Equestrian: Carson cuts corners to pip World Cup rival

Drew Carson, 18, didn't run out of hugs after winning the Young Rider of the Year crown yesterday. In the background is her father, Vance (brown cap). PHOTO/Paul Taylor

"Next year," Lily Tootill quipped on her mount yesterday at the horse shoe entrance to the premier arena in Hastings just before the presentation ceremony in front of the main stadium.

Dunstan Nutrition Young Rider of the Year champion Drew Carson wasn't within earshot but it would have hardly mattered because the 18-year-old from Putaruru wasn't about to put on any airs on her ascendancy after 36 opening rounds.

"All I had to do was just go clear and then I hit the rail but it stayed down," said a delighted Carson yesterday after the jump-off in her maiden outing in the class.

"Then I went to the next fence and hit that down, so from that time, I knew I had to beat her time," she said, her eyes wide in reliving the excitement of cutting corners to push her mount, Winston V Driene, forward to stop the clock at 50.14s.

World Cup rider Tootill, of Karaka, and her mount, Ulysses NZPH, came in at 51s flat on a four-point penalty.

"Yay, he picked up for me," said Carson, saluting her big and long-striding horse who she has developed a rapport with in a couple of seasons.

The grinning champion rider was under no illusions Tootill was going to give her a run for her money.

"She's a top rider in New Zealand and then I had to have a jump off against her, I thought, 'Mmm, it's going to be a good jump off'.

"But, yeah, I was lucky enough."

Winston V Driene had also grappled with his health demons, thus taking him out of the riding equation for a good half of last season.

"He's sort of got like horse asthma, so he has breathing problems. He's more like got a dust allergy, so we struggled with that for a while and then he had all sorts of injuries."

But Winston V Driene gave early indications of his prowess on recovering as Carson rode him to the National Junior Rider Championship crown in Christchurch last year.

She disclosed that leading into last year's Hoy Show, the horse had contracted a virus, thus ruling him out.

"That was really heart breaking for me but this season, he's really come out and he's been really good."

She can laugh now but it also was Carson's turn for a dose of bad luck at the start of the season, which begins early September.

"I got really knocked out when I fell off him, so we've had such a high and low season," she said after succumbing to gravity in Foxton early the following month.

"I had a complete month off. I was out cold."

Having watched the first class compete yesterday morning, Carson took note that the Land Rover Premier Arena was cutting up amid the steady fine drizzle.

"I like went back and said to dad we need to put in big studs," she said of father Vance Carson.

It worked but equally imperative was the challenge for her to maintain stability in the ride for a mount with an expansive frame.

The stickiness of the surface added to the degree of difficulties because the horse was having to dig deep to find traction when recoiling to clear a fence.

Adversity aside, Carson values the incremental gains in graduating from junior rider (under-18s) to young rider (under-21) class with the top sashes wrapped around her torso.

"This is probably the highest point in my career," said the Waikato University student, thanking her trainers, Helen McNaughton-McFarlane and husband Duncan McFarlane, of Taupo.

The trainers had impressed on the double-major science degree student on simply doing her job, focusing on her controllables, said Carson, who will compete in the Junior Rider of the Year tomorrow on Double Shott on the timely dose of confidence.

"My trainer says this horse couldn't be more different tha n the other horse so, you know, horses are so up and down," she said, lauding the course of German designer Werner Deeg and emphasising one had to be a rider to tame it and not just someone trying to wing it.

Third-placed young rider Briar Burnett-Grant is in that mix.