Show Report: 2021 Reonet Riders Grand Prix

The first national competition of the season kicked off at Kyalami Equestrian Park with the Riders Grand Prix sponsored by Reonet. The Bob Charter arena was prepped spectacularly and the tracks, designed by FEI 3* Kate Launder, were set to welcome the open grade riders to the competition year ahead. While there were no 1.50m competitions, the weekend prepared the riders for the 1.40m/1.45m Grand Prix competition on Sunday.

Beautiful rosettes adorned with the Reonet colours, day sheets and sashes for the winners of each championship, gifts for the top 3 grooms, and great prize money had competitors giving it their best. While the event saw the unfortunate injuries picked up by Ian van Schalkwyk and Barry Taylor, it also saw great successes across all heights.

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The 1.30m Grand Prix saw 42 horses making their way through the start beams to tackle the Kate Launder-designed track. With the traditional Grand Prix rules in place, the top 25% of riders or all the clears would be guaranteed a place in the second round. The completion of the first round had 17 riders providing a clear round, but with 2 riders, Chris van der Merwe on Quidchin Bellignies Z and Martyn Swanepoel on Callaho Falvio, withdrawing, 15 riders remained competitive to fight for the 14 available placings.

1st into the arena for the second round was Jonathan Clarke on the Silhouette Equestrian Park-owned, chestnut mare, Morgan Van’t Heike who set off with great pace to break the finish beams in a time of 51.80 seconds with zero penalties. Several competitors followed suit with clear rounds but were unable to beat Jonathan’s time until Chris van der Merwe stepped into the arena riding Chad Cunningham’s The Boyz Travel Merchants James. With great pace from the start and some smooth and economical turns, Chris completed his round in 49.06 seconds to secure himself a podium position. As the class drew nearer to the end, some speedy campaigners including Danielle Lemmer and Callaho Elmo gave it their best but with rails falling, the podium would escape them. As the penultimate competitor stepped forward, Kyla Brimacombe and Mampro Callaho Floyd, the pair raced through the course to bring them home as the victors of the 1.30m Rider’s Tour Grand Prix in a time of 48.46 seconds.

1st	Kyla Brimacombe – Mampro Callaho Floyd	48.46 seconds
2nd	Chris van der Merwe – The Boyz Travel Merchants James	49.06 seconds
3rd	Jonathan Clarke – Morgan Van’t Heike	51.80 seconds

The second competition of the day was the 1.35m Rider’s Grand Prix with 30 hopefuls vying for the win. With a reasonably tight time allowed that saw riders incur time faults with a single mistake, the pressure was on for the competitors to perform flawlessly. With the Grand Prix rules still effective, 8 riders were eligible for the second round after the first provided 5 clear rounds and 3 riders with time faults. Gareth Neill on Dartoli and Thomas Triggol on Callaho Sancho both decided to withdraw from the second round with their single time faults each while Gail Foxcroft chose to retire after a few fences to equally place the three of them in 7th. Of the 6 riders remaining, Chatan Hendriks boasted 2 horses in the second round, both with an impressive shot at the podium positions. After an impressive show and a victory in an early class, Kayla Gertenbach and Locarno Ballade provided a speedy round to come home with zero penalties across the 2 rounds in a time of 50.26 seconds. Chatan had the great opportunity of having the 2 highest qualifying spots and as he made his way around the track with Biogen’s Greta G, he successfully knocked nearly 3 and a half seconds off Kayla’s time to sit in the leading position. After a few short minutes, Chatan re-entered the arena on Biogen’s Kolinko who also had a superb second round to end the competition in 2nd place with a time of 48.17 seconds.

1s	Chatan Hendriks – Biogen’s Greta G	46.67 seconds
2nd	Chatan Hendriks – Biogen’s Kolinko	48.17 seconds
3rd	Kayla Gertenbach – Locarno Ballade	50.26 seconds

The final competition of the day and the anticipated highlight of the Reonet Riders Grand Prix event was a riveting 1.40/1.45m Grand Prix competition. With 15 starters well prepared and ready to go, the first round began with a testing track with a required speed of 375mpm. A reasonably tight time allowed was extended by 2 seconds after the first 3 horses, pushing riders to complete the course in less than 82 seconds. With the completion of round 1, the 5 available positions for the second round were filled with 5 clear rounds who all managed to complete their rounds with times below the original 80 second time allowed.

Carl Boonzaaier, Lisa Williams, Rainer Korber, Nicole Horwood, and Jeanne Korber all stepped into the arena for the second round. After some exciting jumping in the first round and each rider having the talent and ability to secure the victory, the title could belong to anyone but with spectacular pace, turns and dropped-strides, the winner of the first leg of the Riders Grand Prix tour was Carl Boonzaaier on Callaho Warmblood Stud’s stallion, Casparon, in a time of 45.08 seconds. After his victory at the Burlington Cup in 2021 and subsequent victory at the Kawena Masters event, Carl and Casparon have kicked off their 2021 showjumping season in fine style. Very narrowly missing out on the victory with a time of 45.10 seconds were Lisa Williams and Campbell, while rounding out the podium positions was Rainer Korber and the Back on Track-sponsored Clouny 3 in a time of 45.63 seconds.

1st	Carl Boonzaaier – Callaho Casparon	45.08 seconds
2nd	Lisa Williams – Campbell	45.10 seconds
3rd	Rainer Korber – Back on Track Clouny 3	45.63 seconds