The team at Tauranga's Mount View Sport Horses are celebrating after their horse NRM Seremonie VDL won the Bell Tea Olympic Cup in the hands of Katie McVean at the 2011 NZ Horse of the Year Show in Hastings yesterday.
Usual rider Ike Unsworth broke his hand a few weeks back
and the decision was made to offer the ride to the Olympian who was coming home from Europe just for the six-day show.
As well as MVSH efforts, Tauranga rider Phillip Steiner placed sixth in the class aboard Annandale Online NZPH.
McVean's efforts provided the fairy tale finish to the show when she beat Australian Jamie Kermond in a nail-biting jump-off.
Within an hour of hoisting the Olympic Cup, the defending champ was back on a plane to prepare for a World Cup show in Holland later in the week.
Eighteen started the class, with just 11 with 12 faults or less coming back for the second.
As the faults mounted for the Kiwi riders, it started to look increasingly like the Showjumper of the Year title, and the $40,000 winners cheque would be crossing the Tasman with any on of the eight Australian combinations.
Last to go was Australian 21-year-old Danielle Butcher aboard Twins Big Higgs, who produced the only clear of the round, but picked up three time faults for her caution.
Best performed of the Kiwis in the first round was McVean on Seremonie, sitting on eight faults. Ahead of her were Australians Butcher on three faults, Billy Raymont on Stardom and Jamie Kermond on Colthaga with four apiece, and Julia Hargreaves aboard Vedor on five.
The second round saw McVean go clear with just a single time fault, as did Raymont on the NZ-owned Nicalette NZP. Butcher, in her first season in the big time, had three rails down and picked up four time faults knocking her out of contention.
When all faults were tallied Kermond and McVean were tied on nine faults forcing a jump-off, which Kermond looked like winning until the last fence.
Seremonie's owner, Wendy Keddell, and Unsworth were overwhelmed while McVean said she'd only found out she was riding the horse on her return to New Zealand on the show's first day.
"She's quite a different ride to my horses," she said. "She's a lot more European and it's taken a couple of days to adjust as she's quite strong."
But adjust she did and for the second consecutive year, won the country's most prestigious showjumping trophy.
The team at Tauranga's Mount View Sport Horses are celebrating after their horse NRM Seremonie VDL won the Bell Tea Olympic Cup in the hands of Katie McVean at the 2011 NZ Horse of the Year Show in Hastings yesterday.
Usual rider Ike Unsworth broke his hand a few weeks back
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