Warkworth equestrian Nicola Kelsey shared top honours with Wellington's Lauren Cooney at the Autumn Northland Horse Trials, with the pair placing first equal in the Horse World Young Series. Points collected at last year's Spring Horse Trial and at the weekend's two-day event at Barge Park, saw these two up andcoming under-21 riders in front of a competitive field. "We just couldn't separate the first two riders which is really unusual," Eventing Northland's Jan Wood said. Kelsey rode with the same accuracy and flair on board Last Boy Scout to win the title for the second consecutive year, but was put under pressure by Cooney who was impressive riding Pythagoras. Auckland's Stephanie Collins took the third podium placing in the series, riding Waitangi Slingshot. Around 170 competitors, mostly from the north of Waikato, took part in the incident-free trial, which left the vet and St John Ambulance personnel with not a lot to do except to enjoy the great dressage and showjumping on Saturday, followed by the thrilling cross-country riding yesterday. The novice class results were also extremely close, with just .8 of a fault separating the two frontrunners. Waipu's Shelley Hamilton riding HR Wonderbar took the top prize however, sneaking in ahead of Whangarei's Juliet Wood on board Dr Who. Meanwhile, the Waitangi Sporthorse Intermediate Class, Waikato rider Ashleigh McKinstry won on Pioneer Makokomiko, ahead of two Northland riders, Kaitaia's Jo Shepherd da Silva and her horse Dunstan Rubicon, and the third-placed Denise Lincoln, from Whangarei, who was riding Waitangi Skype. Eventing Northland used the more efficient and quick computerised scoring for the first time, which Wood said they would adopt for future events.
