Top showjumpers ready for World Cup start

Katie Laurie will be a strong contender for the opening World Cup event. Photo / Paul Taylor

New Zealand's best showjumpers will line up for the opening round of the FEI World Cup New Zealand series in Hawkes Bay tomorrow.

Eleven top combinations have entered the event, including former series winners Katie Laurie of Mystery Creek and Dannevirke's Maurice Beatson.

Laurie won last year on Dunstan Breeze and Dunstan Lucca.

"They have both been jumping really well," says four-time series winner Laurie, who will be without her former Horse of the Year winner Dunstan Springfield for much of the first half of the season.

He got a small infection in a leg and needs time for it to heal before he can come back to competition.

Ten-year-old Breeze had just two world cup starts last season for a third and fourth, while nine-year-old Lucca finished fourth in his only start.

Briton Helen McNaught-McFarlane has only been in New Zealand just over a year but has made her presence felt. She and Laurie had a solid rivalry last season, Laurie winning it by only five points over McNaught-McFarlane and her nine-year-old grey Carnutelabryere.

Beatson has entered Conyers and Schimmel Warrior this week.

The next World Cup round is at Mystery Creek, starting on October 31, followed by events at Feilding (December 4-5), Taupo (December 16-20) and Dannevirke (January 8-10) with the final at Waitemata from January 15-17.

The best four rounds count in the series with the winner getting the chance to represent New Zealand at the world jumping final in Gothenburg, Sweden in March.