Equestrian: Todd puts spring in Olympic hopes

It was at Badminton in the early 1990s, his place among the eventing greats already set in stone, when Mark Todd received one of the more colourful tributes to his talent.

John Francome, one of Britain's great National Hunt jockeys, was watching Todd negotiate a treacherous cross-country course from the comfort of the media tent.

"You could put this guy on a donkey and he'd still win," Francome opined to anyone within earshot.

No one demurred, and with his fourth Badminton win yesterday aboard NZB Land Vision, Todd, at 55, achieved three things: added further lustre to his reputation as being among the great eventers, if not the greatest; became the oldest winner at Badminton; and put an extra spring in New Zealand's Olympic Games ambitions for London next year.

Todd first won the prestigious four-star event in Gloucestershire, about 20km north of Bath, in 1980 aboard Southern Comfort.

Having won back-to-back Olympic titles on Charisma in 1984 and 1988, he triumphed at Badminton again in 1994 and 1996 on Horton Point and Bertie Blunt.

An eight-year hiatus from 2000 clearly hasn't blunted his abilities.

Todd began the decisive showjumping round with a slender .2 of a point advantage over German Marina Kohncke on Calma Schelly.

Remarkably the first nine combinations after the cross-country phase on Sunday were covered by just one rail going into the showjumping.

However, all Todd needed was a clear round, and he got it, albeit after wobbling a rail at the first jump.

"We gave that first fence a little nudge and that woke both of us up," he said yesterday.

Schoncke slipped back on the final day with England's Georgina French taking second on Jakata with past winner Mary King third on Imperial Cavalier.

"It is incredibly special, right up there with the back-to-back Olympic golds," Todd said. "When I came back to the sport [in 2008] it was to see if I could get back to top level.

"My aim was to win a big one, and probably in particular Badminton, because it's a bit like a tennis player winning Wimbledon.

"To actually achieve it is quite remarkable."

Caroline Powell and Lenamore, who won the Burghley four-star event in England last year, took an impressive sixth placing after a fine clear jumping round, while six-time Olympian Andrew Nicholson was 10th and 12th aboard Avebury and Nereo respectively. That is a hugely encouraging sign for New Zealand's Olympic eventing campaign.

"We're excited in that this early in the European/United States season it gives us good signs that the programme is headed in the right direction and that we're on track to go for gold next year," Equestrian Sports New Zealand's high performance manager Warrick Allan said yesterday.

"For us, as exciting as [Todd's win] is, with Caroline and Andrew we had four [combinations] in the top 12. You look at the other countries and that puts us on the podium at London."

Four-star events are the top-rated competitions each year. There are five more to come and they are ESNZ's benchmark competitions in their Olympic planning.

Todd, Nicholson and Powell will be at Burghley from September 1-4, as will Jonathan Pagett and Clarke Johnstone, who are also in the Olympic training squad, and former world and Olympic champion Blyth Tait, who is making a one-year comeback in a bid to make London.

Todd was off to Kentucky in the early hours today for the Kentucky Open, another four-star event where he will ride NZB Grass Valley.

But he had high praise for Land Vision. "In the end it came down to horse-power, and I've obviously got a good one here," he said.

"Charisma will always be the most special horse, but this one has no weak links."

MASTER CLASS
* Mark Todd's fourth Badminton title puts him second equal with Captain Mark Phillips behind Lucinda Green's six crowns at the four-star event, and at 55 he is the oldest winner of the event.
* Todd has won two Olympic individual gold medals on Charisma in 1984-88, five titles at the other English four-star event, Burghley, and was named Rider of the 20th Century by the International Equestrian Federation
* He retired from eventing in 2000 but returned in 2008 and helped New Zealand to win the team bronze at last year's world games in Kentucky.