KEY POINTS:
Mark Todd faces the most important hurdle in his quest for an Olympic return when he competes in the Puhinui Horse Trials at Manukau City starting today.
The eventing legend stunned the sport seven weeks ago when announcing his return and a desire to qualify for the Beijing Games.
He has since produced some encouraging form on mount Gandalf in relatively minor shows but faces his litmus test in the international-class three-star event which finishes on Sunday.
While victory would be a major boost, the 51-year-old's main target will be attaining Olympic qualifying standards, said Eventing New Zealand high performance director Blyth Tait.
"Mark's going into Puhinui with an eye very much on gaining his first step in the qualification and not necessarily winning.
"If it all goes well I think he's in with a chance but I think he'll probably need to play a bit safe. He doesn't want to run the risk of making a silly mistake that's going to prevent him going on to the next stage."
That next step is Europe, where double Olympic champion Todd might still head if he fails at Puhinui but would need to seek out another event to cram into a packed schedule.
Qualifying entails a score of at least 50 per cent in today's dressage, no more than 20 penalty points in tomorrow's cross-country and no more than 20 penalties in Sunday's showjumping.
Gandalf achieved all three criteria easily last year when finishing second at Puhinui, ridden by former owner Angela Lloyd.
The cross-country holds the most pitfalls. One refusal is worth 20 penalty points on its own and any fall would see Todd fail qualification.
"It's not hard ... [but] ... horses are horses and it only needs to pour with rain on the day and the horse will slip with take-off over a fence."
- NZPA
