Anthony Condon Delivers a Masterclass at the Blue Chip Championships
Monday 17 April 2023
Anthony Condon entertained and informed in a Masterclass lecture demo and impressively substantiated his beliefs by taking the top two places in the feature Blue Chip Grand Prix at the Blue Chip Championships’ traditional Gala Night at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.
“The pressure was on! I had to perform and I’m pleased to say I pulled it off,” said Irish team rider Anthony, who is based in Whitchurch, Shropshire. “I’d talked the talk, I had to walk the walk. The Masterclass was all about our everyday training and techniques, keeping it simple and basic is key.”
Course-designer Nigel Jess asked plenty of questions of the 21 Grand Prix competitors who came forward in his 13-fence 1.40m track with committed lines and square parallels.
“It was tough enough with a few tricky lines and the fences came up quickly, the horse had to react, but it was well-built and fair,” assessed Anthony.
Seven found the key with the on-form Anthony and Annabel Shields both claiming two rides apiece. The battle was on!
In line for the Andrews Bowen £1,000 bonus on offer to any rider in the Blue Chip Pro Challenge top three who went on to win the Grand Prix, second-placed Annabel Shields set off at the gallop in the opening draw. She set the fastest time of the class but her eager, evergreen 20-year-old partner tapped out the vertical into the double, ending their bid.
Anthony followed up with a smooth, tight yet deceptively quick round on the Hales family’s SFS Mirage to take the lead. He remained comfortably ahead and, when Annabel’s second challenge on Carnoneybridge Challenger failed, he returned in the final draw knowing he had bagged the £2,000 winner’s purse. Could he take second as well?
In short – Yes. He skilfully piloted another Hales family and Shaw Farm Stud’s home-bred 13-year-old Vincomte (Veni Vidi Vici x Magic Darco) – half-brother to Mirage via the dam – into second with a smooth unhurried performance, half a second separating the two. Phillip Miller was nearest rival to take third on Brendon Stud’s Don Royale.
“I’m delighted for the Haleses and Shaw Farm Stud, it’s a very good result for their breeding programme,” said Anthony. “This was the first Grand Prix Mirage has won but she’s been knocking on the door, jumping clear in the last four and finishing second in two. It was lovely to get in a win.”
The 10-year-old Mirage is by Barrichello and out of the Magic Darco mare Illusion IV, a daughter of Nick Skelton’s former top mare Florida and competed by Lisa Hales before becoming a broodmare.
“Vincomte has been at the party a bit longer with plenty of Grand Prix experience. He’s getting back to full fitness, and this was a nice class for him after jumping at 1.60m, he wasn’t under pressure and enjoyed it; now we’ll kick on for the summer,” said Anthony, who was full of praise for the show – “It is well supported and well organised and the course-designer did a great job!”
Angie Thompson hit flying form to land a hat-trick of wins, the Blue Chip Karma Performance and B&C Dynamic titles along with the Blue Chip Pro Challenge all falling her way.
The 13-year-old Fremont VDL (Bacardi VDL x Silverstone), purchased just two weeks earlier by Angie to secure her top ride, stepped up to take the latter over a 1.35m single-phase track with a smooth, deceptively fast round. They beat their 37 rivals by 0.39 seconds despite a serious late challenge from Annabel, who slotted Wet Wet Wet into second.
“He suffers from bad ulcers and we’re putting the money in to deal with them but he’s so stoic and genuine he jumps for me. He’ll have a couple of weeks off now,” said Angie.
Cotswolds-based Angie seized the Blue Chip Dynamic B and C with a whirlwind round in the latter stages of the 20-strong decider on the grade B Kokonut Van De Nethe Z. Trusting the carefulness of the Kasanova De La Pomme x Ewout Van De Kleine Roost nine-year-old mare, Angie wrenched the win from early leader Tillie Davies on Croft CV with 0.79 seconds to spare.
Kokonut was originally bought from Brightwells Sales as a 3-year-old with Angie’s sister Debbie and her husband William Gilder now the new owners.
“She’s little but thinks she’s 18hh with plenty of guts and stride but a busy hothead, I have to keep a lid on her and keep her settled. Nonetheless, she’s genuine with plenty of jump and good against the clock and a little fighter in the ring,” said Angie.
The home-bred dynamic ‘pocket rocket’ Sanavisto landed Angie’s first win in an extremely quick, competitive jump-off to take the Blue Chip Karma Performance Championship. Square oxers, committed distances and a tight time allowed reduced the 61 starters to 11 for the jump-off with Angie taking advantage of her late draw to edge ahead by 0.29 seconds on the Mr Visto 7-year-old out of Oksana W, Angie’s former top ride and a daughter of Aldato.
