Equestrian: Todd picks Olympic mounts

Eventer Mark Todd has chosen his two horses for next month's Sydney Olympics, opting for Diamond Hall Red and Eyespy II.

Todd had put a third horse, Just A Mission, in quarantine but told team selectors he would take his original choices to Sydney.

Todd, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic three-day event champion, will now take Just A Mission to next week's Burghley horse trials, which he has won a record five times.

Both Todd's Olympics horses are for sale as he prepares to retire to New Zealand after Sydney.

Six New Zealand horses, including Todd's, left their England quarantine base yesterday for Australia, where they will join Blyth Tait's horse Ready Teddy, which has already arrived.

Tait's second Olympic entry, Welton Envoy, Paul O'Brien's horse Enzed, and Dawdle and New York for Andrew Nicholson will make the journey with Todd's horses.

Ready Teddy, the 1996 individual gold medal winner with Tait, was flown from Frankfurt in Germany earlier this week with Bruce Goodin's showjumping entry Lenaro. Although another Tait horse, Aspyring, was flown to Sydney, the horse is not expected to be considered for the Games.

- NZPA

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