Eventing: Amanda Pottinger national champion for second time

Amanda Pottinger and Just Kidding en route to victory in Taupo at the weekend. Photo / Diana Dobson / The Black Balloon

Hawke's Bay's Amanda Pottinger delivered the best Mother's Day present possible to her Olympian mum Tinks on Sunday when she won the NRM CCI3* open national championship crown in Taupo.

Pottinger and Just Kidding led from the start of the three-day event, were the fastest combination across a challenging cross country, and on Sunday added just four faults to finish on 36.4 penalty points. She won the Wills Trophy for her efforts, a cup her mother and 1988 Seoul Olympian has also previously won.

Nick Brooks of Cambridge and For Fame were second in their first-ever CCI3* start, rounding out an incredible weekend for them with a clear showjumping round to finish with 38.9 penalty points. Ohaupo's Jessica Woods and Just de Manzana were third on 49.8 and Bundy Philpott of Cambridge aboard Tresca NZPH fourth on 54.3.

Chris Ross' cross country on Saturday gave the field a huge shake up, and saw five combinations drop out of the competition, and just nine start the final test on Sunday.
Havelock North's Pottinger, who last won the title in 2016, had a few lives during the showjumping and admitted she felt a little like Badminton winner Jonelle Price who rattled a few rails en route to her success.

"He [Just Kidding] really tried so hard out there – that rail was 100 per cent my fault," said Pottinger. "We surely lived much more dangerously than previous rounds."

The win was possibly more special than her 2016 victory too.

"Our cross country result was better . . . closer to the time, and it was a really tough track out there. Yesterday was make or break for us and what it shows though is that we are ready for the next level," Pottinger said before collecting the silverware.

Competing at November's Adelaide CCI4* was definitely on the cards. Pottinger also won the TiES (Thoroughbreds in Equestrian Sports) eventing award.

Brooks was also over the moon with his result.

"I just couldn't have done any more nor be more proud of him," he said of For Fame, a 7-year-old New Zealand sport horse.

Matangi's Samantha Felton and Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ were comfortable winners of the Bats CCI2* Championship, finishing on their 28.1 dressage score.

"There's quite a lot of pressure when you are sitting on a good jumper," said Felton. "This is a great way to finish the weekend ... actually a good way to finish a challenging year."

Felton said she was confident the 7-year-old, the youngest in the field, was destined for greater things.

"We want to do this at his pace and produce him properly," she said of the horse she co-owns with Pip McCarroll. "I really rate him."

Felton was one of the busiest riders at the event, with multiple horses across the levels.
"I have been doing a lot of work in the gym and it paid off."

However, she'll be taking it easy for the next few months as she heads to hospital this week for a hip operation which will see her off horses for three months.

The Fiber Fresh CCI1* Championship was won by Matangi's Samantha Mynott aboard CHS Ripleys Dream, with Hunua's Angela Lloyd and her gentle giant homebred horse Raucous taking out the Wairakei Resort CCN105 Championship.

The North Island took out the hotly-contested interisland Silver Spurs Teams Competition.