SYDNEY SHOW JUMPING

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27010, 9 April 1953, Page 12

SYDNEY SHOW JUMPING

N.Z. HORSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIP (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, April 8. The attendance for the Sydney Royal Show was 1,110,195, compared with 1,043,006 last year. This year’s figure was bettered in 1947, 1949 and 1950. The New Zealand jumper, The Optimist, last night won the “Daily Telegraph” championship jumpers’ jackpot contest. Hugh Thomson rode The Optimist, one of the four New Zealand horses which contested the event. The Simpers’ jackpot championship was the first event of its type ever held at the show. The competitors had to jump five different obstacles to gain the points score. The largest obstacles carried the greatest number of points. The obstacles were of Olympic Games standard. The Optimist gained 63 points of a possible of 66. A Sydney entry, Chairman, was second, and a Melbourne horse, Sylvester, third. Colonel Harry Llewellyn, a gold medallist at the last Olympic Games, judged the event Commenting on Australian and New Zealand riding standards, he said: “The standard of horsemanship was high but the horses had been insufficiently trained. Show jumpers should aim at getting their horses going calmly and obediently in very mild snaffle bits. Horses need endless working on the flat and I would say that the key to successful show jumping is in this obedience training on the flat.” Captain Llewellyn said P. Holden of the New Zealand team was obviously a briliant young rider who would probably reach top class. “At present, he is rather apt to over-ride his horse during the last few strides. As a result, they put in long fast jumps instead of more controlled high jumps.” “Miss Heather Swarbrick, also of New Zealand, rides her Rum on a very loose pressure and he is allowed .to place himself in the approach to nearly every obstacle,” said Captain Llewellyn. “He would do far better if she used more leg in the approach and so discouraged Rum from getting into the habit of putting in short ones and getting too near his straight fences.”