(L-R) Donna Smith, Virginia (Ginny) Thompson and Sam Felton at the Puhinui CCI3* press conference
Today Ginny Thompson added her name to an illustrious list of Kiwi riders to win the CCI3* class of the Puhinui International Horse Trials twice in a row.
Legends of the sport such as Tinks Pottinger, who was attending the event today, and Vaughn Jefferis are among the few to manage the feat but it has not been done in a while. Ginny and the 12 year old New Zealand warmblood mare Star Nouveau (below) are the first combination to win two years in a row since Vaughn Jefferis and Bounce won the event twice in 1999 and 2000.
25 year old Ginny moved up from ninth place after a ‘slightly disappointing’ dressage into the lead of the Honda NZ CCI3* thanks to a stunning double clear run on cross country in difficult conditions. Just four faults in the show jumping then secured the win.
Ginny Thompson
A hug from Granny
If the performance of her predecessors is any indication of things to come for Ginny, then she has a very good career in store but her plans to compete in Australia in 2017 and possibly further afield after that may mean that the new car presented to her by Honda New Zealand today may need to be shipped overseas
Ginny is a Honda New Zealand Ambassador and the event at Puhinui is sponsored by the company so naturally their representatives were present at the presentation.
When Ginny was announced as the double winner, Honda New Zealand’s Marketing Director Nadine Bell made a snap decision to present Ginny with a new car to drive. Needless to say that Ginny was not only surprised but delighted when the car was driven into the arena after the traditional Puhinui champagne podium and victory lap through the water jump
Ginny was joined in the celebrations by her good friend Sam Felton riding Ricker Ridge Escada (below) who also incurred four faults for second place, giving Ginny a little extra breathing space
“Ginny has been jumping very well of late and she had prepared her horse really well for this event so I knew I would have to jump really well to beat her and what would be would be. But Ginny jumped a great round and she deserved the win” said Sam
Donna Edwards-Smith’s DSE Mr Hokey Pokey (above) had two rails down but Donna was still very happy with the golden boy who finished in third place at his first CCI3*
“He jumped his heart out but he was just jumping so big that he came down a little early on the oxer” said Donna “But I couldn’t be happier with him. He just jumped so big today!”
