Starry Youngsters Shine at Takapoto

The sun has set on a brilliant first day of competition at the Takapoto Estate Show Jumping event.
The age group qualifiers which were judged by Travis Morgan and Vaughn Jefferis, provided some exciting glimpses as to what the future may hold for New Zealand show jumping. Phillip Steiner (Tauranga) and Cassina Dior were the stars of the Seven-Year-Old with Heloise Tolo (Wellington) and Heartline taking the Six-Year-Old, Kirk Myers (Hawera) and Blueprint the Five-Year-Old and Oliver Croucher (Cambridge) aboard Takapoto DC, Jaime Tiller (Cambridge) on Takapoto Sienna and Brooke Hawthorne (Cambridge) sharing the honours in the Four-Year-Old.
Logan Massie (Dannevirke) managed to finish second in three of the age-group classes and will surely be chasing to go one better in any of his classes tomorrow.
Aussie Amelia Douglass flew around the 1.35m one round speed class to take the win aboard Upperclass Z, stopping the clock at 69.2 seconds, with runner-up Oliver Edgecombe (Waipukurau) and Henton Excalibur home in 75.68 and James Arkins (Australia) third aboard Eurostar in 79.55 seconds.
Amanda Wilson (Hikurangi) and Showtym Cassanova got the edge on the rest of the field to win the horse 1.25m one round speed class, crossing the flags in 64.63 seconds, just ahead of Jesse Linton (Hastings) aboard Iguazu in 65.49 seconds and Christine Cornege (Cambridge) on Varekai SL in 66.2.
Emma Gaze (Ohaupo) and Shuttle Bug finished a snip ahead of Brazilian Alexander Dattelkremer on Unique QT with just .2 of a second between them.
Competition kicks off tomorrow (Friday) with the first of the age-group finals at 8.30am with the inaugural Takapoto Teams’ Championship the main attraction at 3.15pm where 12 teams from both sides of the Tasman go head-to-head for both bragging rights and top prizemoney.
The show continues through the weekend before a two day break and week two gets underway.
 
Results – Seven-Year-Old Qualifier (on style): Phillip Steiner (Tauranga) Cassina Dior 1, Logan Massie (Dannevirke) Double J Kelvin and Jesse Linton (Hastings) LT Holst Elsbeth =2, Heloise Tolo (Wellington) Doris NZPH, Helen McNaught (Taupo) Double Whoopy and Oliver Edgecombe (Waipukurau) LT Holst Elizabeth =4.
 
Six-Year-Old Qualifier (on style): Heloise Tolo (Wellington) Heartline 1, Logan Massie (Dannevirke) Carbon Xtreme 2, Rachel Malcolm (Cambridge) Onessa MVNZ 3, Deanna Horsburgh (Cambridge) Entourage NZPH 4, Sophia Blackbourn (Cambridge) Octavia MVNZ and Sam Matthews (Cambridge) Fleur DeLacour =5.
 
Five-Year-Old Qualifier (on style): Kirk Myers (Hawera) Blueprint 1, Logan Massie (Dannevirke) Cassio Xtreme 2, Julie Davey (Hastings) LT Holst Freda 3, Brooke Edgecombe (Waipukurau) LT Holst Helen 4, Jeremy Whale (Cambridge) Bannockburn ECPH and Rachel Malcolm (Cambridge) Perseus MVNZ =5.
 
Four-Year-Old Qualifier (on style): Oliver Croucher (Cambridge) Takapoto DC, Jaime Tiller (Cambridge) Takapoto Sienna and Brooke Hawthorne (Cambridge) Latona =1, Kylee McCambridge (Cambridge) PHS Armando 4, Laura McGregor (Auckland) Cavalli GNZ 5, Rachel Nelson (Havelock North) Good Tune NZPH 6.
 
Horse 1.15m: Emma Gaze (Ohaupo) Shuttle Bug 1, Alexander Dattelkremer (Brazil) Unique QT 2, Sophie Fisher (Cambridge) LC Sensation 3, Jesse Linton (Hastings) Blackall Park Pennylane 4, Tamara Silcock (Nelson) TMS Vincenzo 5, Trudi Mitchell (Wairoa) Cadbury 6.
 
Horse 1.25m: Amanda Wilson (Hikurangi) Showtym Cassanova 1, Jesse Linton (Hastings) Iguazu 2, Christine Cornege (Cambridge) Varekai SL 3, Caira Manson (Auckland) Waitangi Attachment 4, Brooke Hawthorne (Cambridge) Ziggy Stardust GNZ 5, Sally Clark (Dannevirke) Victoria’s Secret 6.
 
Horse 1.35m: Amelia Douglass (Australia) Upperclass Z 1, Oliver Edgecombe (Waipukurau) Henton Excalibur 2, James Arkins (Australia) Eurostar 3, Jess Rice-Ward (Australia) Dusky Farm Cavalier 4, Kalani Nicol (Whitianga) KMR Descarado 5, Laura Hilhorst (Cambridge) LC Underberg 6.
 
WHAT: Takapoto Estate Show Jumping
WHEN: Week 1 – February 20-23, 2020, Week 2 – February 25 (training day)-March 1, 2020
WHERE: Takapoto Estate, 90 Finlay Road, Maungatautari, Waikato 3494
MORE INFO: www.takapotoestateshowjumping.co.nz
FULL RESULTS: www.equestrianentries.co.nz.
Phillip Steiner and Cassina Dior en route to victory in the Seven-Year-Old Qualifier (on style).            

Photo credit Cheleken Photography