Olympic medallist in action

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 43

Olympic medallist in action

Mark Todd has become a household name since he won the Olympic gold medal in the three day event at Los Angeles. South Island equestrian enthusiasts will see Todd in action in the Trusteebank Equestrian teams challenge on Thursday evening,; Also in the invitation team will be Ann Wilson, who was the 1979 British Ladies Champion on Owen Gregory. ; ’ The Canterbury team members are lan Bell (Rakaia) on Golan Heights, Julie Srhoy (Hinds) on Samuel and Mark Crean

(Hawarden) on Missouri, Southland has a strong team with Donna Smith on Ernie Mite, Malcolm McCall on Monato and Ngaire Lamb on Naude. Riders in the Combined team include David Hutton (Timaru) on Spruce Goose, and Vicki Hammond (Southland) on Jet Run. The score of the best two riders in each team will count, and the two leading teams will jump again to determine the first and second placings. Their first round scores will not count for the final placings. Todd and Wilson are not

expected to arrive until to-, morrow, so it will test their ability in handling previously unknown horses, lent to them specifically for the, competition. Ann Wilson (nee Fenwick) was one of Britain’s leading' lady riders for many years, representing her country in. Europe, and winning the British Championship in 1979. She rode three top, horses in Owen Gregory/ Fieldmaster and Ladiesman. Ann is married to Harvey Wilson, a Wanganui farmer, who, next to Cottle, would be New Zealand’s most internationally experienced rider. Of the Canterbury team, lan Beil has been competing successfully for many years and formerly teamed with Condor, owned in partnership with Mrs Barbara. Blackie. Golan Heights, his present mount, is a former racehorse which started show jumping in 1979 and reached B Grade two years later. Now in A Grade; his major wins include the 1983 Easter Championship and the Labour Day Horse Society championship. Julie Srhoy, aged 20, has represented her area in six pony club championships for a second and a fourth. She competed in the New South Wales pony club jumping championships, and was in the South Island eventing team. Samuel, previously a successful eventer, reached A Grade last season. Samuel’s major wins, were in the junior championship and Power and Speed event at last year’s Canterbury A. and P. show.

Mark Crean, also aged 20, rides the A Grade horse, Missouri. Crean toured the North Island last year with the South Island team, and was placed 12 times out of 17 starts, including the Horse of the Year shows at Auckland. In Donna Smith and Ngaire Lamb, the Southland team fields two of the South Island’s most capable riders. Smith went to England in 1972, where she worked for the top rider, David Broome. She returned to New Zealand in 1976, and competed on Haldon Road as a South Island team member in Australia. Her present horse, Ernie Mite, is a distinctive piebald' co-owned with Mr Len Insall, and finished seventh in the nationwide Bayer-Am-dax grand prix circuit last year. Naude, Lamb’s horse, is now 20 and has won over ?14,000 since a 13-year-old, big money in New Zealand show jumping. He competed in Australia in 1982, where he jumped 2m in the puissance and I.Bm in the six-bar. Last year, he won 60 F.E.I. competitions, five grand prix and was fourth equal in the Bayer-Amdax final. Malcolm McCall will ride Monata, the former steeplechaser on which he

won the 1983 South Island. Horse of the Year. McCall has done equally well in eventing and show jumping — he won the Forest Gate Trophy in 1971 on Pegasus, and trained with the New Zealand Olympic squad for Munich Riding Silver Idol, he was fourth in Sydney in 1974 in the open three day event. Since being third in the 1981 N.Z. national three-day event at Ashburton, Malcolm has concentrated on show jumping and has represented the South Island four times. For the combined team, David Hutton, a dentist, will' be riding Spruce Goose, a second season B Grade jumper which started his jumping career with an Otago rider, Judson Arthur. David had much success with two A Grade jumpers, Kahlua and Dundonald, twice winning the Ballantine Grand Prix and Gamblers Stakes at Christchurch, and Grand Prix in Invercargill. Vicky Hammond and her B Grade jumper, Jet Run, was a member of last year’s South Island team, winning the Marlborough Grand Prix. She was a working pupil at the National Equestrian Centre at Taupo in 1983 and placed fourth in the Forest Gate Trophy on Amigo.