James and Eurostar (Diarado x Chacco-Blue), who is owned by his family in conjunction with the Douglass family, pictured here before leaving Australia for the US.

© Stephen Mowbray

James Arkins and Eurostar make their mark in the US

By Equestrian Life

Australian showjumper James Arkins has enjoyed his first serious success in the US, finishing second with Eurostar in the $75,000 Coca-Cola Grand Prix last weekend (5 February) at the World Equestrian Centre (WEC) in Ocala, Florida.

The headline class of Week V of the Ocala 2022 Winter Spectacular was Eurostar’s first Grand Prix at WEC, and also his first big class under lights. “He jumped incredibly well Saturday night,” says James, who travelled from Australia to the US late last year with Eurostar and the up-and-coming Joevaro. “It was his first Grand Prix under lights and he just felt amazing. I was very excited with the result.”

“We’ve been slowly building Eurostar; he hadn’t competed since the Caboolture World Cup back in June last year, so we had a bit of work to do to get him ring fit. I didn’t want to jump him too big, too soon and risk an injury or anything like that, so I’ve just been slowly building him and getting him ready,” he explains.

It was a 42-hour flight travelling to the US, but James says both horses travelled really well. “They ate and drank the whole way and they were really happy; they haven’t really missed a beat. Joevaro has been on fire the whole time, while Euro has taken a little longer having not been to a show for quite some time.”

James explains that the trip so far has been a learning curve for him as a rider, with the courses in Florida typically ridden quicker than he was accustomed to back home. “It’s taken a bit of time getting used to the time allowed, as it’s often tighter than what it is in Australia. It means you have to ride at a faster pace, turn tighter, and make quicker decisions. Often being on such a big arena, the lines can be quite a long way apart and that’s where you have to make time galloping. Everything rides quite forward.

“It’s really good, it’s great sport, but it’s taken a bit of adapting. I’m considered a fairly fast rider at home, but over here I’m probably in the middle. Getting the horses used to constantly travelling at speed has taken a little bit of adapting, which is why we started off in some smaller classes, just to get them really used to it. I feel like both are jumping really well now and are ready to start performing.”

James says that while it’s taken a little while to settle in to things as a rider, he’s found that in many ways the US is not that dissimilar to living in Australia. “The lifestyle’s quite similar. There are a lot of people that are happy to help should you need it, so that’s been great.”

James explains that while last Saturday night was Euro’s time to shine, the less experienced Joevaro has also been performing well and catching the eye of many. “The first weekend I competed we did a 1.25m the first day, and then I entered him in the Welcome Prix the second day. When I read the schedule, I thought it said 1.35m-140m, but they actually changed the starting height to 1.40-1.45. It was probably the strongest track he’s ever jumped, and he came out and jumped clear. In the jump off, I saw the other riders go and they were super-fast, so I went a little quicker than I probably should have and ended up having a couple of rails, because he wasn’t used to that pace. Since then, we’ve just been consolidating, and jumping quite a few 1.35-1.45m tracks.”

James and Joevaro.

© Stephen Mowbray.

James is currently competing in Week VI of the Ocala 2022 Winter Spectacular with Joevaro, entering him in the Welcome Prix and possibly aiming for a Grand Prix start over the weekend depending on how he goes. “They’ve moved this week’s Grand Prix into the other arena and it’ll be a little bit smaller. If Joevaro jumps well, I’ll jump in that class; if I’m not 100% sure, there’s another 1.45m Classic to contest instead. He’s been really consistent and jumping really well, and there’s been a lot of people making very positive comments towards him.”

Eurostar has the week off before returning for the Week VII event and hopefully competing in the Grand Prix class that weekend. Looking further ahead, James’ goal is to get selected for Australia’s Nations Cup team to compete in Wellington, Florida, at the beginning of March.

“At the moment, the plan over here has been very fluid. It’s been hard getting here not prepared and not necessarily ready, since we’ve had the lack of shows at home, so we’ve really had to let the horses guide us a little bit.

“I would really like to get on the team for the Nations Cup, so at the moment with Euro everything is geared towards getting him jumping as well as he can be and ready for that class. After that, we’ll get an idea of exactly where he’s at; it’ll be a bit of a benchmark, and we’ll see whether we’re really going to push ahead for the World Championships and plan towards that.

“Joevaro, I don’t really have any big plans for big shows that I’m pitching towards, he just needs the miles in the ring. Another show around the corner is HITS (HITS Ocala Winter Circuit), and there’s some really good CSI2* classes there. I’m thinking of taking him there as the Grand Prix is not so strong, I think it’s 1.40-1.45m, so he should be fairly competitive at that level. As I said, at the moment, we’re really just letting the horses guide us.”

All in all, James says both horses are going incredibly well. “They are both fit, healthy and look great. It’s really exciting and it’s a learning curve too which is really exciting – I’ve learnt a lot and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting some more good results. Last week was fantastic and I was so excited… there’s been a lot of good, positive support from everyone at home which I really appreciate, keep it coming!”

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