Australian Eventing Team Heads to Blenheim to Qualify for London Games

Australia will face competition from Japan at the Regional Qualifier held at Blenheim Three-Day Event in the United Kingdom on 8-11 September.

After a disappointing performance at the 2010 World Equestrian Games where the team did not finish, Australia is required to compete at the regional qualifying event against Japan. South Africa was intending to field a team, however they have withdrawn.

New Zealand will make up the third team from the region however they are already qualified, leaving the contest between Japan and Australia. 

Australia will field a team of five riders, with the best three score to count.

"We will be using riders who are already based in the UK," explains Prue Barrett Equestrian Australia's National Performance Director.

"We have some very experienced riders to choose from including silver medallist Lucinda Fredericks, Chris Burton, who recently finished 2nd in the FEI World Cup series and Bill Levett who recently won the CIC3* at Hartpury.

"I expect that the team will be able to achieve its goal of qualifying at Blenheim. As we all know anything can happen with horses so it is certainly not a given.  We will give the event its due respect. We would like to have the qualification out of the way and then focus on the Games."

The riders from which the team will be selected are
1.         Catherine Burrell Urzan
2.         Chris Burton Newsprint (pictured)
3.         Hamish Cargill Sandhills Tiger
4.         Lucinda Fredericks The Navigator
5.         Bill Levett One Too Many NJ
6.         Brook Staples Ever So Clever III

Recent success in events will bolster Australia's confidence.  At the British Open Championships in August, Chris Burton placed 5th Newsprint in a very strong field. Australia enjoyed a clean sweep of the final FEI World Cup event in Haras du Pin (FRA) last month. Clayton Fredericks won on Dunges Laurent Rose, Chris Burton placed 2nd  and 3rd  with Newsprint and Holstein Park Leilani respectively and Clayton Fredericks also placed 4th  on Be My Guest lll.

"This is a wonderful result for our riders in their preparation for London," commented Barrett.

Should Australia not qualify a team for the London Games at Blenheim, there is yet another option.  The top 20 FEI ranked riders (based on results from CCI3*, CIC3* and CCI4* events from March 2011 - March 2012) from countries not already qualified, will earn a place for one horse and one rider from their National Federation.
If 3 or more riders are from one nation then they can form a composite team. Currently, Australia has 9 riders in the top 20 FEI individual rankings.

For more information on the Blenheim event please see www.blenheim-horse.co.uk<http://www.blenheim-horse.co.uk/>