The sought-after Quilty cup returns to Tasmania for the second year in a row after Brooke Brown Cordell and Tierview Salama won the overall event in South Australia.
Miss Cordell, of Lilydale, completed the gruelling 160km ride in a time of 10 hours and 28 minutes to win the middleweight section and overall ride.
Nine-year-old mare Salama is owned by the Pickering family and Miss Cordell has been competing on her for about 12 months.
The pair came fourth in last year’s Quilty.
“She’s got a really loveable character,” Miss Cordell said.
“She’s a beautiful mare to ride. Sometimes she can be a bit silly on the first leg, but she knows her job. She really impressed us last year and did really well this year.”
Miss Cordell, 20, started competing in endurance riding when she was about eight. She has now ridden in eight Tom Quiltys and this is the third time she has won a buckle.
Fellow Tasmanian and last year’s Quilty winner Debbie Grull and her horse Lauralyn Notorious also put in a great performance to come second.
Tasmanian Bella Pickering won the junior section riding Vandieman Trojen. Kirstie Lockhart, also from Tasmania, was second on Zane.
All up, 12 Tasmanians received the prized Quilty buckles for completing the event this year. They include Keryn Marney of Deloraine who now has 20 Quiltys to her name.
Tasmania also won the team competition.
Ms Grull was hoping to defend her title this year but said she was just pleased to see the trophy back in the state.
“I was really happy with how we did, especially considering we had a few issues leading up to it,” she said.
“To be honest it’s nice to see a new name on the trophy.”
This year’s Quilty was the seventh time Ms Grull has received a buckle and for her horse Fred it is the fifth time he has placed in the top five.
Ms Grull said this year’s course was quite challenging with plenty of hills and rain.
She said Tasmania’s dominance this year came down to the quality of the horses.
“Tassie does hilly quite well and our conditions down here can be quite thought, we do get rapid changes in the weather at times,” she said.
“I think the main thing is thought that our horses are just tough.
“ We do have a very good veterinary team and they are quite fussy with the horses so over time that has helped with the quality of the horses competing too,” Ms Grull said.
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