First World Cup preliminary for the South Island

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 35

First World Cup preliminary for the South Island

World Cup showjumping has been-a part of the New Zealand equestrian scene for the past three seasons, but until this week’s Canterbury show the opportunity to take part in a preliminary competition for Pacific League points has been confined to shows in the North Island.

On Friday afternoon, straight after the Grand Parade, a small but expert field of top class showjumpers will face the judges in the first World Cup preliminary held in the South Island, the Trusteebank Canterbury Grand Prix.

While the anticipated influx of northern prowess has

not happened, those that have made the trip are among the best operating in the north at the present time.

They include riders like Maurice Beatson, twice Horse of the Year winner on the brilliant Nationwide, Harvey Wilson, also a Horse of the Year winner in 1977 on Old Smuggler, Colin Mclntosh and his wife, Penny, riding now for the Naturally New Zealand showjumping team, and former Cantabrian, Glenn Pearce with Ups and Downs, now based in Hunterville. The ace of the northern presence is 21-year-old Greg Jamieson, from Turua in the Thames Valley, who currently holds the lead in the Pacific League riders’ table with 30 points. Jamieson rode in Canterbury last summer as a member of the N.I. under-23 touring team, but his tour was curtailed through illness. He rides the big solid chestnut Chichester, a horse that has developed slowly over the past three seasons, and is now a force to be reckoned with over a big fence.

Another who always makes her presence felt is Gisborne farmer Merran Hain, who has a big team at Christchurch- this week, including Memento, on whom she will seek world cup points, and Smiley John who just could take away the Champion Hack award. The southern entry in the world cup preliminary is all class. It includes Mrs Donna Smith, a national showjumping selector, with Ernie Mite, and Clare Honeywill, current S.I. and N.Z. Junior

Champion, on Buckingham. Also in the field from the deep south is Malcolm McCall with the handy Monato.

Cantabrians tackling the big competition include Hawarden’s Mark Crean with Missouri, and Bruce Costello with Merry Orbit, both very capable combinations.

The small field will be asked some big questions by New Zealand’s only internationally accredited course designer, David Graham from Tauranga. David has learned his trade in the U.K. and Europe, and has served a long apprenticeship before being admitted to the hallowed ranks of the international panel. There will be a difference in the style of obstacle built for this year’s competition. The sledges, while undoubtedly making the job easier for the course designer, do not match up to the requirements for a true world cup course, presenting as they do a very false ground line to the obstacles. All of the obstacles in this year’s track will. be built independently, according to the specifications required for the world-wide series. They will range from 1.5 m to 1.6 m in height and spread and will undoubtedly present one of the biggest challenges ever built on the Canterbury showground. The final world cup preliminary competition this season is scheduled for the Isola Equestrian Centre, Waiuku, on December 1, after which the top two riders on the Riders’ Table will travel to Australia for three further preliminaries in N.S.W.