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HONG KONG - The feel-good factor of Mark Todd's return to Olympic level equestrian has been tempered by New Zealand's inability to challenge for a team or individual eventing medal.
While Germany celebrated collective and individual success at Sha Tin last night, New Zealand's team management were instigating an inquest into a second consecutive Olympic campaign that failed to deliver.
New Zealand finished fifth, as they did in Athens, but this time a rider could not replicate the top 10 Heelan Tompkins achieved four years ago.
Caroline Powell and Lenamore were the best placed in 14th while the Todd was a drama-free 18th, an outcome that has encouraged him to continue what is a new competitive lease on life.
Joe Meyer, the leading New Zealander after the dressage and cross country, was a surprising flop with Snip in the showjumping -- their 25 penalties erasing any chance of New Zealand unseating Sweden for fourth.
New Zealand arrived in Hong Kong confident they had the best prepared horses for the conditions and, although only the luckless Andrew Nicholson fell by the wayside when Lord Killinghurst dismounted him during the cross country, a lack of collateral damage was scant consolation.
Team eventing coach Erik Duvander said a comprehensive review of New Zealand's programme was inevitable.
He raised concerns about how Meyer's Snip appeared to have "run out of legs" when attempting a showjumping circuit he would usually handle with aplomb.
"He was not the same horse we usually deal with, it's a careful, good jumper," Duvander said.
"We'll just have to rethink and look at what we can do for next time around and keep it fresher for the last day."
Although New Zealand improved on their sixth placing at the last World Equestrian Games in Germany two years ago, Duvander's first reaction was that this squad should have performed better.
"I like to be positive and I'll say it's been a step in the right direction.
"But we have to look at how we're going to create better possibilities with our riders and how we're going to work with them in the future.
"It's time for assessment, we need to do better than this."
While Nicholson's elimination was attributed to bad luck, Duvander admitted they had taken a risk on Tompkins' relatively new mount Sugoi.
"He was a little bit of a punt. Heelan has proved in the past she is a good rider and a good competitor but (Sugoi) is a young horse. Maybe we needed more experienced horses."
Tompkins finished 50th while Meyer was 24th, a disappointing outcome for the England-based Olympic debutant.
"Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll look back and think it was a good experience but right now I'm disappointed," he said.
"It's not as if I'm struggling on an inexperienced horse. This is a good horse with good results. He's very capable at this level."
Meyer was optimistic about the future and although Snip would feature, he reckoned: "I've got the best team of young horses I've ever had coming on.
"Snip will still go to big competitions but my new horses are something else," he said, nominating Clifton Lush and Sanskrit as future stars.
Meanwhile, an enduring legend is also planning long-term after embracing his return to Olympic competition after an eight-year hiatus.
Todd's comeback appears permanent, with the double Olympic champion eyeing a seventh Games at London in 2012.
Enthused by Gandalf's performance in his first exposure to four-star eventing, Todd said he was keen to take the 10-year-old grey gelding to the World Equestrian Games in the United States in 2010 and then on to the English capital.
"There's not many horses that could have done what he's done in such a short time. He's come along way from relatively small time in New Zealand," he said.
"He had competed at three-star star level but this is a whole different ball game.
"All the travelling and everything else he's done, he's been quite remarkable the way he's come through it.
"He's got a lot of improvement in him. Most of the horses that are getting the good marks in the dressage, they're all sort of 13, 14 or 15 years old. He's only sort of begun."
And how about his own 52-year-old body?
"For me physically, it's fine. I'm fit and I keep fit. I feel no different to when I was riding fulltime."
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