In this week’s edition of Places We’d Have Been If The Happening Wasn’t Happening, we’re at the Emerald Isle’s finest showcase of top-level eventing action. Tattersalls is renowned for its beefy courses, its stunning setting and, of course, its jolly good craic — what happens at Tatts stays at Tatts, folks. But of course we’re not there — cue wine-drenched sobs — so instead, we’re reliving some of the action of years gone by. In doing so, we stumbled across this gem of a video from the CCI4*-L in 2018, in which Australia’s Andrew Hoy and his then up-and-comer Vassily de Lassos stormed around to finish fourth on their dressage score of 31.1.
Back then, the Tom Carlile-produced Anglo Arab was well on his way to collecting a stonking fan club, and rightly so — but in the two years since, he’s become something of a superstar. In fact, he hasn’t finished out of the top five in any of his international runs since. Now just 11, he’s an odds-on favourite to take a top spot at the Tokyo Olympics next year. Today, we’re outrunning the eventing blues by climbing in the driver’s seat and enjoying the best view in the house of that Tatts run. Go Eventing, and go Vassily!
