Show horse council 'showdown' runs without a hitch
IT was always going to be a huge task to hold two events over five days back-to-back, but ringmaster Glenys Triffett and her small committee managed it well at the Show Horse Council of Victoria’s “Showdown”.
The indoor arena at Werribee Park was beautifully set up and the five days ran to time, even though there was some hot weather during the week. “We have fantastic new ideas we can’t wait to implement at our 2024 HOTY event,” Glenys said. Glenys, a former Garryowen winner and now heavily involved in racing, is one to dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’.
The program had something for everyone, from the smiling little three to six-year-old toddlers who were more interested in the trophy teddy bears than who won, to the international classes judged by British show competitor Martin Skelton, who rode the horses in the classes and was well received by the competitors.
International classes always have the competitors glued to ringside to see how the local form holds up when someone who knows no one is judging. His winners were all true to type, with his show hunter galloway champion, Emily Murray’s Riegal Monolete, confirming his swag of Australian wins, being a clear choice.
His choice for champion international large show hunter, Beck Groen’s mare Jazdan Dark Perfection, gave a lot of pleasure to the spectators who knew and loved Beck’s mother Shirley, who died last year.
The big mare gave the judge a beautiful ride and her scores had her eight points ahead of her nearest rival.
The owner-rider classes continue to develop and are becoming more valued. The supreme champion in this group was the pony Royal Oak Foreign Affairs shown by Sabrina Gilmour.
Natalie McKay’s upstanding St Andrew’s was the supreme champion off-the-track Thoroughbred.
Greg Gerry and Darren Telford have the knack of producing beautiful mares and scored two wins in the open section with Royal Opera as the champion large galloway of the year, ridden by Brynie Lee, and Coronation, champion small hack of the year, ridden by Ali Berwick.
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