Equestrian · international
Shannon and Clifford take fourth Adelaide crown after final-day reversal
Hazel Shannon and WillingaPark Clifford won Adelaide's five-star eventing competition on 4 May with 45.9 penalties, edging Shane Rose and The Bandit by 2.4.
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A fourth win for a familiar partnership
Hazel Shannon and WillingaPark Clifford won the Adelaide International five-star eventing competition on 4 May, finishing with 45.9 penalties. Shane Rose and The Bandit took second on 48.3, and Samuel Jeffree with Wimborne Conjuror finished third on 50.4. The victory added 2025 to Shannon and Clifford's earlier Adelaide successes in 2016, 2018 and 2019, making them the first combination to win the event four times.
Their winning margin was 2.4 penalties, small enough for the final show-jumping phase to matter decisively. The four-day festival ran from 1 to 4 May in the Adelaide Park Lands, with dressage in the Gillian Rolton Main Arena, cross-country across the parklands and a concluding jumping programme. The leading pair changed as those phases tested different parts of each horse-and-rider partnership's performance.
The lead changes across the phases
Shenae Lowings and Bold Venture led after dressage on 27.4, ahead of Shannon and Clifford on 30.3. Rose and The Bandit began with 36.3. The cross-country phase then reshaped the standings: Lowings retired, while Rose completed the course without adding penalties and moved to the front on 36.3.
Shannon and Clifford accumulated 11.6 cross-country time penalties and reached the last phase on 41.9. The official scoreboard records their final jumping round as four penalties with no time penalties, producing 45.9 overall. Rose added 12 jumping penalties and finished on 48.3. That difference in the concluding rounds turned his 5.6-penalty advantage before show jumping into Shannon's 2.4-penalty victory, a clear example of how eventing remains cumulative until the last fence.
A demanding cross-country test
The organiser's cross-country report described several leading combinations being eliminated or retiring. Equestrian Australia's review identified Mike Etherington-Smith as the course designer and emphasised how the track demanded stamina as well as jumping accuracy. The changing standings reflected the challenge: competitors had to preserve both their place in the contest and their score before the final jumping phase could settle the podium.
Jeffree and Wimborne Conjuror's third place also followed a substantial progression. Their official results show 45.6 after dressage, only 0.8 added on cross-country and four more in show jumping. The final 50.4 left them 4.5 behind the winner. It provided another route to the podium: retaining competitiveness through the later phases despite a much less favourable starting position after dressage.
Wins across the rest of the festival
Rose also won the shorter four-star competition with Easy Turn on 36.7, leading from dressage through the finish. Sophia Hill and Tulara Baltango took second on 44.7, while Hannah Klep and Tulara Chicouve placed third on 46.9. His second place in the five-star contest therefore formed only part of a productive Adelaide weekend.
Oliver Barrett and Sandhills Briar won the three-star long-format event on 29.7, ahead of Emily Gray and Legal Chase on 32.4 and Hannah Deegan with HK Hawthorn on 32.8. Barrett also became the 2025 Bates Saddles Young Rider Champion. Those results gave the festival a combination of established senior success and younger achievement, but the central historical result was Shannon and Clifford's fourth Adelaide crown, secured through a final round that changed the championship order.
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