“She’s getting better against the clock, not as feral as she was and although she’s little, she has the big heart and bravery of her mother, she’s the coolest little thing and always gives her best,” said Angie.
Preston-based Danielle Ryder set off at the gallop and maintained the pace to take the Blue Chip Joint RLF Championship on Careful Touched Numo Z. It was no fluke as 25 of the original 83 starters contended the jump-off to make it all about the clock. Mid-draw, Danielle revved up with a gallop down the long side of the arena to approach the first fence at the gallop and, after executing a couple of well-placed tight turns, raced through the finish on the ultra-careful mare to win with 1.28 seconds in hand.
“She’s had an unbelievably successful last 12 months,” said Danielle, who has qualified for the SEIB winter Novice Final, Hickstead, on the Cornado I Z x Untouched S six-year-old she rides for breeder Sjaak van Neunen. She was second in her last two 1.30m classes so this was easy for her. She’s not a fancy jumper but she’s consistent.”
Adam Ellery claimed a fast 23-horse jump-off to take the Lister Winter 1.25m Championship on his own and partner Sarah Williams’ F Kwanah IS by 0.60 seconds with a tail-swishing flourish.
“She’s quite hot, a feisty little thing standing barely 15.2hh but she’s super-careful with a great technique and really tries her heart out,” said Adam, who spotted the Zavall VDL x Quite Easy 958 13-year-old at a show with Charlotte Horne. “We liked what we saw, and she’s won a lot of classes for me.
Adam had finished second to Gemma Hallett and Billy Jive in both qualifiers and this pair were long-time leaders in the Final.
“Gemma had followed me in the qualifiers and beat me both times. In the Final, I was late to go and knew exactly what I had to do,” said Adam, who relegated Gemma to second.
The mare has returned to form following time off last year.
“She badly bruised her foot and it took six months to get her right, now she’s back as good as ever and her breeder Margreet Doorn-Sellers watches her avidly via Livestream. We’d like to breed from her in the future, put her to something bigger and hopefully get the real deal.”
Emma-Jo Slater set out as favourite with three in what promised to be a hot jump-off for the FMBs Therapy Systems Star Championship, but had the win sewn up from second draw with Kim Barzilay’s lightning-quick Freule TN. A mammoth 106 started over the 12-fence course and, with 36 vying for glory, the clock was always going to play a major part.
High Wycombe-based Emma-Jo, a known danger against the clock, got in a great angled shot across a vertical, setting up Freule perfectly for the imposing Blue Chip oxer. She followed up with a perfect line on the difficult, committed dog-leg approach from the double to the final oxer to win by 0.55 seconds.
The Baloubet Du Rouet x Clinton 13-year-old was purchased from Johnathan Bowman by Kim five years ago and has proved a prolific winner for Emma-Jo.
“We called her Bow after Bowman as we didn’t know her name – it turned out to be Bella, but Bow stuck,” said Kim, who is continuing with her successful breeding programme and has an embryo from her by the Plot Blue son Pandito Van’t Merelsnest Z due at the end of April.
“This is her first foal due and she’s off to Brendon Stud again next week to take more eggs from her. All her babies will have the name Bow in them – we’ve got a list already.”
Stafford-based Natasha Bailey secured the Joshua Jones Discovery Final with brand new ride Troys Vivendi at their very first show. Twenty-six of the initial 94 competitors answered all the questions asked in the 12-fence track to reach the jump-off. Natasha set off at the gallop and didn’t miss a beat on the ARS Vivendi 14-year-old, claiming a 0.66 second winning advantage.
Jessica Cunnington marked her first Blue Chip Championship win in the Bliss of London Novice title with daring turns and a risky gallop to the final fence with Samantha Hemsley’s Nakante. A big entry of 96 came forward to bid for glory with 20 providing first round clears to access a hot jump-off. Drawn in the late stages, Jessica knew exactly what she had to do and gave it her all, flying to the last to take the win by 0.12 seconds on Nakante, a five-year-old Maloubet De Pleville daughter she bought as an unbroken three-year-old.
“She’s such a sweet, straight-forward mare and was easy to break in. This was her first big championship show and it was a big ask but nothing fazed her. She’s naturally quick across the ground and the flowing jump-off suited her, I didn’t have to push her, just kept it nice and tight,” said Swaffham, Norfolk-based Jessica, 16.
Maidenhead, Berkshire-based Louise McDonald pulled off a fantastic win in the final moments of the Heritage Insurance Diamond Final. Last-to-go in a 19-horse jump-off, Louise executed slick ultra-tight turns at optimum pace to gallop ahead by more than two seconds on her own British-bred 13-year-old Fanta-astic.
Image courtesy Blue Chip Championships/Hoofprints
