Silver Fern Stakes
At her first outing with the lovely grey mare LT Holst Aunty Annette, Helen McNaught McFarlane has won the Silver Fern Stakes!
The opening round saw only two clears: Clarke Johnstone and Quainton Labyrinth and Helen on her current Horse of the Year, Carnutelabryere. She also jumped clear on LT Holst Aunty Annette but had one time fault.
The second round changed the scoreboard completely, however, when all those with eight faults or less came back to jump. Esteban MVNZ with Katie McVean and Quango with Mathew Dickey were both on four from the first and made amends in the second, both jumping clear.
Helen notched up another clear on LT Holst Aunty Annette, and it was then Clarke’s turn, but he had an unlucky rail. Helen was therefore in the position of having the class wrapped up with one horse or the other, and when Brian had the second of his rails, she elected to retire him, saving him for his defence of the Olympic Cup.
She was delighted with her new ride. “I’ve had her three weeks and this is our first show. I have been a catch rider for years so am well used to being able to get on a horse without much preparation.” The pair certainly looked very comfortable together. The horse had been bought by the Aarts family for Brayden to ride, but a change of plans saw her come to Helen for some schooling. “She wasn’t quite ready for him. She’s a lovely mare. I love a good mare, they try hard, they work hard.”
Helen confirmed that the mare would start on Sunday in the Olympic cup. “This class was a warm-up and to see what she would do today.”
Sadly, Katie Laurie confirmed that Casebrook Lomond won’t contest the cup on Sunday; he definitely wasn’t himself today and it has been confirmed he has picked up a virus.
Young Rider of the Year
Drew Carson from Putaruru put a bad year behind her and won the Young Rider of the Year on Winston V Driene. “It’s absolutely amazing after the stuff that we have been through. He’s the most accident-prone horse. He’s had health issues and almost didn’t make it when he got a terrible virus. He fell over in the paddock and got a haematoma, and he’s got dust allergies. Then I got knocked out in October, so, between the two of us, we have had a bit of time off!”
Drew, who has just started her science degree with a double major in biotechnology and sport and human physiology at Waikato University, will also be competing in the Junior Rider, this time on her other horse, Double Shott.
Drew and Lily Tootill on Ulysses NZPH had gone head to head in the the class, being the only two to go clear in the two previous rounds, and looking a class above the rest of the field in the wet conditions. Lily was the first to come back for the jump-off and was going for a safe clear round but unfortunately had one down towards the end of the course. Drew took the same approach to start with, but a rail came down early on so she picked up the pace and, with a faster time than Lily, took the title.
RESULTS
Silver Fern Stakes
| 1 | LT Holst Aunty Annette | Helen McNaught |
| 2 | Esteban MVNZ | Katie Laurie |
| 3 | Quango | Mathew Dickey |
| 4 | Quainton Labyrinth | Clarke Johnstone |
| 5 | Dunstan Casebrooke Lomond | Katie Laurie |
Young Rider of the Year
| 1 | Winston V Driene | Drew Carson |
| 2 | Ulysses NZPH | Lily Tootill |
| 3 | Fiber Fresh Veroana | Briar Burnett-Grant |
| 4 | Next | Elmo Jackson |
| 5 | Double J Bouncer | Harry Feast |
Rising Star Riders 12yrs & under on Ponies 1m
| 1 | Apache One In A Million | Olivia Newsom |
| 2 | Galaxy Masterpiece | Phoebe Burns |
| 3 | Ellangowan Spy | Liv Teixeira |
| 4 | Nora | Anna Nalder |
| 5 | Meersbrooke Hot Ice | Lexi Rutherford |
Harney & Sons Five Year Old A5
| 1 | Double J Beyonce | Logan Massie |
| 2 | Delicious HM | Emily Hayward-Morgan |
| 3 | Charlie NZPH | Daniel Blundell |
| 4 | Showtym Burrow | Amanda Wilson |
| 5 | Commander NZPH | Helen Kippen |
Top Ten in the Pony Club Team Round 1 (sorry we haven’t been able to find the team results)
| Ellen Vanin Untouchable (Canterbury) | Holly Crean | 1 |
| Icebreaker II (Canterbury) | Tayler Nalder | 2 |
| BMW Finale (Northland area Pony Club) | Sharon Klijn | 3 |
| Onetai Cover Girl (Taranaki Area Pony Club) | Emma Mahony | 4 |
| Showtym Mochachino (Waikato Area Pony Club Team) | Rebecca Loyd | 5 |
| Brenwood Pure Blonde (WRAPC Show Jumpers) | Briar Woolley | 6 |
| Sinbad The Sailor (Northland area Pony Club) | Yazmin Todd | 7 |
| No Faux Pas (Auckland Area Pony Club) | Caira Manson | 8 |
| Too Much Pizzazz (WRAPC Show Jumpers) | Keeva McCambridge | 9 |
| Cha Ching (Franklin Thames Valley) | Sasha Kyd | 10 |
