Wigley to hold on to her Drum

North Canterbury eventer Annabel Wigley has scrubbed plans to sell her gelding, Black Drum, and is instead focusing on the World Equestrian Games in 2010.

After finishing a creditable seventh in the Burghley Horse Trials in England in early September, Wigley determined the horse was too good to put on the market and instead will team-up with him at the prestigious four-star Badminton event in May.

"I looked at selling him because of all the expenses involved (in the sport) and then I would have looked at some other horses. But then I decided to keep him because he did so well at Burghley."

Having missed selection for the Beijing Olympics, Wigley is now focusing on the world championships in Kentucky in 2010 and, possibly, the London Olympics.

Whether Black Drum, which will be 17 in 2012, can maintain its fitness and form is a moot point, something Wigley acknowledged.

"It is a possibility. He could do it if he is still going like he is at the moment. There were some horses at this year's Olympics in Hong Kong that were 18.

"He could get there. He's looking OK at the moment, but I would like to find a back-up."

Wigley said she was in a glum mood after being overlooked for Beijing.

"I was very disappointed to miss out on the Olympics; it was something I had worked towards for a long time and it makes me want to make sure I can get there next time."

Based in the Manawatu, she would not be competing at Puhinui, one of New Zealand's premier three-day events, this weekend. Wigley and Black Drum won at Puhinui in 2004 after a dramatic final round in the showjumping.

But with the horse left in England because the trip Down Under is tough on horses and expensive, she is targeting the Richfields International Horse Trial which will be held near Auckland on December 12-14.

She will return to England in February.

- © Fairfax NZ News