InFocus

NZ’s Best Head to Takapoto for Top Competition

COVID-19 may be putting a halt to fluid offshore travel but that hasn’t stopped an international flavour at Takapoto Estate Show Jumping. New Zealand’s iconic boutique show kicks off on Wednesday morning, running through to Sunday. The first week of competition was cancelled due to COVID-19 Alert Levels but it is all go this week with the nation’s best combinations heading to Lake Karapiro. Frenchman Michel Ismalun, who travelled to New Zealand last year for the 2020....

Queen Quinara Rules at North Island Champs

  Annabel Francis’ winning roll continues, this time taking the quinella in the North Island title in the POLi Payments Premier League at the Egmont A&P Showgrounds in Hawera. The Waikato Equine Vets North Island Championship Premier Jumping Show attracted more than 500 horses whose riders were chasing titles in both showjumping and show hunter. The Premier League is the most prestigious of the show and didn’t disappoint with 18-year-old Annabel the star of the class with her two double clear rounds aboard her imported horses Carado GHP and La Quinara. Eight of the....

Championship Titles on Line at Nationals  

There are some rather big names in the record-breaking 520-plus horses and riders at the Tavendale and Partners’ New Zealand National Jumping and Show Hunter Championships that get underway in Christchurch on Thursday. Star billing is Olympian and World Champs representative Samantha McIntosh who will line up in the three most prestigious classes at the champs – the Graham McClintock June Cresswell National 1.3m Horse Championship, the Wilcox Perlas Potatoes New Zealand Grand Prix Horse Championship, and the Tavendale and Partners New Zealand Premier Horse Championship with her team.

Taupo Teen Takes World Cup Final

  Taupo teen Annabel Francis grabbed an impressive double today taking out both the POLi Payments FEI World Cup (NZ) final and series in an action-packed class at a very gusty and sometimes squally Giltrap Audi World Cup Festival at Woodhill Sands in Auckland. She is one of the youngest to ever win New Zealand’s highest-ranked international series. “It is so unexpected,” said a rather emotional Annabel. “I am very happy and it amazing to have won.” It was the third World Cup class she has won this season, but in the other two she nominated the wrong horse so didn’t....

Top Kiwi Showjumpers Chase NZ World Cup Final Honours The final of New Zealand’s highest-ranked showjumping series is stacking up to be a real head-to-head amongst the nation’s best riders. The POLi Payments FEI World Cup (New Zealand League) Series final is coming down to a three rider battle between back-to-back series winner Tegan Fitzsimon (West Melton), two-time final winner Brooke Edgecombe (Waipukurau) and young gun Annabel Francis (Taupo). They’re in a nine-strong field who will line up to be challenged by course designer Gerrit Beker (Tauranga) at the Giltrap Audi World Cup Festival at Woodhill Sands in Auckland on....

Francis Flies to Victory in World Cup Qualifier

Taupo teen Annabel Francis has added another solid win to her tally with victory in the POLi Payments FEI World Cup Qualifier at the MetalForm Central and Southern Hawke’s Bay Showjumping Championships in Dannevirke this afternoon. Ten lined up to be challenged by course designer Roger Laplanche in the last qualifier of New Zealand’s highest-ranking series, with the final next weekend in Auckland. Clear rounds came from Emelia Forsyth (Clevedon) aboard her former eventer Henton....

It’s an 11-strong field filled with quality that lines up in the POLi Payments FEI World Cup at the Central and Southern Hawke’s Bay Showjumping Champs this week. There is plenty to chase for the top combinations at the last qualifier of the six-round series that will culminate at the final in Auckland later this month. Two-time series winner Tegan Fitzsimon (West Melton) and the ever-consistent Windermere Cappuccino spear-head the field that also includes current Olympic Cup holder Brooke Edgecombe (Waipukurau) aboard LT Holst Andrea, former Olympic Cup....

Takapoto Estate Showjumping is back, with planning for another stellar show running over two weeks in February. “What a wild ride 2020 has been,” says event director Mikayla Plaw. “For a number of months we were unsure whether we would even be able to run the show or not. Thankfully we can, albeit a scaled back version.” New Zealand’s strict border controls mean there will be no internationals competing at the show, which is scheduled to run February 19-21 and February 25-28, 2021. However, that doesn’t mean a big international flavour at the....