Equestrian: Australians? They're donkeys, says Jefferis

By EUGENE BINGHAM

New Zealand equestrian Blyth Tait tried desperately to cling on to his Rolex watch as he galloped around the cross-country course on Monday. On Tuesday he will desperately try to grasp a gold medal.

Tait's watchstrap unclipped after the second water-jump and he worried about it falling off as he guided his horse, Ready Teddy, around the Olympic three-day eventing endurance phase.

``I knew it was a stupid idea to wear it when I started out, but you need to know the time of day while you are riding in case your stopwatch doesn't start,'' Tait said.

But the distraction of such a valuable timepiece jangling around his wrist was not enough to put the champion rider off.

Tait and the two other veteran riders in the Kiwi team, Mark Todd and Vaughn Jefferis, were three of the best on the course on Monday, completing their rides on time and without incurring any penalty points.

The trio's effort restored New Zealand's chances of snatching a team gold away from the Australians, the two-time Olympic champions who lead the competition with just today's showjumping round left.

On Monday night the Australians sat on 114.2 penalty points, followed by Britain on 127.0 and New Zealand on 151.2.

Assuming the New Zealand riders complete clear rounds within the time allowed, Australia would need to knock over eight rails between them for the Kiwis to catch up.

For New Zealand to overhaul Britain, they would need to dislodge five rails.

Jefferis was optimistic about New Zealand's position.
``We are usually good showjumpers and we know that a couple of the Australian horses are real donkeys at showjumping.

"We could win a bronze medal, win a silver, and if the rails all fall over, maybe we'll win gold.''

The Australians last night batted away Jefferis' taunt.

``Our donkeys did all right today,'' said Australian coach Wayne Roycroft. ``We don't have the best showjumpers in the world, but then neither does anybody else.''

The New Zealanders' capability on the cross-country course yesterday, and several poor performances from rivals, enabled the team to climb from fifth to third on the leaderboard and set them up for an all-out assault for gold.

The United States and France fell by the wayside, and the British team slipped back slightly when the rider with their second-best dressage score, Ian Stark, fell at the second water-jump.

The Australians once again delivered for their home crowd of 50,000, with a minor time penalty being the only blemish on an otherwise perfect afternoon. for the parochial crowd of 50,000.

Australian Matt Ryan said he never imagined riding in front of a home crowd would be such a buzz.``I couldn't help punching the air when I came over the water jump. I never thought competing on home turf would be so emotional,'' said Ryan.

But while the Australian team were riding on emotion, the New Zealanders were purely clinical.

Todd made it home easily despite Diamond Hall Red losing a shoe halfway around the cross-country course.

``I had to be a little bit careful after that on the turns but he was able to cruise home,'' said Todd.

Tait said Ready Teddy was, if anything, over-eager.

Jefferis said he knew he would have to complete a clean round if the team wanted a medal. He rode Bounce conservatively, but still made it well within the time cut-off.

The other New Zealand rider, Paul O'Brien, was slapped with 40 penalty points after Enzed refused to jump two fences, forcing O'Brien to take an alternative route. For the team total, however, only the top three riders' scores count.