Wellington hosts its first eventing competition

The Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) has hosted Wellington’s first-ever eventing competition (31 January), with Captain Mark Phillips building the cross-country course.

Future of the sport

WEF is the longest running equestrian competition, with 12 weeks of showjumping and dressage, but this is the first time eventers have taken part.

Captain Mark Phillips was tasked with job of designing a cross-country course from scratch, which included a water complex,within the confines of the showground’s derby field.

“A lot of the infrastructure was already here,” he said. “We tried to put together a 3* test that was appropriate for the time of year and the fitness of the horses.

“When we talk about the future of the sport in this sense, I think we will see a lot more of these types of events as build-ups to Rolex and other large international competitions.”

Well-designed course

USA’s Boyd Martin was the inaugural winner of the $50,000 Wellington Eventing Showcase riding Trading Aces. The pair led the competition from the start, finishing on their dressage score of 24.80pen.

“For me, at this time in the year, my horses are not that fit yet, so it was perfect,” Boyd said. “It was right around the three-and-a-half, four-minute mark, and it was a well-designed course with a few galloping questions and then double corners to test for accuracy. It was spot on for this time in the year.”

Michael Pollard (USA) and Cyrano Z were second place on 25.7pen, while Laine Ashker (USA) and Anthony Patch came third with 29.1pen.