Olympic equestrian silver medallist Sally Clark is jeopardising her chances of riding at the Sydney Olympics by deciding not to start Squirrel Hill at this weekend's Taupo horse trials.
New Zealand eventing's chairman of selectors, Jim Wright, said yesterday that he heard of Clark's surprise move when he returned to New Zealand on Thursday.
Wright had been overseas watching New Zealand riders at both the Badminton and Kentucky horse trials, and said he would not be trying to persuade Clark to change her mind.
"She's either in or she's out, I've got no bearing on it. I would have thought it would have been in her interests to have been at Taupo," he said.
"I wouldn't have thought it strengthened her position by not going."
Clark needed to show the selectors why she should be picked.
"We live in a very cruel, hard world," he said.
Clark won the silver medal behind Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy at Atlanta in 1996, but has had mixed fortunes since then.
She was part of New Zealand's gold-medal winning team at the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Italy. But Squirrel Hill was eliminated in the cross-country after refusing at five fences.
Clark has been under pressure since then to prove the horse is still confident at the highest level.
She took Squirrel Hill to a major championship at Adelaide in Australia last year. The pair finished ninth, with a high penalty score of 169.
Clark, who could not be contacted, said after last week's Tauherinikau one-day event she did not want Squirrel Hill completing two three-day events in the one season.
The Taupo three-day event provides the last chance for New Zealand-based riders to press their case for Olympic selection.
- NZPA
Equestrian: Clark at risk of missing Games
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.