EQUESTRIAN: Olympian Shane Rose has won the Taupo (NZL) CCI3* three day event riding CP Qualified, one of three horses he has in contention for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The win marks a career best performance for Qualified and Rose is hoping it’s a sign of things to come.
“He’s done a personal best this weekend in all three phases so hopefully it’s a continuing trend,” said Rose.
“He’s become fitter, stronger and faster with every three day event he’s completed. As he gets fitter and stronger he gets better on the flat. This is improving his jumping and he's getting stronger off the ground.
“Hopefully we’ve got a great horse for Rio.”
Rose set the pace from the outset in the Taupo CCI3*, scoring a competitive 35 penalties in Friday’s dressage and adding just 1.6 time penalties to his score on cross country.
He had a 2.8 penalty advantage (less than one show jumping rail) leading into the show jumping, but when nearest rival Clarke Johnstone (riding Balmoral Sensation) jumped a clear round, Rose had to produce a faultless performance to secure victory.
Qualified has never had a clear round at this level but Rose didn’t doubt their ability and the pair rode a confident clear round to win the title with a final score of 36.6.
“All weekend he has been awesome,” Rose said.
With the Rio Olympic Games less than 450 days away, Rose is busy preparing his team of horses for key selection events.
“I’ve got a horse call Virgil and he’ll compete at Melbourne (three day event) and he is a solid horse.
“I also have a horse called Shanghai Joe who won at Melbourne last year. He’s a super horse, just a bit younger than the other two.
“Qualified will now have a couple of months break and then we will get him fit and ready for Adelaide (three day event) and hopefully he can produce a similar result there.
Rose was in New Zealand competing in the Oceania Eventing Challenge as part of a four member Australian team consisting of Katja Weimann (BP Cosmopolitan), Jessica Manson (Legal Star) and Isabel English (Feldale Mouse). The Aussies securing the win with three team members finishing in the top eight.
EQUESTRIAN AUSTRALIA
