NZ eventers make last charge at Blenheim

Getty Images

BACK IN ACTION: Andrew Nicholson needs a performance at Pau to maintain his world No 1 ranking.

Relevant offers

Other Sports

Giro d'Italia stage called off after heavy snow New Christchurch facility allows athletes to stay Red Devils coach says players should be wary Incident-free debut for Team New Zealand Kiwi baseball prospect heads to Oregon State LA Kings seize 3-1 series lead over San Jose Victory remains top priority for Bond, Murray Equestrian team well off pace in Nations Cup Tuigamala boys stepping out of dad's shadow Team NZ on board with new safety restrictions

New Zealand's top three-day eventers are invading beautiful Blenheim Palace for the last significant three-star event of the British season, starting tonight (NZ time).

Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd spearhead a 10-strong Kiwi contingent for the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials in Oxfordshire, one of the premier three-star events in the world and the last big gig for the Kiwis on British soil this year.

Nicholson has no time to dwell on his magnificent come-from-behind victory at Burghley on Monday; he is back in action with two of his younger horses - Viscount George in the headline CCI three-star and Quimbo in the CIC three-star, which is for 8-year-old and 9-year-old horses and features a shorter course.

"Viscount George should be right up there at the end of the week, he's a good young horse," the world No 1 said. "Quimbo will have hot competition in the CIC but it's good preparation for a step up in class to the CCI."

Other members of the New Zealand Olympic bronze-medal-winning team listed to start at the palace are Todd with Conair (CCI) and Leonidas II (CIC), Caroline Powell with Thornfield Jones (CCI) and Onwards and Upwards (CIC), and Jonelle Richards on The Deputy and Mere Oak (CCI) and Wesko (CIC).

Tim Price (Ringwood Sky Boy), Dan Jocelyn (Special Advocate), Neil Spratt (Elton II), Lucy Jackson (Kilcoltrim Ambassador), Lizzie Brown (Henton Attorney General) and Juliet Wood (Bold Trader) are also entered in the CCI, while Spratt (Fernhill Quality Street) and Brown (Playtime NZPH) double up in the CIC.

The first day of dressage is tonight.

- © Fairfax NZ News