Aust. wins show jumping

Press, 25 February 1985, Page 4

Aust. wins show jumping

PA Wellington Australia beat New Zealand by four faults (one rail down) in yesterday’s AMG showjumping test at Trentham, despite the dramatic elimination of one team member. The test is judged in two rounds over the same course, with only three scores out of the four team members taken into account. An Australian, David Robertson, riding Dusky Dawn, had 12 faults in the first round but over the same course, in the second round, he missed fence two and mistakenly jumped fence three backwards, to be disqualified. Only two clear rounds were jumped during the test — both by Australians. The team cap-

tain, David Asimus (Golden Grand), led off with a clear round which was matched by Guy Creighton riding Conclusion. The best of the New Zealanders were Vaughen Jefferis (Matangi) on Amandla and Wellington’s John Cottle with his Olympic Games horse, Arturo. Each had rounds of four and eight faults. After two rounds, Australia’s total faults were 36, which meant Cottle could afford one rail down to bring New Zealand level. Arturo jumped clear up until the penultimate fence which came down. At the final treble the horse kicked a rail down on the first fence to give victory to the Australians.