There were some wonderful success stories coming out of the recent Pryde’s EasiFeed Australian Jumping Championships for the progeny of Oaks Sport Horses.
The highlight of the program was in the Senior Championship, where Oaks Horses finished in second, fourth and eleventh positions. The Oaks star was Oaks Ventriloquist and Izabella Stone, who were one of the few combinations to go double clear in the Final, to end up in second place in the Championship. Oaks Cassanova and Sam Overton went in to the final in equal second place, having left all the rails intact during the two qualifying rounds, however, they were unable to sustain this standard and a pair of rails in the final saw them finish in fourth place overall. Like Oaks Cassanova and Overton, another Queensland based combination of Oaks Conjurer and Clem Smith finished in eleventh position after a couple of rails down in the final. Yandoo Oaks Constellation and Jamie Winning-Kermond did not qualify for the final after retiring during the second qualifying class. Three out of the top eleven places in the Senior Championship was a performance we feel very proud of.
Oaks Constantino and Victorian rider Tilley Fair had a fantastic result in the Young Rider Championship, finishing in sixth place. In the first qualifying round which was a speed class, they went clear to finish in eleventh place and followed this up with a double clear performance in the send qualifier to place second. The gelding and Fair went into the Final in equal fourth place, however, a rail down in both rounds, saw them slip to a final placing of sixth. Oaks Kingfisher and Sally Simmonds did not qualify for the final
There were three Oaks horses in the Junior Championship. Gelding Oaks Botswana and Hudson Craig finished in 36th and 33rd place in the qualifying rounds and did not make it through to the final. ACT rider Josephine Connors paired with the other two Oaks horses in the Junior Championship. Gelding Oaks Kosmo also did not qualify for the final having placed 26th and 37th while Connors and the mare Oaks Kestrel and Josephine Connors were unfortunately eliminated during the first qualifier.
In the Speed championship, there were 31 combinations entered and the three Oaks horses which were in the field all finished in the top half. The best performer was the mare Oaks Costa Rica, ridden by Robert Goodwin who came sixth. Sally Simmonds combined with the geldings Oaks Charleville to finish in ninth place and with Oaks Kingfisherfor fifteenth.
In the Mini Prix, while Simmonds and Oaks Charleville were unable to make the final, mare Oaks Diamantina and Jamie Priestley did well, finishing in ninth place in the final.
Oaks Sport Horses were well represented in the Future Stars Championship with five entries out of 49 in the first qualifying round. In the final, two of these horses managed to fill official placings in the top 12. The best performer was gelding Oaks Ever Red who combined with Andrew Lamb to finish in sixth place in the final after a fine double clear second placing in the first Qualifying class. On the same day as their sixth in the Speed Championship, Oaks Costa Rica and Robert Goodwin finished in twelfth place in the Future Stars. Mare Oaks Kenya and Josh Collins performed well leading up to the final with fifth and eighth placings in the qualifying rounds, however, they retired during the final. Of the other two Oaks horses, gelding Oaks 007 qualified for the final, however, were eliminated during the class, while Oaks Bermuda, ridden by NSW rider Donna Satara were unable to qualify for the final
The gelding Oaks Van Dyke, ridden by Rhys Hamlyn was the only Oaks horse in the Amateur Championship. They went into the final without having disturbed a rail, however, they picked the wrong day to have an off-round to finish in twenty-sixth place in the Championship
Oaks Kaleidascope was one of two Oaks horses competing in the Emerald Series. Ridden by Jamie Coman, the mare finished fourteenth overall, after being in the jump-off in the final. Gelding Oaks Kiribati and Suzie Williams were unable to make the final.
In the Ruby Series, both Oaks horses entered did well. Over 40 horses entered the series and both Oaks horses ended up in the top 14. Mare Oaks Abracadabra and Emma Smith took their only rail of the series in the jump-off in the final, placing them a very creditable sixth overall. Also going into the final all clear were gelding Oaks Coolangattaand NSW rider Charlie Eason. Unfortunately for them, a single rail in the final saw them slip to fourteenth place.
The Opal series was the last series which saw Oaks horses in action. The gelding Oaks Cadmium in combination with Victorian Tori Glass put in a magnificent performance to finish in thirteenth place in the final. They went clear in all three qualifying rounds before a wonderful double clear performance in the final saw them finish less than six seconds behind the championship winners. Oaks Be Sweet and Ella Manning from South Australia were eighteenth in the final, with the mare also recording a double clear performance in the final.
While Oaks horses were unable to actually claim a titles, in a number of cases we went very close, none more so than the Senior Championship. It took and extraordinary performance by the winners to keep Oaks Ventriloquist and Izabella Stone out of the top spot.