Equestrian: Epidemic blights Tait's season

LONDON - Champion New Zealand equestrian Blyth Tait has written off his spring campaign after the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic caused the cancellation of the Badminton Horse Trials.

Badminton, the key three-day event in the first half of the British season, was called off at the weekend.

A major event at Punchestown, in Ireland, has been cancelled, as has all eventing up to April 16.

Badminton event director Hugh Thomas said that with Badminton Park closed because of the virus, it was not possible to make preparations for the event, in early May.

World champion Tait said he would now concentrate on the autumn season, where Burghley offered the chance to recoup something from the year.

He had all but ruled out crossing the Atlantic for events in Kentucky and Georgia next month, as compatriot and Olympic team-mate Andrew Nicholson now planned to do.

"It'll probably mean a missed season for me," said Tait, who won the Kentucky event on Welton Envoy last year.

"Going to America at this point is probably not what I'll do - I haven't ruled it out but it's just so expensive and I won't have had any preparation in this country."

Badminton was the one chance to win decent prize money in the early part of the season, Tait said.

"Part of the reason I'm turning my horses away is there's no point spending the expense of getting them tuned up ready to go when we're not going to be winning anything back.

"I'm going to be keeping my overheads as low as I can for the time being. We've waited long enough and there's no end in sight in the moment. We'll try again later in the year."

Tait had been using this year to prepare his younger horses for the 2002 world championships.

Stable star Ready Teddy, world champion and 1996 Olympic champion, would not have had the preparation to do well in the US, unless he went over earlier to contest a one-day event.

"There was a risk in that - he might injure himself in his preparatory run, and I would have spent the best part of £10,000 [$34,600] to go to a one-day event in America."

Tait was now unsure whether he would return to New Zealand, or take up offers to teach young riders "which I've been putting off."

"What I can't deal with at the moment is the pretence that our season might start again," said Tait, who has been paying to enter events that were cancelled soon after.

Eventing organisers were now concentrating on saving events at Windsor in late May, Bramham in early June and Burghley in late August.

While horses are not susceptible to foot and mouth, they can spread the virus.

- NZPA