10/5 /05
It has been a busy and successful few weeks at Bimbadeen Park. Over the weekend of the 23-24 April Niki, Cissy and Michelle headed to Berrima CIC.
This is the first CIC Berrima has held and it was a fantastic event, the cross country course was challenging for every grade, the unfortunate lack of recent rain meant that the going was very firm. Our horses all went well. Niki rode Joanne Markwell's horse 'Ladybrook Remington' into 3rd place in the CIC*, this is a seriously talented horse that is currently aimed for Melbourne CCI* in June and Adelaide CCI** in November. Niki also rode the lovely mare 'Strawberry Kisses' who is owned and normally ridden by Alycia Elword, the mare went well and finished in 7th place in Pre Novice.
'Strawberry Kisses' went home with Alycia after Berrima and I am sure they will have much fun and success together this year. The third of Niki's horses for the weekend was the talented young stallion 'Statford Novalis'
who is owned by John Boyd and Marly Calladine, 'Novalis' is normally ridden by Shane however he is still recovering and so Niki took the reins for the weekend. Novalis went well to finish the competition in 7th placing, a few time penalties cross country kept him out of the major places. Bimbadeen Park working pupil Michelle Robson and her newly acquired 'WP Flawless' whom she purchased from Niki had a fantastic weekend to lead the Pre Novice from start to finish and win the class by over 9 penalties. Cissy Lawrence also had a good weekend with her new horse 'Twice the Limit' a silly stop cross country kept them out of the placings.
Last weekend (7-8 May) was Shane's first competition back competing since his accident. The team headed to Sydney with a truck full of horses. What a great weekend it was, Shane and 'All Luck' won the CNC***, Shane and 'Gandalf the Grey' won the CNC**, Niki and 'Ladybrook Remington' won the CNC*, Shane with 'Statford Novalis' and Michelle with 'WP Flawless' both finished 3rd in separate divisions of the Pre Novice and Cissy and 'Twice the Limit' completed the Pre Novice in 10th place.
Next weekend we head to Queensland for the Warwick CIC and CIC-W World Cup competition.
Last but certainly not least it was great to see the Gai Waterhouse trained and Bimbadeen Park pre-trained 'Bentley Biscuit' fly home to win on debut at Kembla Grange and in the process braking the course record. What a great horse for the future.
Regards
Niki Chapman