Showjumping: 'Estatic' Goodin has share of lead after first round

Bruce Goodin has given New Zealand its best ever day at an Olympics showjumping arena by jumping a clear round on Lenaro, incurring just half a time penalty, to lead the first qualifying round at the Sydney Games.

Goodin is tied for the lead with Dutch rider Joroen Dubbeldam on Sjiem on 0.5 points, and is now a strong chance to reach the final showjumping rounds on Sunday.

Before Goodin, no New Zealander had ever completed an Olympics showjumping course without knocking down a rail, and only four riders today managed to jump clear.

A beaming Goodin said he was ``ecstatic''.

The other New Zealand rider in the field of 74, Peter Breakwell, 42, was annoyed at his start after he picked up 20.75 penalties on Leonson to be 58th.

Leonson had ridden very well for Breakwell in both their warmup events, and his round - which included demolishing the wall when he kicked out with his hind legs - was disappointing.

Both riders compete again in the second and third qualifying rounds on Thursday, with the top 45 riding on Sunday morning and the final 20 riding off for the medals that afternoon.

Goodin's aim at Sydney has always been to be the first New Zealander to reach the top 20 final.

His father David, New Zealand's showjumping captain in 1959, and his mother Anne were watching today, and it was an almost faultless performance.

Lenaro never even knocked a rail as Goodin took him carefully around the slippery Horsley Park arena.

``I'm ecstatic, I'm thrilled,'' he said later.

``It's just great for New Zealand showjumping, and also for the whole equestrian team.''

Goodin was not too bothered about his half-point time penalty for finishing two seconds over the optimum time, saying he had preferred to take it easy.

The riders were wary after the first pair into the ring, Kazakhstan's Ramzy Al Duhami on his horse Saif Al Adel, slipped and fell.

Lenaro is a 10-year-old grey Holsteiner gelding, and Goodin picked up the ride at the start of the year from Norway's Princess Martha Louise, with whom he has been romantically linked.

Originally from Te Kauwhata but now based in Belgium, Goodin has been the princess' equestrian trainer for two years, and when Norway failed to qualify any riders for Sydney, he was offered the horse.

Lenaro is part-owned by former New Zealand cricketer Shane Thomson, the fiance of Goodin's business partner.

Goodin put Lenaro's superb round down to a very good buildup since arriving in Australia last month.

``He's been training better than he ever has in these last couple of weeks. He's really growing into himself. He's matured a lot in the last couple of months, and really so just in the last two or three weeks.

``I think I probably could have gone inside the time. But seeing that first one fall off...and a couple of others also slip quite badly, I certainly was going to take it pretty carefully.

``At the end of the day, leaving all the poles up there is better than incurring one or two time penalties.''

Sydney marks Goodin's fourth games. He went to Seoul as a groom, rode at Barcelona without success and at 1996 was showjumping manager.

He said the past experience paid off.

``Sure I was nervous, but my buildup has been very good.''

A grim Breakwell made no excuses for his start on his 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding.

He said he knew the horse was inexperienced, but Leonson had jumped the first half of the course very well without a mistake.

``Things started to fall apart at the end. He's been going really well.''

Breakwell said it was still his plan to qualify in the top 45.

Scores from the first three rounds are combined to find the top 45 riders, and then scores start from scratch to determine the 20 finalists.

- NZPA