Eketahuna rider toast of equestrian champs

Eketahuna horseman Shane Dougan was the toast of the New Zealand team and his horse the centre of overseas attention after the combination finished eighth in the endurance race at the World Equestrian Games in Germany yesterday.
Dougan, and his 10-year-old Arabian stallion Vigar Riffal produced New Zealand's best endurance result at a World Games on the way to overtaking a dozen other combinations in an extra quick final loop in the 160km event.
Dougan averaged 41km/h in the final of the six loops after finishing the first in 70th place of the 159 starters.
"He could have gone quicker," Dougan said.
"There was plenty left in the tank, he's a great little horse.
"It was very slippery out there but it has been a real thrill to be at the World Games and something I will remember all my life."
Dougan was almost 29 minutes behind the winner, Spain's Miguel Vila Ubach, who posted a time of nine hours 12 minutes 27 seconds.
Marlborough's Kylie Avery, at 20 the team's youngest member at Aachen, and her nine-year-old part-Arabian stallion Silands Jasark also performed with distinction to be the only other New Zealand combination to finish in 22nd place.
The New Zealand team of five ? one individual combination and four members riding as a team ? were part of a high attrition rate today when torrential rain in the last two laps made the going treacherous.
New Zealand received an early setback when Brian Tiffan and Sonny failed the first veterinary check with the horse pulling up lame.
It was a disappointing final outing for the combination as the 13-year-old homebred Anglo-Arab gelding is to be sold to overseas interests.
With pressure on the remaining three team riders having to complete the course to be in with a chance of a medal, the New Zealanders made significant strides in the second lap.
Australian-based Howard Harris and Harmere Turfan worked their way into second place and the team into third overall.
Although Harris slipped back over the ensuing two laps, Avery and Dougan were making inroads and kept the trio in the hunt for a team bronze right up until the penultimate loop.
Harmere Turfan lost his footing in the conditions causing lameness which resulted in the pair being vetted out, leaving the remaining two-horse team of Dougan and Avery out of the medal count.
The individual combination of Philip Graham and Wolfgang Amadeus also faced bad luck on the fifth loop when the 11-year-old Anglo Arab gelding also suffered a leg injury and was ruled ineligible to carry on.
"It was great to be a part of this team and just a shame it didn't work out how we thought it was going to," Dougan said.
"But that's the way it goes. It was a pretty hard track with a lot of rock and hard surface."
Dougan, who nearly pulled out of the trip because of financial constraints, is now weighing up a variety of tidy offers he has had for Vigar Riffal.
New Zealand also have an eventing team, an individual showjumping rider and a vaulter competing later in the programme at Aachen.- NZPA