‘On top of the world is an understatement’: taking it slow pays dividends with grand prix win

Anthony Condon and Oviedo ‘S’ were on top of the world in the Al Shira’aa grand prix at the CSI3* Bolesworth International presented by Al Shira’aa, as the only combination to jump double clear – and in foot-perfect style.

Anthony and Lisa Hales’ 11-year-old were third of only four, from 49 starters, to go in the jump-off, and as Sven Hadley (Phenomene Bleu Vdm) and Paul Sims (Jankorado GB) had both been caught out by the first element of the double, finishing on 50.86sec and 48.9sec respectively, it was there to be won.

Anthony and the huge-jumping Udarco Van Overis stallion jumped clear in 49.86sec, the agile chestnut making every turn as smooth as silk and every fence look effortless. But Jodie Hall McAteer (La Gupardie) was still to go.

Jodie started at her usual cracking pace, her mother Mandy’s nine-year-old mare full of jumping. But it was the second element of the double that caught Jodie out and although her time was a speedy 47.66sec, she had to settle for second.

“On top of the world is an understatement,” Anthony said. “Lisa kindly bought this horse when he was four, and we’ve been taking our time with him. I think this is the first class he’s won, so it was a good one to win! But he’s an unbelievable horse. We knew he was going to get there in the end. And he showed his worth today.”​

Anthony added that the stallion has jumped clear in just about every grand prix he has contested so far.

“He’s just never been that fast, and now he’s learning to get a lot more competitive and building a bit of speed,” he said. “It fell a bit my way today that a clear was enough, but sometimes you need a bit of luck.”

Anthony thanked all his team for their support, crediting the joint effort for the win.

Jodie said this was La Gupardie’s first three-star grand prix, and a “big ask” for the mare.

“She jumped amazing,” she said. “I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t win, but it wasn’t the initial plan to be even in it. So I’m really excited for the future with her.”

Paul was also delighted with his own 11-year-old.

“He’s relatively new to this level, he’s improving all the time and he’s got a bright future,” he said.

Neither La Gupardie nor Jankorado will contest this week’s four-star classes, but Oviedo is staying at Bolesworth .

“Oviedo will be aiming for the grand prix; I’d love to pull it off two weeks in a row,” Anthony said. “But it’s going to be very competitive – today was a very tough class and it was a three-star; next week is four-star. Today was a very good course; it took a bit of riding and was very well built. And thank you very much to Nina [Barbour] for putting on this show, it’s fantastic.”

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