Shepparton saddled up for world-class action

By Contributed

Mar 27, 2025

Tim Clarke riding Kanntango Photo by Ozshot

The Northern Victorian Showjumping Club held its CSI*-W World Cup Festival recently at WB Hunter Reserve, Shepparton.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

The event, held on March 15-16, is part of the Australian leg of the World Cup Series, with the winners of each series automatically granted a spot to compete in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup, which in 2025 is being held in Basel, Switzerland.

The show attracted riders from across Australia, including three-time Olympian James Paterson-Robinson, current reigning Australian League World Cup Series winner Billy Raymont and other Olympians such as Russell Johnstone and Geoff Bloomfield.

Many other riders who have competed internationally also took part, with the feature class being a Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) event for the 2026 FEI World Equestrian Games, to be held in Aachen, Germany.

The winner of the $10,000 feature class — the Goulburn Valley Equine-sponsored CSI*-W FEI Shepparton World Cup Qualifier — was Queensland’s Gemma Creighton riding Dada Des Brimbelles Z (IMP).

Creighton had a stellar show, also taking out the 140cm, 130cm, 125cm and 120cm classes.

Local junior rider Eliza Abrahams also had a standout weekend, winning six classes including the Katunga Bulk Haulage & Civil-sponsored Speed Championships, which featured a fancy dress theme with characters like Barbie, Ken, Batman and a hippy among other fantastic costumes.

Other local winners included Benalla’s Jena Bloomfield, who took out the Southern Cross Event Hire Mini Prix, as well as Ryan Waddell, Bradley Hearn, Angus Williams and Shepparton’s own Robert Agnew.

“Our grass competition arena looked fantastic,” committee member Steph Waddell said.

“Sponsors Darryl Twitt Ford had two F-150s and a Mustang on display and the courses for both rings were well received by riders.”

Club president Emma Kirkbride was delighted with the weekend.

“We were lucky to have two of the best and most respected course builders in the country — Gavin Chester and David Shephard — designing our courses,” she said.

“Add in our hard working committee, generous sponsors, dedicated volunteers and local legend Ed McNair, who donates his time to curate the grass arena and keep it in world-class condition and that’s what makes a great show.

“That, good people and many hours. We want to say thanks to everyone involved who helps keep Shepparton on the map when it comes to elite showjumping.”