Equestrian: Athens and overseas riders spur competition

Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy and the United States will all be represented at this week's three-day equestrian event at Puhinui Reserve in Manukau City.

And with riders looking for qualification for next year's Athens Olympics, that should lead to highly competitive performances.

The number of overseas riders has prompted the organisers of the Auckland Airport Regency-sponsored event, which starts on Friday, to stage a head-to-head teams event, similar to the competition staged at the Burghley trials in England in September between Britain and the United States.

The Auckland competition will consist of seven head-to-head matches between Australia and New Zealand, with competitors placed in paired locations throughout the running order.

Each match will produce a winner, based on the riders' final score at the end of the three days, and the winning team will be the one with the most winning riders.

Stuart Tinney already has an Olympic gold medal as a member of the winning Australian team in Sydney 2000, but he is bringing a new international class horse, Carrera.

Both Olivia Bunn and Sammi McLeod have been Australian team riders and have competed at Puhinui before. Olivia rides GV Sterling Sioux and the NZ-bred GV Danzar, while Sammi's horse is Black Odyssey.

Tim Boland is a regular visitor to the Auckland event, this year riding Limitless. His former mount, Kildonan Tug, is being ridden by American Abigail Lufkin who, having been in the Sydney Olympic squad for the US, is now making a late run for Athens selection.

Christopher Burton on Deo Juvante completes the Australian contingent in the three-star class and Jane Conway is bringing Gordonstoun for the two-star trial.

Pongsiree Bunluewong, known as Pukai, is a 19-year-old Thai with gold medals at the South-East Asian and the Asian Games to his credit. He placed third in the CIC three-star event at Richfields, Te Kauwhata, last weekend on Toy Boy.

He has also entered his gold medal winner Eliza Jane.

Husref Malek on Tex will be the first Malaysian to compete at three-star level at Puhinui. The horse is a very experienced horse bought from Stuart Tinney, who competed him in England.

The Italian, Andrea Mezzaroba, an Army officer, also competed at Richfields.

New Zealand riders hoping to impress the selectors include Te Kauwhata's Donna Smith, who is home for a brief holiday before returning to Virginia, United States, where she has been based in the yard of Sydney Olympic gold medal winner David O'Connor. While her best horse is still in the States, Smith rides Stanage at Puhinui.

Bryce Newman, of Palmerston North, is winning at one-day trials again after a disastrous world equestrian games campaign last year. New Plymouth's Heelan Tompkins divides her life between her job as a breakfast radio host and her horses, of which she will ride three at Puhinui.

German Markus Schimpel is due to ride his own William Tell, but if he does not arrive, former world championship gold medallist Andrew Scott, of Feilding, will take over the job on the horse which he keeps for its owner.

There will be three competitions over the weekend, the three star at advanced level just below Olympic and world championship rankings, the two star, and one star, a one-day format over three days, with no roads and tracks or steeplechase phases.

Dressage is on Friday with cross-country and endurance the following day and the showjumping phase is on Sunday.