Equestrian: Games contender looks like winner

Olympic contender Duncan McFarlane showed his determination and skill when he rode borrowed mount Kiwi Cash to take the honours in the first international competition at the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings yesterday.

Most international riders had their work cut out when local New Zealanders set the pace in the individual stakes, but the US-based rider whipped seconds off the lead set by Waipukurau's Oliver Edgecombe on Salute the Stars, closely followed by veteran rider John Cottle, from South Auckland, on Ice Man II.

Many of the European, Australian and overseas-based New Zealanders had just stepped off the plane the day before and met their borrowed mounts only yesterday.

Fourteen of the 24 visitors, including the five other Kiwis shortlisted for Athens - Peter Breakwell, Katie McVean, Grant Wilson, Guy Thomas and Daniel Meech - went clear in the first round with a dozen local riders.

The trials for horses unfamiliar with less compromising styles took their toll when accuracy as well as speed riding was demanded by the Europeans. Only Breakwell, also based in the United States, on Catakin, and Australia's David Dobson, on The Glacier, managed clear jump-offs.

Dobson was the only other international placed when he finished sixth behind Cambridge rider Catherine Cameron (Imperial Sam) and Tracy Kovacs (Croftlea Merrydance) from Rangiora.

The tough Grand Prix 1.5m course foiled nearly all the local combinations, with only Cameron on Belltower finishing with no faults. She took the title over Dannevirke's Doug Isaacson on It's About Time.

Cameron also rode Charlton Javelin to third equal with Cottle on Telegraph after both combinations took a rail to finish on four faults each.

The teams from Germany, Britain, France, Spain/Portugal and Australia will contest the two international New Zealand teams - one from European-based Kiwis and the other US-based riders - in two events today and tomorrow, when the major event of the 1.6m Horse of the Year is also held.