Above: Robert Palm and Jaybee Vibrant. Photo credit: One Eyed Frog Photography.

The final leg of nine, which made up the 2024 Australian FEI World Cup season, was held yesterday afternoon as part of the Elms World Cup Show, at the Sale Showground in Eastern Victoria. Under grey clouds and in persistent rain, the SDSJC and Kiernan Plant Hire World Cup Qualifier was an exciting affair, which had the large crowd on the edge of their seats for its duration. The winner wasn’t known until the last combination had completed the course and it took a magnificent double clear performance to claim the title.

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Just thirteen combinations braved the soggy conditions in the first round with a mix of some very experienced riders and two making their World Cup Qualifier debuts all putting on a show of high class jumping. In the first round, there were just two clear performances by a pair of Victorian based combinations, Robert Palm and his gelding Jaybee Vibrant (Vivant x Glorieux) and Ally Lamb aboard her grey stallion, Eagle Rock (Berlin x Vancouver). Also leaving all the rails in place, but incurring three time penalties to lie in third place after the first round were World Cup debutante rider Mikayla Hogg and her gelding Bellhaven Corringa (Caslan x Cruising) who have had a fantastic start to 2025, having been part of the winning Arrowfield Stud & Redback Boots team at the Magic Millions event on the Gold Coast. The other debutante Rider, Samantha Dernee along with Laurel Glen Quintessence (Quintender x Marscay XX) took two rails to lie midfield at the end of the round.

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The top 12 combinations were invited back for a second round over the Gavin Chester designed course, however, one combination declined the invitation, which meant that all 11 second round competitors were on eight faults or less and the competition was anybody’s to win.

The first combination out in the second round were series leader Billy Raymont and Tulara Dakchiko (Dakar VDL x Chico’s Boy) . They had a wonderful clear round, however, having taken two rails in the first round, they finished on a total of eight to put the pressure on all of those to follow.

The next five combinations came and went, each taking at least a rail (with one retirement) leaving Billy and Dakchiko still in the lead with just five combinations remaining. Next out was Billy again, this time riding Caprino, in a partnership which had won four of the eight World Cup classes this year. It was no surprise that, despite taking a rail, they claimed the lead in the competition, leaving Billy in both first and second place in the class with just four combinations to come.

The first to try and break Raymont’s stranglehold on the victory dias were fellow Queenslanders Clem Smith and Oaks Conjuror (Chicago x Tlaloc M). They took a single rail to add to their first round four penalties to tie with both Billy’s combinations on a total of eight, however, a faster time by around half a second saw them take the lead.

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The high-flying Mikayla Hogg and Bellhaven Corringa were next, however, disappointingly for them, they took a rail as well as incurring seven time penalties to drop out of contention.

Now there were just two combinations to come, each carrying zero penalties into the second round and with the current leaders Clem Smith and Oaks Conjuror on eight, they both had things well in their favour. First of these to go were Ally Lamb and Eagle Rock who took a steady approach. They cleared all the fences, however, they incurred three time penalties to end on a total of three and claim the lead for the time being. Now it was time for the final combination to take to the stage, knowing exactly what they had to do to take the win. Any rail or refusal would cost them victory and while the time allowed was 58 seconds, getting home in anything less than 60 seconds would be enough. In a masterful display Robert Palm and Jaybee Vibrant not only got around the course clear, but in doing so in just 56.53 seconds, did enough to claim the class win. It was a well-deserved victory with them being the only combination to produce a pair of clear rounds and follows on from another double-clear performance they produced at the Werribee World Cup Qualifier early last year where they finished in second place.

It was a very entertaining class to wrap up the season and we can now look forward to the 2025 season commencing in just a few week’s time.

The full listing of placings in the World Cup Qualifier are listed below.

SDSJC and KIERNAN PLANT HIRE WORLD CUP QUALIFIER CSI1*-W

Results sourced from online.equipe.com

For a full listing of results from the show, please click HERE