Crowds lined the outside of the Hyundai Arena to watch 32 combinations battle it out for the top spot in the ESNZ/Equidays Young Rider Series class earlier today. The tough track caused plenty of problems in the first round, with just four clears eventually coming back for the second round.
First out to jump off, Oliver Croucher set a cracking pace on Waitangi Surf, jumping clear in 35.50 seconds. Following him, Elmo Jackson and Next sped around to stop the clock at 34.72 seconds, but paid for a tight turn with a rail off the back of the triple bar.
Greta van den Brink’s tidy, clear round on Billy Sparky in a time of 35.78 seconds was enough to slot them into second behind Oliver as the last horse entered the ring. Coming around to the second to last fence, Maia Coster and Landenfeld were up on the clock and looked set to threaten Oliver’s first position. However, it wasn’t to be as they took the penultimate fence, but finished in the fastest time of 33.97 seconds, ending yet another thrilling class at Equidays 2017!
ESNZ/Equidays Young Rider Series - RESULTS
1 - Waitangi Surf Oliver Croucher 2 - Billy Sparky Greta van den Brink 3 - Landenfeld Maia Coster 4 - Next Elmo Jackson 5 - Brenwood Pure Blonde Briar Woolley 6 - All Expenses of Renton Nakeysha Lammers