faults. I Love Lucy and Veeya just tipped a back rail on the oxer at 3 meaning that they too were on 8 after round three. Happy King was having fun and skipped around the track clear never getting near to touching a pole. Then Khun Tao came in on Salido and jumped a lovely clear round much to the delight of all the spectators and himself. Going into the final round Nicole knew that she and Happy King had to jump clear to win. I Love Lucy was a bit too quick and flat and took out two rails while Nikita was feeling the effects of the extreme heat and just clipped a fence for 4 faults. Happy King showed that being born in hot and humid Florida was good preparation for his life as a showjumper in Asia, by flying around quickly and carefully and recording a double clear round to win the class. In 2^nd were Veeya and I Love Lucy who just beat Helena and Nikita by virtue of a slightly faster overall time.

King Power Aladdin was so pleased to be back competing and was a little strong in the 125cm class just clipping two rails in round 3. Varat and Luxor, benefiting from some advice from Jin Kanno, jumped a beautiful round up until the very last fence, a vertical on a curving distance which Luxor took exception to and spooked at. This was to prove a fairly influential fence as Natthanart Bhinsaeng and the wonderful Holsteiner mare Kara Joy also had a slight disagreement there and collected 4 faults along with 2 time faults. Heatwave jumped an immaculate clear with Sira who then decided to withdraw her from the second round due to the heat.

In the second round Helena managed to contain King Power Aladdin’s enthusiasm and they finished with a clear round to be the overall winners. Second was Varat and Luxor with Natthanart and Kara Joy in third. Nakorn Kamolsiri and the inexperienced yet genuine Mothercare Sunny racked up a cricket score but kept jumping gamely on to finish fourth.

A quick phone call to Hong Kong meant that Thailand had not managed to beat them but all in all the competition was a great success and proved to be popular with competitors and spectators alike. We are all looking forward to next year!