More Good News from Jonelle Price   16 Sep 2014

More Good News from Jonelle Price

Jonelle Price and her gorgeous grey mare Faerie Dianimo have charged to a spectacular win at the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials in the United Kingdom this morning, taking out the CIC3* 8/9 year old class.

Faerie Dianimo (owned by Trisha Rickards and Jacky Green) finished just .2 penalty points ahead of compatriot Andrew Nicholson aboard Cillnabradden Evo (owned by Sally-Anne Egginton), with Aussie Paul Tapner and Indian Mill just .1 behind and Jock Paget and Clifton Signature (owned by Frances Stead) in fourth place.

Price moved from sixth place after the dressage, into second after the showjumping and the lead in the cross country.

Nicholson was the biggest mover though, coming up from 11th as one of three combinations to go clear and inside time over the final phase, the cross country.

But the day belonged to Price, who recently placed fourth at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France.

“I am absolutely delighted,” she said. “I knew it would come down to the clock again today.”

And she was particularly happy for the owner Trisha Rickards who had bred the horse.

“She has been in the sport a long time. She bred this mare and these age group classes mean a lot to the owners, especially the owner/breeders. It is quite a prestigious class and fitting this little mare has won it. I think she is a real class act for the future.”

The horse had been produced in her early years by co-owner Jacky Green, and it was thanks to her that Price picked up the ride when Faerie Dianimo was six.

“She is a feisty little thing. She hasn’t been the most straight forward, and won’t be her whole career. She is as hot as you like but I think it is that kind of attitude that makes her as good as she is.”

It had taken Price a few years to try and work the mare out and harness the attitude into a positive.

“We are starting to see glimpses of that now, and we are certainly not at the finished product yet. She would be the only horse of mine that is capable of scoring nines and tens in the dressage – doing them on command is a slightly different thing. She is careful as a cat (jumping) and has so much ability and scope.”

But the pint-sized mare could be “an absolute diva” at home.

Price felt her recent results had shown there was plenty for her to offer New Zealand too.
“I said at WEG (the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games) that I have always felt like a bit of a team player. I think I am pretty reliable. When the going gets tough I am going to go out and give it a pretty good crack, but I think I have shown that I could be an individual contender if I am sitting on the right horses . . . and hopefully I have a couple of them at the moment.”

This popular class at Blenheim is often the precursor to great things. Three former winners – NZB Land Vision (Mark Todd, 2010), Oslo (William Fox-Pitt, 2011), and Quimbo (Andrew Nicholson, 2012) – went on to win Badminton, Pau and Kentucky four-stars respectively.

In the CCI3* her husband Tim Price was the best of the Kiwis with a seventh aboard Ringwood Sky Boy (owned by Robert Taylor,selwood.com and Price) whose eight faults in the showjumping saw him slip from third spot. Lucy Jackson and Bosun II (owned by the BGV Syndicate) were night. The class was won by Francis Whittington (GBR) aboard Easy Target.

Click here for full results from the CIC3* 8/9 year old class http://www.bdwp.co.uk/cgi-bin/3dif.pl?fn=ble14.csv&nav=left

and here for the CCI3* results http://www.bdwp.co.uk/cgi-bin/3dif.pl?fn=ble14.csv&nav=left .

ends

Add a comment