With $75,000 in prize money on offer the Wellington Eventing Showcase in Florida this weekend will see 35 riders from USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia battling for the win.
Ryan Wood riding his own 9 year old chestnut Irish Sport Horse Woodstock Bennett, who was very consistent at 2* level in 2015, is the US based Australian representative and Joe Meyer, also US based but riding for New Zealand will be competing Clip Clop and South Paw while the New Zealand visitors Tim Price and Dan Jocelyn are making the trip from the UK to ride loan horses.
Tim is riding Novelle, a 14 year old mare that finished 35th at Kentucky 4* in 2015 and Classico Z, an 11 year old competing at 1* level.Dan is riding Win the War, a 15 year old 3* horse and the delightfully named 8 year old 2* horse Devil Munchkin.
These two Kiwis have both had plenty of experience in this type of eventing show case at European shows so certainly know how to blitz around a course like this and, as Kyle Carter says in the video below “These two have nothing to lose” while Buck Davidson seems to think that the 'European' riders may be smiled on by the dressage judges!
There is another Antipodean connection with two horses previously ridden by Australian riders in the field; Heath Ryan’s previous ride Aspire R, a horse that placed in the top 10 at many 3* events in Australia in 2015 and will be ridden here by Jennie Brannigan and Mr Sydney Rocks, a horse previously ridden by both Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks and now ridden by Allison Springer
As Kyle Carter says in the video below “These two have nothing to lose”
The competition starts with dressage on Friday February 5th with the show jumping and cross-country phases on Saturday. The event is run at the US Advanced level and the cross country course is designed by Capt Mark Phillips
You can find out more about the competitors in the video below as two of the competitors, USA rider (and probably one of the favourites for the event) Buck Davidson and Canadian Kyle Carter who are placing a friendly wager on who will come out with the best results in Wellington
