Many marvel at Mark Todd magic (+video)

FIONA GOODALL/Fairfax Media

IN CONTROL: New Zealand Olympic great Mark Todd rides NZB Gandalf over the water jump at the Manukau City Puhinui Three Day Horse Trials three day event. Todd leads to keep his hopes of another Olympiad alive.

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Several thousand spectators watched at the Manukau City Puhinui Three Day Event today, as the Mark Todd magic took hold.

People ran back and forth on the course, amateur photographers pushed each other aside, breaths were held as the rider of the 20th Century showed that he’d lost none of his skills to jump a clear cross-country round on NZB Gandalf and take the lead in the three star competition.

More importantly, it was another step towards qualification for selection for the upcoming Olympic Games and after a foot-perfect performance, Todd said that his grey horse would definitely take up the tentative booking to fly to Europe in mid-April to pursue the chance to compete in another Olympiad, 24 years after he won his first gold medal at Los Angeles.

The selectors may have been breathing a sigh of relief, too, with the news – as yet unofficially confirmed – that two of their named squad, Matthew Grayling and NRM Gordon and Bryce Newman and Bates Our Questionnaire are out of contention due to horse problems.

Youngsters not born when Todd won that first gold medal marvelled as the pair ate up the cross-country course – "You can see why he’s the Master" said one 20 year-old competitor who had never seen Todd ride in a major competition at home.

Closest to challenging him is Cambridge-based John Twomey on his and partner Caroline Hooper's extravagant grey Warmblood, Flaunt It, who must, in time, surely become contenders for international selection. Their round wasn't as fluid, but it was effective and while Todd picked up six time penalties for a total of 54.9 over two days, Twomey clocked up 11.2 to sit on 62.9, but it's a margin of only two show jumping fences in tomorrow's final challenge.

If Angela Lloyd felt sad at selling Gandalf to Todd, she had the consolation of a superb round in the one star, novice, class on her young horse Airtight who looks as if he might be a worthy successor.

Interim standings after cross country in the three-star: Mark Todd (Canterbury) Gandalf 1, John Twomey (Waikato) Flaunt It 2; Jonathan
Paget (Auckland), Clifton Promise 3 and Clifton Turtle 4; Petra Eatson (Auckland), Bijou 5. 

NZ Horse & Pony CCI (two-star): Anne-Marie Styles (Auckland) As You Like It 1; Kate Wood (Whangarei), Easy Tiger 2; Claire Tasker, (Auckland)
Specialty 3.