Equestrian: Three Kiwis Finish in the Top Ten

Three Kiwis Finish in the Top Ten at the Adelaide CIC ****

Update from Adelaide: three New Zealanders are now in the top 10 of the Adelaide CIC****. Blair Richardson, originally listed as 11th after cross-country, has moved into 5th place. Jenna Mahoney and Santos are now in 7th place, and Clarke Johnstone and Orient Express are now in 9th.

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Blair had a bold ride, with the relatively inexperienced Spend Up looking more than confident around the course. He incurred 20 penalties for a technical stop at the second-to-last fence of the course, a combination of corners that caught several of the riders out. He protested the penalties, which were later removed, and his strong ride has moved him from 20th after the dressage to 5th place going into the show jumping.

The New Zealanders have been busy looking after their horses after a challenging cross-country day (it was 40.7 degrees in Adelaide this afternoon), and the details behind the results are just now coming through.

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“This young Kiwi team has done themselves proud, with three combinations moving into the top ten,” said Sally Millar, Chair of the Eventing New Zealand Board, who accompanied the team to Adelaide. “I think we should be very proud of our riders. If you take a look at the caliber of riders here today, only 20 out of 35 starters completed the course, and everyone had difficulties – Olympic silver medalist Shane Rose and All Luck, for example, retired at the Sunken Road. There were comments that the shortened course wasn’t up to standards, but it was very technical, twisty and demanding throughout the entire course. The ‘let up’ parts of the course where the riders could gallop and make up time were removed due to the heat, so it was one question after another. No one fence caused problems – the challenges were spread throughout the course.”

Clarke Johnstone on Oakley Vision were the first New Zealand combination on course, and had an unlucky time of it. They took the long route at the Ducks fence and were given 20 penalties for crossing their line. He then had a stop at the fence at the top of the Normandy Bank – a fence that was removed two rides later. His third stop was a run-off at the fourth element of a brush and ditch complex, which had two long strides from the third element.

Clarke’s second ride on the less experienced Orient Express was bold and impressive, and Clarke was very pleased with his ride. Clarke and Orient Express are currently in 9th place.

Jenna Mahoney and Santos, the last combination to be added to the Trans Tasman team, showed that they are more than capable at this level. Some excellent riding from Jenna produced a bold, positive, clear round. Jenna reports that Santos started to get heavy in the hand during the last 300 metres, but an hour after finishing the course was looking bright and happy in his box. Jenna has every reason to be pleased with her ride, none the least because it boosted her into 7th place.

The Australian team had greater mixed fortunes. Stuart Tinney and Vettori made the course look easy and are now on top of the leader-board. Wendy Schaeffer and Koyuna Sun Dancer fell at the banks and were eliminated, and Sonja Johnson and Ringwood Jaguar had two stops on course. Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester had a run-out at the Ducks fence, which dropped them from 1st place to 6th.

The New Zealand team is still effectively out of the Trans Tasman competition unless one of the Australian team doesn’t present tomorrow morning.

“We have a very happy, but very tired team back at the stables who will be working hard to ensure all three of our riders complete tomorrow,” Sally reported. “Once again, New Zealand has every right to be proud of our riders and all the team members working behind the scenes in these challenging conditions. They’ve all done very well today.”

For full results and LIVE result updates of the Showjumping go to:

[link:"[link:www.australian3de.com.au/pages/results.html" target="_blank">[link:www.australian3de.com.au/pages/results.html]

ENDS

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