A kiss from the girls for Campbell Draper
Donna Smith’s three horses in the iSpy Horses CCI2* at the Puhinui International Horse Trials stole a lot of the limelight during this year’s event (especially the stunning little Mr Hokey Pokey – more about him coming up soon) but on the final day it was the quietly spoken farmer from Putaruru Campbell Draper who took the win.
It has been a few years since he’s had a win of this size but Campbell sealed the deal on the final day on Mr Mancini, a 10 year old Australian thoroughbred who has recently had some time off through injury.
Donna put the pressure on Campbell when she jumped an early clear on the sixth placed Quantico, who eventually finished in fourth, and followed that up with very nearly another clear round on the palomino Mr Hokey Pokey. Just as the crowd thought that Donna was home safe, the very last rail fell, leaving them in second place which Kate Wood and Wolf Whistle II, who had to have a shoe replaced before jumping, could not beat with two rails down.
Campbell had one rail in hand and he used it but he was pretty sure he’d taken the win and pumped his fist in the air as he completed the round. They had started well on Friday with second place in the dressage and added only 4.4 time penalties on cross country to move into first place and stand on top of the podium on the final day
We spoke to Campbell after his show jumping round
Campbell Draper
In the Honda New Zealand CCI2* Young Rider class Sarah Young made it back to back wins on her 12 year old thoroughbred SS Galaxy. This pair looked quietly confident as they entered the arena and they produced a fabulously stylish round to put the pressure on the leader Jackson Bovill riding Visionnaire.
Jackson and Visionnaire have been very impressive here throughout the whole competition and certainly ones to watch for the future. However it was not their day and three rails dropped them down to second place
“It was the first time I’ve really ridden under pressure and it’s going to take me a while to get used to it” said Jackson afterwards “I went in there and didn’t get the rhythm that I needed so I lost focus a bit. She’s been pretty consistent at show jumping this season but you can never do enough practise so I’ve just got to practise and practise until it is second nature and then the next time I’m under pressure, I’ll just forget about this round, focus on the now and hopefully do better” (stay tuned for our interview with Jackson coming up soon)
Sarah Young and SS Galaxy
Even Sarah would have liked to see Jackson win as they both train with Clarke Johnstone and she felt that Jackson had really done a great job this weekend. On the other hand, if someone else had to win, she was pretty happy to be the one!
Tayla Mason riding Royalty finished third and fourth on her two horses Royalty and Lucy with Diamonds
