Farndon finds his feet

A gelding comes into his own as top-class combinations head to East Anglia for a valuable long-format prep run

- SUE POLLEY

Childeric Saddles Little Downham (3), Cambs

TOM JACKSON was among the many elite riders using Little Downham’s CCI4*-S and advanced sections as prep runs for the final long-format four- and five-star events of the season and he came away with a win on Anne and Iain Slater’s gelding Farndon.

The pair cruised around Jonathan Clissold’s crosscountry track just over the optimum time to win Childeric Saddles CCI4*-S section E on 27.4. Other Pau-bound combinations – Tom McEwen with Deirdre Johnston and James and Jo Lambert’s JL Dublin and Piggy March with another of the Lamberts’ horses, Coolparks Sarco – were second and third on 31 and 36.1 respectively.

Farndon joined Tom’s stable from Francis Whittington’s for the start of the 2021 season.

“He’s really come into his own this season,” said Tom. “It’s taken a while to get him into our system and to strengthen him up. He can be tricky to ride fast across country as he doesn’t always listen but he’s getting better all the time, which showed today.”

The pair posted the fastest cross-country time across the two CCI4*-S sections over a track that was much-praised by riders.

“It’s a great pre-Pau run,” said Tom. “The terrain and event layouts are similar in that both are flat with manmade mounds and run over compact sites. There’s also a good selection of skinnies, combinations and beefy water complexes.”