Equestrian: Riders off the Olympic pace

Disappointing performances by the New Zealanders at the Badminton horse trials have underlined the hard road ahead to be in medal contention at next year's Athens Olympics.

Andrew Nicholson's 11th placing on Fenicio was the best the Kiwi quartet of riders could muster, as England's Pippa Funnell and Supreme Rock successfully defended their Badminton title.

Even qualifying for Athens is not guaranteed after the New Zealand team missed out on automatic qualification by finishing fifth at the world championships in Spain last year.

But there are plans to fix that: chef de mission Wallie Niederer will head a campaign to qualify an Olympic team at the Blenheim three-day event in September.

Niederer said yesterday that the top two New Zealand horses and their riders from next week's Trans-Tasman Cup in Taupo would be sent to England to make up a New Zealand squad with British-based riders.

"From that squad we'll make up a team for the Blenheim event and, hopefully, the Olympics," he said.

The special teams' event at Blenheim will be between New Zealand, Japan and Australia, who are already qualified for Athens.

Niederer said there was a chance the New Zealand team could get a wildcard Olympic entry if they have four riders ranked in the top 50.

At Badminton, Nicholson went into the showjumping phase holding fourth position on Mr Smiffy and 12th on Fenicio. However, Mr Smiffy dropped five rails and finished 13th, and Fenicio improved to 11th, despite toppling a couple of rails.

"Mr Smiffy just didn't jump at all well, and I blame myself for Fenicio's two rails down. He's perfectly capable of going clear," Nicholson said.

Heelan Tompkins and Glengarrick finished 17th after three jumping faults.

Blyth Tait jumped one of only six clear showjumping rounds on Eze and the pair ended up 38th.

- NZPA