Matt Sampson races to a three-star Grand Prix win on a new ride
Monday 21 August 2023
.jpeg "Matt Sampson races to a three-star Grand Prix win on a new ride")
Matt Sampson secured a 3* Grand Prix victory by the skin of his teeth in the Atco Cup with Equine America Ivanhoe GPH at Thunderbird Show Park in Vancouver, Canada.
Shortly after racing against the clock, Ivanhoe stood still as a statue as a young child reached up tentatively to stroke his muzzle.
“He’s very sweet, he won’t bite you,” Matt assured the child.
Under Matt’s guidance, the ‘gentle giant’ had galloped around Peter Holmes’ jump-off track. Utilising the gelding’s enormous stride, the pair recorded the first international win of their short partnership, having teamed up in June.
Twenty-seven competitors faced the 1.50m course with ten of them coming up with all the answers to make their way into the jump-off. Matt got a favourable position in the penultimate draw, but his biggest danger lay in the final rider.
Matt had demoted Canada’s on-form Tiffany Foster and Battlecry by 0.35 seconds and held the lead with bated breath as Colombia’s John Perez took his turn with Gigi Carmen. He gave it his best shot but just came up short – finishing 0.01 second off Matt’s time, a very narrow victory.
“Parts of the jump-off suited and parts of it didn’t. One to two for me was a really short five [strides] and it wasn’t a four, especially at the start. Then it looked like I could get nine to the double and eight across the middle – that suited him really well,” explained Matt. “I gave him a little bit of extra time to the last fence and luckily, that paid off. John was very fast! I think that’s where he caught up to me. Luckily, it was my day.”
Matt got the ride on ‘Ivan’ by chance through Ellen Whitaker, a neighbour at home in England.
“I got him at Spruce Meadows. Originally, I had him just to look after for a week and then he was meant to travel back to Europe but he couldn’t go, so I started riding him and it’s worked out amazing.”
Matt will now return to Spruce Meadows for the CSI5* Masters Tournament – but Ivan is for sale.
“We’re really just developing him,” he said. “He’ll make anybody a lovely horse; he’s the type that’s got no bad [bone] in his body.”
Matt had bounced into immediate form to take victory in the 3* TBird challenge after a brief visit competing at home in England.
Six of the 14 starters posted initial clears to qualify for the jump-off with Matt galloping into the top spot by 0.33 sec on the Obos Quality x Errigal Flight 11-year-old Curraghgraigue Obos Flight.
Charlie Jones ups his game with a win
Over the past two weeks at Thunderbird Show Park, Charlie Jones has come markedly close to victory with several second places to his credit. Perseverance finally paid off in Sunday’s Marbill Hill Under 25 1.40m in a seven-horse decider as the 8-year-old Montserrat OS stepped up to the plate.
“I absolutely love him, he hasn’t touched a pole through the entire show,” said Charlie, who clocked a win of 2.77 seconds. “He’s all class, so careful and he jumps whatever’s in front of him.”
Montserrat (Care For x Del Piero P B) – bred in Britain and initially produced at Oakingham Stud by Jack Stirling and Ashley Ray – was acquired by Charlie and his partner Bretton Chad at the beginning of his 7-year-old year. The striking black gelding stands at 15.3hh.
“He’s tiny but he’s like a lion. He goes in the ring and he just pulls himself up and he’s actually very strong sometimes, so he really makes up [distances] on all the lines,” said Charlie. “For me, he’s one of the most fun horses to ride.”
Charlie will now look to step Montserrat up to more international classes.
“I’d like to find a good two-star schedule for him. He’s about ready for a ranking class or 2* Grand Prix, so I want to do that next, but I think in the near future, we’ll come back here in September.”
Charlie also picked up second in the 3* 1.50m Paladin Cup. Ten of the 39 starters with Charlie setting a competitive target in the opening round on Morningstar Sporthorses’ Cassini 12-year-old Capitale 6. But a late challenger denied them the win and they finished second, half a second behind Canada’s Jaclyn Duff on Eblesse.
Ben Maher takes a podium place in the LGCT Grand Prix of Valkenswaard
Ben Maher clinched third place in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Valkenswaard with Dallas Vegas Batilly.
The 38 starters faced a challenging 13-fence 1.60m track designed by Uliano Vezzani but such was the quality coming forward, 10 found all the answers to access the jump-off.
Relatively green at 5* grand prix level, Dallas Vegas Batilly proved she has what it takes to face up to the rest of the world.
“She’s incredible, she’s only 10 so she’s still learning a little bit at this level. We didn’t have a great day yesterday which meant we were first to go today, and I used the big stride she has,” said Ben, after setting a competitive target in the opening round aboard the Cap Kennedy x L’Arc De Triomphe Bois Margot mare.
However, The Netherlands’ Sanne Thijssen on the extraordinary 17-year-old Con Quidam RB galloped into the top spot with 1.23 sec to spare – “He’s from another planet, an alien! The crowd were unbelievable, and the horse was unbelievable,” said an overwhelmed Sanne.
Sanne’s little horse was quicker in the end,” said Ben, who dropped to third as Austria’s Max Kuhner used his final draw to slot Up Too Jacco Blue into second.
Ben also featured in the Global Champions League with Paris Panthers teammates Harrie Smolders and Jur Vrieling.
The ultra-consistent Paris Panthers added another podium finish to their season’s results with third, closing the gap on the leaders of the league table, Riesenbeck International. Ben jumped clear on Ginger-Blue in the first round but picked up eight aboard Dallas Vegas Batilly as two early poles toppled in round two while clears from Jur Vrieling’s Fiumicino Van De Kalevallei and Harrie Smolders with Monaco NOP earned the team third spot.
“We closed the gap a little bit but there’s still a long way to go, so it’ll be hard to beat them, but who know, hopefully after Riyadh the Panthers will be on top,” said Harrie.
The St Tropez Pirates claimed the win on four faults with Scandinavian Kings posting the best time of the eight-faulters to take second.
Image: tbird/Kim Gaudry
1inbbkeu36fgo.jpg "Zara Nicholls Races to Top Spot in the STX-UK Pony British Novice Second Round at Weston Lawns")
.jpg "Marcella Johnstone and Will Brown Reach for the Stars in the second NAF Five Star Bronze and Silver League Qualifiers")
7y6b55koibbj.jpg "Brian Thompson and Alex Hewett are winners in the Nupafeed Supplements Senior Discovery Second Rounds")
