Top Showjumpers Head to Taupo for WC
New Zealand’s showjumping attention moves to Taupo this week for the Fiber Fresh Christmas Classic Championships and the
FEI World Cup Qualifying round.
Taupo’s Christmas Classic is always a popular show, and fittingly it has attracted a strong field of 14 for the fifth
qualifier of the Bayleys Real Estate FEI World Cup.
Spear-heading the charge will be series leader Rose Alfeld (Leeston) and My Super Nova who missed the Feilding qualifier
earlier this month, but are still at the top of the leaderboard.
Feilding winner Melody Matheson (Havelock North) will be looking for another strong showing from Graffiti MH. The two
sit in fourth place on the leaderboard, 15 points adrift of Alfeld.
Between these two riders are some of the young guns of New Zealand showjumping – Emily Hayward (Te Awamutu) aboard AP
Ninja who sit in second spot on 50 points, and Samantha Morrison (Tauranga) on the cheeky Biarritz just behind on 48
points.
Also on the card is the perennial Maurice Beatson (Dannevirke) with both Mandalay Cove and Schimmel Warrior. He is never
one to be underestimated, having represented New Zealand at the FEI World Cup Final, as well as the World Equestrian
Games and Olympic Games. Beatson sits in fifth place on the table with 37 points.
Right in the mix will be Rio Olympic Games eventer Clarke Johnstone (Matangi) who has made no secret of his desire to
showjump at top level. He has entered Quainton Labyrinth who switched codes in 2015 after winning the one star One Day
Eventing Championships and hasn’t looked back.
Brooke Edgecombe (Waipukurau) who sits in sixth spot on the leaderboard, has entered LT Holst Andrea for the Taupo
event, as has Tess Clark (Gisborne) on Sinatra II, Helen McNaught (Taupo) on Ngahiwi Ned Kelly, Daniel Blundell
(Auckland) on Lavello, Amanda Wilson (Hikurangi) on Caretino Jewel and Georgia Lawrie (Kumeu) on SP Blue Eyed Ghost.
The combinations will be challenged by Gary Sinclair (Wellington) who is designing the courses in ring one at the show.
The New Zealand World Cup League has six qualifiers and the final – Hawke’s Bay (October 20), Waikato (November 7-12),
Hawera (November 17-19), Feilding (December 1-2), Taupo (December 14-17), Dannevirke (January 5-7) and the final at
Waitemata (January 9-14).
Just the four best rounds will count for each rider.
The World Cup is the highest-ranked series run in New Zealand, and always attracts the cream of the crop, with the
overall winner having the opportunity to represent the country at the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Paris next year.
The World Cup Qualifier will be held on Saturday and will be livestreamed via jxlive.tv . The Christmas Classic gets underway on Thursday, and runs through to Sunday at the Fiber Fresh National Equestrian
Centre in Taupo.
Points (after four rounds):
Rose Alfeld (Leeston) 57 points 1, Emily Hayward (Te Awamutu) 50 2, Samantha Morrison (Tauranga) 48 3, Melody Matheson
(Havelock North) 42 4, Maurice Beatson (Dannevirke) 37 5, Brooke Edgecombe (Waipukurau) 32 6, Robert Steele (Dannevirke)
23 7, Tess Clark (Gisborne) 21 8, Lucy Fell (Longburn) 18 9, Lily Tootill (Karaka) 13 10.
WHAT: Bayleys FEI World Cup Qualifier
WHERE: Fiber Fresh National Equestrian Centre, Taupo
WHEN: December 16, 2017
LIVESTREAMING: jxsport.tv
ends