Equestrian: Eventer's double win bonus

The only double clear round over cross-country and show jumping secured 24-year-old Australian Olivia Bunn her first three-day event win at the Auckland Airport Regency contest over the weekend.

Bunn, who has competed at the Puhinui Reserve event twice before in 1997 and 1999, was the standout performer in an outstanding field for the three star competition.

The viticultural student from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, has ridden for her country at the 1998 Rome World Equestrian Games and at last year's Games in Spain, but she had to come to New Zealand for her first major league win. Her mount was the New Zealand-bred warmblood GV Danzar, by the outstanding jumping stallion Distelfink.

The performance has qualified the pair for the Athens Olympics and Bunn hopes also to have her other ride GV Top of the Line in contention, too, but she isn't counting any chickens between now and the final selections.

Six of the 26 starters on Saturday's endurance phase went around the cross-country clear and inside the time, but only Bunn conquered the show jumping track yesterday. The test included an optional run through the water complex in the arena, which most riders took to be sure of making the tight time limit.

"It was tough, really technical," said Bunn after her ride, which moved her up from fifth after endurance. "I had a good day. Danzar was great; he is such an amazingly bold horse."

It wasn't always so good.

Initially, the pair didn't altogether hit it off and the horse was not easy to settle, to the point where at one stage her mother said she wasn't to ride him again.

Patience, time and finding out the training routine that suited him has finally paid off and the 14-year-old is now a real prospect for international honours.

Meantime, Bunn goes home for a little break over which she and her support team will assess the campaign for her horses, with the emphasis on working the two top ones towards Athens, selection for which she describes as the ultimate.

With the showjumping run in reverse order, Bunn's clear round put the pressure on the overnight leader, Bryce Newman (Bulls) on Greer Drinkrows Bates Inishturk.

The black horse had a dream run around the cross-country on Saturday and, returning to three-day competition after injury in Britain last year, looked right back to his best form.

As one of the 17-strong list of Olympic potentials named last week by the eventing selectors, Newman was looking for a top finish and everything was in place.

To his deep disappointment, while Inishturk jumped the first 75 per cent of the course well, he rolled three rails in the final quarter to drop down to fourth place.

"If you don't clear the jumps, you don't win. You just have to grin and bear it," Newman said.

Olympic team manager Chris Hodson was equally disappointed.

"I think all I can say is that the only New Zealand combination to complete that needed to qualify, did so."

That was Newman, but he must get another qualifying event under his belt to be eligible for selection.

With Kate Lambie's Nufarm Alibi withdrawn prior to the event and Matthew Grayling's Revo retiring on the endurance phase through tying up (a muscle condition), Hodson said that the discipline was now reviewing the situation.

By early this week it would have advised Lambie and Grayling of their options for gaining qualification and for getting the second qualification for Newman.

Newman's defection gave riding instructor Kate Hewlett her opportunity on Jocelyn Bayly's warmblood stallion, Internet.

And with just one rail down, the pair finished second. Internet, who served a mare last Tuesday before travelling to Auckland and who has nine mares waiting for his return north, had a great run across country.

"It was awesome," she said.

She has been riding the eight-year-old for a season and a half and from the start felt he had star quality. He has always felt very scopey, he's sensible and trainable.

And while Internet goes home to his harem, Hewlett will get back to her Kerikeri property, where she and her partner also breed horses, just in time to welcome 12 girls for a week's riding camp.

Another young Australian star, Sammi McLeod, finished third on Black Odyssey which she took over on the death of a friend in January. The black nine-year-old thoroughbred is an exciting prospect, with such a good finish in her first three star start.

There was some compensation for Lambie not being able to run her top horse, when Nufarm Sabotage took out the two star event, while Newman was very happy with the performance of Anna Weir's Bates Our Questionnaire to win the one star CIC.