Brook Celebrates Back-To-Back Wins

June 11, 2013

In one of the most spectacular finishes in his long endurance riding career, Brook Sample has taken out the 2013 Tom Quilty Gold Cup on board 16-year-old “Brookleigh Excalibur”.

Sample, from Kenilworth’s Brookleigh Stud, was challenged on the final straight by Akhmed Pshunov on “Tarrengower Crecendo”, and after nearly 160km of riding, had to finish the event in a gallop.

This is Sample’s seventh win in Australia’s most prestigious endurance horse event – and the same horse/rider combination that won the 2010 Quilty in Manilla, NSW, and the 2012 Quilty at St Helens, Tasmania.

The 160km Quilty began at midnight on Friday night at Kilkivan Showgrounds when 245 starters were waved away into the darkness.

The event consists of five stages of varying lengths: 44km, 36km, 40km, 22km and 18km, and riders compete in four divisions.

At the end of each stage, the horses must pass a veterinary check or they are withdrawn from the event.

Nanango vet Jon Fearnley was the chief vet for this year’s ride.

After the horses completed each leg, they were allowed a short time to recover before they were tested.

The checks aim to ensure the horses are fit and healthy to continue. The vet tests heart rate, hydration and recovery rate, and makes sure there is no pain or lameness.

This year’s event had a high rate of withdrawals and scratchings, which competitors put down to the nature of the course.

Of the 245 starters, 121 were eventually vetted out and a dozen were withdrawn, meaning less than 45 per cent of competitors completed.

Speaking to ABC Radio after the race, Sample said it had been a tough course.

“It had a lot of really steep up and downs and they were quite rocky as well, so you really had to navigate your way through, and really trying to take care for your horse not to trip and stumble and damage its feet or pull a shoe off,” he said.

Sample said he had a scare while cantering along the side of a dirt road when the ground suddenly gave way.

“His foot went into a hole and he stumbled and nearly fell over, but he’s just such a good horse he just stayed on his feet and lifted his foot out of the hole really quickly.”

Sample finished the event with the cumulative time of 9:14:52, just 36 seconds slower than his 2012 time of 9:14:16.

In second place was Stephen Gray on “Kasbah Kid” in 10:17:27.

As well as taking home the Tom Quilty Gold Cup, Sample also won the Pat Slater Cup which is awarded to one of the first 10 horses to complete the course. A panel of judges selects the winner based on ride performance, conformation and overall presentation.

All riders that successfully complete the five stages, and pass vet checks at the end of each stage, are rewarded with a Quilty buckle.

The actual ride was the culmination of a week of Quilty activity at the Kilkivan Showgrounds which included karaoke, live music, bush poetry, an art and photography display, a wine and cheese evening,  the “Hot Diggity Dog Show”, a dinner for the vets, a strappers’ sausage sizzle plus the Quilty dinner on Sunday night which was accompanied by a charity auction. 

[Photographs courtesy of Denise Keelan Photography and Keren Mcsweeney Photography]

  Kilkivan, Rural