Above: Winning Australian Young Rider Team with Chef d’equipe Todd Hinde. Photo courtesy of the Australian Equestrian Team.

The Australian team, competing in the Trans-Tasman Young Rider Challenge have emerged victorious at the Larsen Sawmilling Equestrian Championship held at Gisborne in New Zealand over the weekend. Competing on borrowed horses, the team comprising of Clemency Hughes, Hayden Parker, Charlie Richardson and Anneliese Wansey won the final day to snatch the victory by 14 points to 11, over the locals, represented by Georgia Bouzaid, Sam Carrington, Tyla Hackett and Rylee Sheehan. However, despite the three-point victory, the Australians did not have it all their own way over the three days of competition.

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Day One of the challenge, held on Friday, was taken out by the Australians. All eight riders, who only had 20 minutes to familiarise themselves with their borrowed horses and a maximum of six warm-up jumps, struggled with no combination able to achieve a clear first round. In the second round things were different with clears going to three Australian combinations (Charlie Richardson and Cheval Du Fond, Anneliese Wansey and Pilot and Hayden Parker and Aorangi Legato), while two of the New Zealanders (Tyla Hackett and Dynavyte Cancion HSH and Rylee Sheehan and Arlo) also went clear.

The three clear rounds by the Australians earnt them a bonus point and along with the points for winning on the day, saw them end up on a total of six points. For their efforts, the New Zealand team finished the day on three points

Todd Hinde, the Australian chef d’equipe expressed his delight at how the team had gone as well as giving a big thank you to the owners of the horses for making them available. “It is important for our young riders to experience a team event so when they reach the senior ranks, the team environment is the norm”, he said.

Detailed results of how each rider performed as an individual on the first day are included in the following table.

Day Two saw the horses swapping between the teams and this resulted in a reversal of fortunes with the New Zealand team winning on the day and in doing so, reducing Australian’s lead to just a single point.

The star of the day was New Zealand’s Tyla Hackett and Pilot who achieved the first double clear performance of the competition. Other clear rounds were scored by New Zealand’s Georgia Bouzaid and Double Shot as well as a pair of Australians in Anneliese Wansey and Dynavyte Cancion HSH and Charlie Richardson and Castako Xtreme.

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Details of individual performances on day two of the competition are detailed below:

The Australian team picked up three points for their efforts taking their tally to nine, while the New Zealanders advanced their score to eight from their overnight total of three. With the lead to the Australians being by the barest possible margin the scene was set for a battle royale on the final day and the eight young riders involved did not disappoint.

Day Three saw near perfect conditions for the competition to reach its conclusion as the riders battled over the John Vallance designed course. Clemency Hughes was the only rider, in combination with Dynavyte Cancion HSH, to score a clear round. Fittingly, Dynavyte Cancion HSH, owned by Jeremy Clarke took out the award as the best performed horse over the three days of competition.

Todd Hinde was very happy with the performance of his team and praised the competition, the show and the hospitality that had been shown to the team. “The Kiwis rode superbly all weekend and got us up on our toes today”, he said. He was particularly happy how Clemency Hughes had ridden so well on the final day despite the pressure on her.

Our congratulations goes to the victorious team with this being the first time since 2017 that the Australians have held the trophy and we certainly look forward to the next edition of the competition in early 2024.