KEY POINTS:
A relieved Mark Todd described it as "mission accomplished" yesterday after winning the Puhinui three-day event and maintaining his hopes of a return to the Olympics following an eight-year retirement.
The two-time Olympic equestrian gold medallist, riding Gandalf, needed to have fewer than 20 penalty points in the showjumping phase of the horse trials in South Auckland to pass the first stage of qualification for selection for the Beijing Games in August.
Despite a performance Todd described as one of the worst of his career, the combination achieved that with plenty to spare, knocking down just one rail for an addition of four points.
"It was one of the worst rounds that I've had," he said. "I don't know what went wrong out there. He had only one down which was great and he saved me a bit. Anyway, we've done what we came here to do.
"We've got a qualifying round and he's won the competition in the process. It's brilliant."
Todd said the less than stellar display in the showjumping ring could be attributed to Gandalf's loss of a shoe during the cross-country on Saturday.
As a result, the 10-year-old gelding was a little sore in one front foot yesterday morning.
But Todd added: "I didn't give him a great ride either."
Todd, finishing with a total of 58.9 points, took first place by six points from John Twomey and Flaunt It. Third, 7.2 points further back, were Jonathan Paget and Clifton Promise.
Todd had gone into the final day with an eight-point lead over Twomey, who went clear in the showjumping but collected two time penalties.
That meant Todd, making his first appearance in the three-star event at Puhinui, could afford two rails down and still win first prize.
Todd and Gandalf now head to Europe, where they will try for their second qualifying performance at a high level three-day event, with the likely option being Saumur in France in May.
Todd, 51, won a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and in Seoul in 1988, both times on Charisma. He retired after competing in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but in January announced he was returning to competition.
He said Puhinui had been "a really strange weekend" for him because of the pressure he had put himself under with the limited time left to qualify for Beijing.
In previous Olympics, he had got the issue of qualification out of the way much earlier.
"But this time around, I'm under pressure to qualify," he said. "I've not got many chances and it's a bit of a pressure cooker thing. The pressure was on this weekend and it's just a huge relief to get it out of the way."
Todd has now ridden Gandalf three times in competition, the first occasion being three weeks ago, and he was pleased with the progress the two of them had made.
"It's just I need to get into the ring a few more times and get a bit more practice. Now that the pressure of this qualification is out of the way, we are going to have a bit more time to work on those sorts of things."
- NZPA
