A few of the Kiwis decided to hit the ground running and get the first run of the season under their belts with a trip to the opening event of 2014. Despite a raft of other cancellations for early events Isleham is blessed with ground that really takes the rain and those who went were rewarded with a track that only got a bit soft underfoot on the latter stages. Sir Mark Todd impressed the dressage judges in the OI with Leonidas and NZB Campino as they held the joint lead. Leonidas then skipped round the showjumping and cross country finding it all very easy and ended up in 5th spot.. Toddy had decided to run NZB Campino round just three quarters of the track as it was his first start for a while and he wanted to avoid the slightly tacky ground nearer to the finish and that went nicely to plan. Jonelle Price had a smart double clear on The Deputy for third place and was also happy with Classic Moet and Aloha who felt very confident. Faerie Dianimo went double clear although the results show her as eliminated and after a little digging it turned out that Tim Price had gone cross country with her number bib on and it was actually his horse that had picked up the big E! Tim fared much better with Ringwood Skyboy who had his correct number on and jumped a lovely double clear although he was running HC in the Intermedaite as it was a last minute diversion for him after Tweseldown cancelled. Megan Heath had a mixed day with a couple of early season blips on both of her rides but since she is trained by the best in the business I am sure they will soon be ironed out! Sir Mark Todd did comment that an incident early in the day when NZB Port Royal took off as she was half on board which led to her being dragged on her butt along the ground “might have been a little unsettling” which is perhaps the understatement of the day! Caroline Powell had three top 10 placings from 4 rides in the BE100 and the Open Novice which was a nice way to start the season with her young horses. Social media reflected the appreciation everyone who went had for the organizing committee and the volunteers on the day who worked hard to ensure the event went ahead despite a very difficult build up. © press
