All West & Sophie Stott | Eastern States Travel Recap

Off The Track Sponsored Competitor, Sophie Stott and her talented thoroughbred, All West (affectionately known as Skip) recently returned from a successful show jumping campaign over east. Sophie has been kind enough to send us a recap of her travels, detailing what she has learnt along the way and her results.

“My trip east was such good fun and exceeded my expectations in both the people I met and the results we achieved,” Sophie says.

The pair travelled first from Western Australia to Victoria, where they stayed at Phil Levers Mornington property before heading to Boneo Park. Their first eastern states event was the Arilla Cup, which would lead into the Australian Jumping Championships. The class numbers were quite competitive (sometimes over one hundred entries in the class), which meant that Sophie and Skip needed to be on top of their game to bring home a ribbon.

“Skip jumped great in the 1.15m on day one and day two—not far out of the placings in the big classes,” Sophie says regarding All West’s performance.

They managed to secure a ribbon on the following Sunday in the Off the Track class, where the pair jumped clean to go into the jump off and secured themselves tenth place.

The next event was the Australian Jumping Championships in which Sophie entered both the Amateur Championships and the Off the Track Championships. The Amateur classes started at 1.10 meters and by day three they had risen to 1.20m/1.25m in the first round and an impressive 1.30m in the jump off. All West jumped beautifully to claim two clear rounds and secured himself fourth place overall.

“I was so pleased with this result given the caliber of the competition,” says Sophie.

In the Off the Track Championship class, All West and Sophie went on to win the day one qualifier finishing with one rail down in the final to secure themselves another tenth-place position.

“It was such an experience to compete at Boneo Park against riders from all over Australia- I loved it,” Sophie says of the event.

Following on, All West was picked up by Olivia Hamood where he began the twelve-hour trip up to Mount White in New South Wales. Skip had a few days of rest on the beautiful property of Krissy Harris (Owner of Stonewall Equestrian and the Thoroughbred Sport Horse Association (TSHA)), while Sophie flew from Melbourne to Sydney, where she set up base in Gosford for the next two weeks.

While on the Stonewall property, Sophie and Skip competed within the TSHA Championships. This event is solely for thoroughbreds and was attended by riders from across Australia.

The Australian record for the six bar and the puissance was broken by a thoroughbred who finished at 1.75m and the puissance at a whopping 1.86m high.

All West and Sophie competed in the group one 1.20/1.25m division speed class where they secured seventh place after having one rail down, but a speedy time. This then followed into the Grand Prix class on the Sunday, where the competition was red hot.

“I was really really nervous, but luckily I had one WA native at the show – Nadia Gronow – to help me and I really appreciate her help in the warmup,” says Sophie.

Sophie and All West went onto jump a clear first round and was one of eight combinations to be put through to the jump off. Tensions were high as no one had managed to jump clear by the time Sophie entered.

“I told Skip it didn’t matter how he jumped – he was a super star in my eyes already,” says Sophie.

Luckily, Sophie need not worry as All West pulled off a tricky clear round with only one rider left to go. When that rider had an unfortunate last rail down, it took a moment for reality to set in.

Sophie and All West had not only won the Group One Grand Prix on a countback, but they had also taken out the Group One Champion! A huge achievement by Sophie and Skip representing WA.

Following on from that, Sophie and All West entered the Racing Teams Challenge, where she competed alongside Kate Edwards and Katelyn Staples. All West pulled off an impressive two clear rounds and the team ended up in sixth place. Sophie said that she believes next year there should be an Off the Track WA Team to join the challenge.

“The whole experience of travelling and competing in the eastern states was something I will never forget- I met so many wonderful people and am already planning my next trip,” says Sophie.

Sophie concluded by wanting to thank a multitude of people who helped her along the way.

Karen McInnes – my coach and friend.

My family for allowing me to leave for a month

My staff at Quickmail for keeping the business running while I was away

Krissy, Nikita and Olivia for supporting me in NSW

Warwick Vale and Ben Wheatley for getting Skip ready to travel

My sponsors especially Off the Track WA and everyone who helped me while I was away

Combined Horse Transport for bring Skip home safely

But most importantly…

All West – Skip – you are a quirky character who is happiest when you are jumping – thank you!

The Off the Track Team congratulates Sophie and All West on their successes and we hope to see them competing again in the 2023 season!