Equestrian: Olympians Jock Paget and Clarke Johnstone headline New Zealand Oceania champs team

Olympic rider Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation. Photo / Christine Cornege

Olympic riders Jock Paget and Clarke Johnstone headline the New Zealand senior eventing team to contest the Oceania championships in Melbourne next month.

Paget, a member of the bronze medal-winning New Zealand team at the London Olympics, now based at Taupo, will ride his promising Angus Blue while Johnstone, from Matangi, south of Hamilton, will team up with his impressive Balmoral Sensation.

That combination was New Zealand's best-performed pairing at the Rio Olympics last year when New Zealand finished fourth.

They will be joined by Matangi's Samantha Felton on Ricker Ridge Pico Boo, and Australian-based Virginia Thompson on Star Nouveau. The non-travelling reserve combination is Andrew Daines and Spring Panorama.

Thompson showed she's in good form with a fourth placing at the Sydney CIC three star competition last weekend.

The New Zealand Young Rider team is unchanged from the national three-day event and comprises Hamilton's Jackson Bovill on Visionnaire, Vicky Browne-Cole on Waiuku and Eli, Renee Faulkner of Papakura and Rubinstar AA and Levin's Abigail Long on Enzo.

There is a camp in Taupo for the New Zealand-based riders at the end of May.

The team will be based at Werribee Equestrian Centre for the days leading up to the Melbourne International Three-Day Event which runs from June 8-12.

Senior combinations will compete at CCI 3 star level and Young Rider combinations at CCI two star.