Equestrian: Tompkins and Glengarrick blaze across country

Heelan Tompkins pictured with Glengarrick in December 2005. Picture / Richard Robinson

A fifth to Taranaki rider Heelan Tompkins on Glengarrick was the best New Zealand could muster on a disappointing day of cross-country at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany overnight.

The New Zealand team riders slipped a place to sixth after the cross-country with Tompkins the only one of the quartet to go clear as Caroline Powell (35th), Joe Meyer (53rd) and Andrew Nicholson (18th) all struck trouble on the technically difficult course which caught out many of the top combinations.

Tompkins and the seemingly ageless Glengarrick were the bright spots of a disappointing cross-country for the New Zealanders, with the oldest horse in the field not missing a beat as he skipped around the course to finish right on the optimum time of 12 minutes 11 seconds.

"I am overjoyed but also totally surprised," a Tompkins said after just her second start with the 20-year-old Glengarrick this year.

"The course was incredibly difficult and had lots and lots of corners.

"I was incredibly nervous this morning and wondered if I was doing the right thing being here this morning.

"I hadn't done a big cross-country run since Athens (Olympics, 2004) and I haven't had any competition mileage myself for a long time.

"So, I wasn't quite sure whether my eye was going to be in or not and it was nice to get over the first few fences and then I felt pretty confident after that."

Twenty horses were either retired or eliminated from the 79-strong field, which also included the retirements of New Zealand individuals Donna Smith and Call Me Clifton and Alex de Luca Oliveira and Clifton Checkers.

It was just the second four star event for both combinations, who were making their New Zealand debuts.

The field's trailblazers Scotland-based Powell and Lenamore recovered well from a refusal early on with a strong finish to pick up just 20 penalties and two time faults to give New Zealand a solid start.

Meyer and the New Zealand-bred Snip showed a clean pair of heels as they burned up the course but with a clear round in sight, struck trouble at the 27th fence of 31 with a tactical error which resulted in a refusal and a fall.

Meyer went on to finish the round but slipped down the field as a consequence.

The experienced Nicholson and Lord Killinghurst was one of many to suffer a refusal at the troublesome fifth fence but responded well to finish the rest of the course without further drama and well within the time.

"It's been a tough day and it's been a hard course for all countries," New Zealand team coach Erik Duvander said.

"It's been a fantastic day for the sport and I think everyone can probably say that with a little bit of luck we could have been up there because we were going well.

"It wasn't as if we were scrambling around."

Besides the obvious delight at Tompkins performance, Duvander was full of praise for Meyer and Powell, who but for the one fence, were right up there with the day's best rounds.

"And if Andrew (Nicholson) had hit the first couple of fences just a little bit easier the whole day could have been a different story," he said.

New Zealand are less than nine points behind fifth-placed Sweden heading into tomorrow's showjumping round and need to nail fifth or better to win automatic qualification to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

- NZPA