Eventing: Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation to front at Takapau

South Islander Kirsty Sharapoff on Shoot The Breeze will seek more North Island experience this weekend. Photo/ Barbara Thomson

New Zealand's best-performed eventing combination at the Rio Olympics, Clarke Johnstone and Balmoral Sensation, will be in action at Takapau's Arran Station this weekend.

They will be among more than 200 horses and riders in the Central & Southern Hawke's Bay Eventing's spring horse trials on the Silver Fern Farms property.

Matangi's Johnstone is one of 13 contestants in the Red Snap'r CIC3* class, which is the second leg of the ESNZ Eventing Super League.

After an over-exuberant dressage performance at the horse's first start of the season, at Hastings last month, Johnstone elected not to contest the first Super League event at Taupo, preferring to restrict "Ritchie" to dressage that weekend.

Havelock North's Amanda Pottinger led the dressage with Just Kidding at both Hastings and Taupo, but encountered problems at the water complex at Taupo, no doubt a result of the ducking they had at the same fence at the NRM Taupo Three-day Event last year.

Pottinger will be hoping for better luck at Takapau.

Kaukapakapa's Virginia Thompson has entered her Oceania team horse Star Nouveau, on whom she won the Puhinui Three-day Event in both 2015 and 2016.

Fellow team member Andy Daines from Kumeu on Spring Panorama is also coming.

These riders are preparing their horses for a tilt at the Australian International Three-day Event at Adelaide next month, the only four-star event in the Southern Hemisphere.

There are also several horses stepping up to three-star for the first time, as expected at the beginning of a new season, so it will be interesting to watch Kate Wood's Wolf Whistle II, a winner of the National CIC two-starat Arran Station previously, now in the hands of Johnstone.

Last season's winner of the Pro-Am series, Madison Crowe on Waitangi Pinterest, who is mentored by Johnstone at Matangi, moves up to elite level, while Papakura's Renee Faulkner and Rubinstar HH, members of the Oceania Young Rider team, are also contesting the top class.

Matangi's Samantha Felton, who is also heading to Adelaide with her top horse, has the inexperienced Ricker Ridge Rui entered, while former Young Rider champion Sarah Young of Tokoroa rides Leo Degas.

The seasoned campaigner Abby Lawrence of Te Puke has two young horses stepping up, so it will be a fascinating competition.

The Oaklane Stables CIC two-starclass has a quality field of 31 entries, including Cantabrian Kirsty Sharapoff on her thoroughbred Shoot The Breeze. A former winner of the two-star class at the NRM Taupo Three-day Event, Sharapoff is seeking more mileage in the competitive scene of the North Island.

She will have moral support from fellow mainlanders Larissa Srhoy on Rockquest, who have previously spent time in the north to gain experience, and Lydia Truesdale on Allander Rocket.

They will have to contend with former international Bryce Newman of Bulls, now training racehorses, with two promising young thoroughbreds, as well as Pottinger on her new ride, Holly Morrell's well performed Pampero.

Oceania Young Rider team member Vicky Browne-Cole, based at Taupo with Jock Paget, will challenge these seniors on her lovely grey Eli, likewise last year's Junior Rider champion Greer Caddigan of Hamilton and Gymnastik Showdown.

All classes will earn points in the year-long eventing series, including the Equissage Pro-Am, PEL Amateur, and Mitavite Young Rider.

Dressage and showjumping take place on Saturday, with the Adelaide bound riders also demonstrating the four-star test late in the afternoon, and the popular cross-country on Sunday.

Chris Ross, from Helensville, who designed the innovative track for last year's national championships at Arran Station, will be designing the cross-country courses for the three top levels so spectators can expect plenty of exciting action.