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It was victory on both fronts for the Australian Senior Gold Team and Young Rider Team in Taupo at the Oceania Championships in New Zealand today.

The dreary weather settled in for the final day of competition with an early drop in temperature and intermittent rain throughout the day, the heaviest of which descended upon the Young Riders.

The Young Rider Team went into the final day of competition with a healthy 97.7 point lead, which they managed to increase in the showjumping phase to take the win by an incredible 197.9 points.

“Wow what a week! The Young Rider Team showed how well they could focus to bring their best performance today. We did have a handy lead going in to the showjumping but the team handled themselves so professionally they competed fiercely right to the end.

The riders all produced great rounds today under team pressure in very trying conditions, a well deserved win to the team. This was very much a group effort with co-coach Sam Lyle,” said Young Rider Team Chef d'Equipe Will Enzinger.

After yesterday’s exciting CCI4*-L cross-country unfortunately both Madeline Wilson riding I’m Bruce and Amanda Ross on Dicavalli Diesel elected to withdraw from the competition prior to the commencement of showjumping in the best interest of their horses.

The Australian Senior Gold Team, consisting of Shane Rose, Sonja Johnson and Emma Bishop, retained their post cross-country lead throughout the entire showjumping phase to finish on a score of 207.3, ahead of the New Zealand Black Team in second place on 325.5. The Australian Green Team finished in fourth place on 711.4.

Individually Australian’s Sonja Johnson riding Misty Isle Valentino and Jade Findlay riding Oaks Cordelia also placed 4th and 5th in the CCI4*-L, respectively.

Stuart Tinney, Chef d'Equipe for the Senior Rider Teams said “I am very proud to be a part of the team winning back the Oceania championship title from the New Zealanders who won in 2017. It was a great event and I would like to extend our thanks to the New Zealand Federation and riders for their hospitality.

It was great to have individual performance from Sonja and Jade, as well as both Young Rider and Seniors Teams winning their divisions. Having a total Australian team of eight horses and riders plus four young riders - the organisation that is involved in arranging this has been enormous.  I am very grateful for the help of everyone involved in making this trip happen”.

The Australian horses and riders are due to fly back to Australia on Tuesday.

Full results can be found here: https://equestrianentries.co.nz

Source: Equestrian Australia press release

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