New Zealanders topple Australians in Trans-Tasman Challenge
The New Zealand team has won the Trans-Tasman Young Rider Challenge held over the past three days as part of the Waratah Showjumping World Cup Show at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre. The New Zealand team of Johanna Wylaars, who took part in this event last year, Molly Moffit, Olivia Newson and Emma Gillies fought back from a loss on Thursday to win the next two days of competition and take the series.
Advertisement
Chef for the New Zealand team, Oliver Edgecombe, would have been delighted by the way his young charges rose to the challenge, however, the Australian team of Jack Barker, Sophie Scarce, Elissa Stephens and Zara Young lead by Chef Coco Miles, did us proud by the way they competed strongly throughout the course of the competition. Read on for a full wrap of how the competition unfolded.
DAY 1
The competition, generously sponsored by King Ranch, The Doolan Family and Equestrian Australia opened on Thursday evening with a win for the Australians. With Nations Cup style drop score rules applying, Australia was able to discard the lowest scores in both rounds to finish on a team total of 20 penalties.
The New Zealanders were able to discard Johanna Wylaars’ score in Round 1 and Olivia Newson’s in Round 2 to finish on a total of 28 penalties. By taking the win, Australia scored 5 points towards their series total and New Zealand just 3 points. Details of the Day 1 penalties are as follows:
AUSTRALIA
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Elissa Stephens | Croissant | 0 | 8 |
| Sophie Scarce | Burnside | 20 | 20 |
| Zara Young | Da Vince | 8 | 4 |
| Jack Barker | Aveden Indigo | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 8 | 12 |
NEW ZEALAND
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Molly Moffit | Nicholas B | 0 | 4 |
| Emma Gillies | Rosthwaite Pennelope | 0 | 8 |
| Olivia Newson | Emcee Icarus | 8 | 12 |
| Johanna Wylaars | Tulara Carrelgo | 18 | 8 |
| TOTALS | 8 | 20 |
DAY 2
Coming into Day 2, Australia was looking to consolidate or extend their lead, while the New Zealanders were desperate to bridge the gap.
The teams swapped horses and it was up to each team Chef to sort out which of the four horses allocated to the team would be paired with each rider.
Advertisement
The New Zealanders had a great competition on Day 2 and after penalties of 4 and 12 were dropped, their team total for the night came to 12, while the Australians totalled 16.
Penalties for Day 2 are as follows:
NEW ZEALAND
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Johanna Wylaars | Croissant | 4 | 4 |
| Olivia Newson | Burnside | 4 | 12 |
| Emma Gillies | Da Vince | 4 | 0 |
| Molly Moffit | Aveden Indigo | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 8 | 4 |
AUSTRALIA
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Sophie Scarce | Nicholas B | 0 | 0 |
| Zara Young | Tulara Carrelgo | 0 | 8 |
| Jack Barker | Rosthwaite Pennelope | 4 | 12 |
| Elissa Stephens | Emcee Icarus | 0 | 8 |
| TOTALS | 0 | 16 |
Under the rules of the competition, New Zealand was awarded 5 points for first and Australia 3 points for their second placing, however, there were bonus points on offer as well. Each time a team achieved three or more clear rounds within a round, a bonus point was awarded. Australia managed this in the first round on Day 2 and picked up a very valuable bonus point, which kept them in the lead going into the final day of competition.
Advertisement
The overall competition scores after the first two days for competition were as follows:
| TEAM | Day 1 Points | Day 2 Points | Bonus Points | TOTAL |
| Australia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
FINAL
The Australians got off to a strong start and were leading with 4 Penalties compared to New Zealand’s 10 after all combinations had ridden once. The New Zealanders finished strongly however and during their second rides, they managed to put together a trio of clears, ensuring that they did not add any penalties and also picked up a bonus point, while the Australians had to count one of their 8 penalty rounds to take their total to 12.
The penalties on the final day looked like this:
NEW ZEALAND
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Johanna Wylaars | Emcee Icarus | 8 | 0 |
| Molly Moffit | Tulara Carrelgo | 6 | 0 |
| Olivia Newson | Croissant | 4 | 4 |
| Emma Gillies | Aveden Indigo | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 10 | 0 |
AUSTRALIA
| RIDER | HORSE | R1 Penalties | R2 Penalties |
| Jack Barker | Nicholas B | 0 | 0 |
| Sophie Scarce | Da Vince | 0 | 0 |
| Elissa Stephens | Rosthwaite Pennelope | 4 | 8 |
| Zara Young | Burnside | 16 | 8 |
| TOTALS | 4 | 8 |
Above: Sophie Scarce and Da Vince.
With the New Zealanders taking a 10 penalty to 12 penalty win, they were allocated 5 points to Australia’s 3. With the bonus point for New Zealand, the final pointscore looked like this:
| TEAM | Points coming into Final | Final Day Points | Final Day Bonus Points | TOTAL |
| New Zealand | 8 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
| Australia | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
Congratulations to the New Zealand Team and their Chef Oliver Edgecombe. They rode consistently well over the three nights of competition and to take the well deserved win.
As it was last year, it was a great initiative by Edwena Mitchell to get this competition up and running once again. It was well received by all the participants and spectators alike and we hope that this challenge continues as part of the Waratah World Cup Show program.
