Equestrian: Todd a lone rider on the range

By EUGENE BINGHAM

No waves to the crowd, no whoops, and no fond farewells.

Mark Todd completed a solo circuit of the Olympic three-day eventing showjumping ring on Tuesday like a rider out on the range alone.

He was a man without a team and he may as well have been riding out the back of his Cambridge property as the main arena at Sydney's Horsley Park.

Todd ignored the clapping of the crowd and got on with the joyless task of riding Diamond Hall Red over the fences. For New Zealand, the competition was over, but Todd wanted to finish off the teams' event so his horse would have a finishing certificate.

It was not an emotional decision, more a commercial one.

"This horse is for sale and it means he has now completed another four-star competition," Todd said after his round.

It was faultless, of course. Diamond Hall Red nudged one barrier on fence three but it stayed in place.

"It was hard to concentrate really when you have got nothing to ride for. But I suppose for me it's nice to finish."

His hopes of finally claiming a gold in the teams' event collapsed when Blyth Tait's horse, Ready Teddy, failed a vet inspection before the final day of competition on Tuesday.

With the withdrawal of Paul O'Brien's mount, Enzed, New Zealand did not have enough riders to even register a score. (The top three scores are added up for the team total.)

New Zealand's fourth rider, Vaughn Jefferis, decided not to bother with the showjumping round, meaning the retirement of his legendary horse, Bounce, was a fizzer.

Jefferis had been hoping to crown 17-year-old Bounce's career with a team gold to go with the world championship title won in 1994.

Instead, Jefferis donned jeans and a T-shirt and watched from the stands as the remaining teams battled it out for the Olympic title New Zealand had so badly desired.

"I'm too numb to be sad," he said.

Todd's penultimate appearance at the Olympics - he will compete in the individual three-day event on Eyespy II - was sad.

It was not meant to be like this. He was supposed to be leading a team riding for gold. Instead, here was Todd, the Olympic great, circling the arena in the company of riders from lesser equestrian countries, riders whose team-mates had fallen by the wayside too.

It was an ignominious end to a competition New Zealand had pinned so much hope on. No gold, no glory. Just a lone rider on the range.