McIntosh shows her class for NZ

Reuters

JUMPER: New Zealand showjumper Samantha McIntosh clears a gate at the Festival of Horses event in Vienna. REUTERS

Relevant offers

Showjumper Samantha McIntosh, who has been welcomed back into the New Zealand equestrian fold after nine years competing for Bulgaria, is rapidly establishing herself as the country's top showjumper.

McIntosh finished second on Loxley 38 in the Festival of Horses competition in Vienna on Tuesday against a strong field of international riders.

A former European champion, Christian Ahlmann, of Germany, won the 1.6-metre (jumps height) grand prix event, just 0.59sec ahead of McIntosh.

Six of 49 starters went to a jump-off, with McIntosh first over a difficult course.

She finished clear. Ahlmann was fifth to start and had the luxury of knowing the time to beat.

Ahlmann and McIntosh were the only riders to finish clear in the jump-off.

Ahlmann won a Mercedes car and McIntosh received 15,000 (NZ$30,000) for second place.

McIntosh has been in excellent form.

A month ago she was the female rider of the show at the British Horse of the Year show in Birmingham.

McIntosh, 33, has been competing overseas for 10 years and took the opportunity to compete for Bulgaria when she could not break into the New Zealand team. She rode for Bulgaria at the last world championships in Germany in 2006 where she was 14th in the individual showjumping.

This year she was granted permission by the International Equestrian Federation to compete for New Zealand.

McIntosh now has a base in Germany ,which has enabled her to compete for New Zealand.

Equestrian New Zealand high performance manager Warwick Allan said yesterday the result was significant.

"Samantha's really on form at the moment, and she is definitely a candidate for the world championships in Kentucky in September next year.

"To produce another result its a great achievement so soon after the British result. It shows she is on the right path," said Allan.

"You have to pick your events and do well at them and that's one thing Samantha does well as a professional rider, and she's getting the results.

"In that particular event in Vienna she was up against some of the best in the world.

"She is definitely our leading light at the moment and hopefully she will help to put us back in front of Sparc's eyes too."

New Zealand had five jumpers at Beijing last year but McIntosh has pushed herself ahead of those riders – Daniel Meech, Bruce Goodin, Kirk Webby, Katie McVean and Sharn Wordley.

Allan said McIntosh had a share in her premier horse, Loxley 38, which enabled her to build a relationship with the horse.

"If you don't own the horse you risk the owner taking it from under you if you don't perform.

"So Samantha knows she can continue to progress with Loxley," Allan said.

She also has two other horses in Europe that she is developing into international-class jumpers.

McIntosh will return to New Zealand at Christmas before heading back to Europe to try and cement her place in the team for the world championships which is due to be selected about the end of July.

- © Fairfax NZ News