Stuart Tinney and Vettori win The Australian International 3de CCI**** in Adelaide

equestrian.org.au | Sunday, 15 November

photo © Julie Wilson

Stuart Tinney bagged the most coveted Eventing prize in the Southern Hemisphere last weekend at the Australian International Three-Day Event, Adelaide.

The 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist is no stranger to success but has never before won the CCI 4-star class at Adelaide, one of only six events in the world held annually at this degree of difficulty. Tinney, who lives in Maraylya NSW, has been runner-up on three occasions.

“I am relieved,” replied Tinney when asked how the win made him feel, “I did not want to finish second again.”

Stuart piloted 13-year-old grey gelding Vettori, owned by Kathy Ward and Peter O’Connell, to victory against a star-studded field. “Kathy and Pete are over the moon. They just love the horse and have been great supporters throughout his career,” said Tinney.

Tinney’s win follows a hotly contested competition with less than one time penalty separating the top two riders, Tinney and Jones, at the close of yesterday’s cross country event.

Local hero 2008 Silver medalist Megan Jones finished second on Kirby Park Allofasudden and third on her Olympic partner Kirby Park Irish Jester. 2000 Olympian Amanda Howell finished 4th on Koyuna Tora Bora. In total there were 31 competitors in the 4-star which was hailed as one of the toughest in the event’s history. 16 horse and rider combinations completed the event.

The Australian Team, including Tinney, Jones, and fellow Olympic medalists Sonja Johnson and Wendy Schaeffer won the Trans-Tasman Trophy back from the Kiwis who had prevailed at the previous contest in Taupo (NZL) 2007.

The New Zealand Team failed to post the necessary three scores after Helaan Tompkins’ horse was disqualified in the Dressage and Clarke Johnstone was eliminated on the difficult cross-country course. Remaining team members Jenna Mahoney and Blair Richardson finished strongly for 8th and 9th  position respectively. Clarke Johnstone had more luck on his second (non-team) horse Orient Express claiming 6th place.

With his first individual 4-star victory under his belt Tinney plans to mount a strong campaign for team selection for the 2010 World Equestrian Games, to be held in Kentucky (USA).
In the CCI* 2-star competition, Emma Scott from New South Wales took out first place by less than one penalty point on her horse Jenbern Monyana whilst 17-year-old Andrew Heseltine (Vic) was the dark horse in the CIC 2-star, jumping a clear round on Warrego Winchester to steal the winner's trophy from overnight leader Olympian Shane Rose on Statford Novalis who had two rails.

Stuart is currently feeding his horse Vettori (Kiwi) a mixture of Performance Horse pellets and NutriRice Stamina and Performance extruded kibble.

for more information visit www.tinneyeventing.com