Norwood Gold Cup Heads South

Norwood Gold Cup Heads South

Olivia Robertson has drawn first blood for the South Island, winning the Norwood Gold Cup at the Farmlands Horse of the Year Show in Hastings today.

The 21-year-old full time rider steered her Gisborne bred horse Ngahiwi Cisco to a classy clear in the hotly-contested jump-off.

Seven of the 30 original combinations came back for the against the clock jump-off.

Robertson (Christchurch) was second to go on the 12-year-old gelding and set the stage with tight turns and a big gallop into the last, leaving everything up in 51.65 seconds.

No one could match her – several gave the time a good nudge, but paid for it with rails.

Closest to Robertson was Te Awamutu teen Emily Hayward-Morgan who was flying around the course and looked well on track to steal the lead until the last, which came down giving her four faults in 48.56 to take second place aboard AP Ninja. The horse, who was initially bred to race, was super economical around the shortened course.

Filling third place is New Zealand’s only onshore based high performance eventer Clarke Johnstone (Matangi) aboard Quainton Labyrinth who also had four faults in 50.61.

Robertson was “absolutely thrilled” with her efforts, which saw her edge out some rather more fancied combinations, including Olympians and World Championship riders.

Many use the class as a lead in to the Olympic Cup.

“This is a fabulous way to start HOY,” said Robertson. “Everything just went great out there . . . I didn’t think it was quick enough but at the end of the day it was. The Norwood is pretty special and it was important for me to go out and do well. This is always such a competitive class too.”

This week Robertson will also defend her Dunstan Feeds Young Rider of the Year crown and on Sunday will line up in the Olympic Cup.

Gisborne cousins Fraser Tombleson and Jenny Randall took the quinella in the GJ Gardner Pro Amateur Rider of the Year in an exciting jump-off.

In dressage, Vanessa Way (Taranaki) has had a strong start to her HOY, with wins in three classes.

HOY continues through to Sunday with more than 1400 competitors battling it out for top honours across 14 different disciplines.

ENDS

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