SI's Second Leg of Super League
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
The second of the South Island’s two rounds of the ESNZ Eventing Super League takes place at McLeans Island, Christchurch, this weekend, with only three combinations contesting the short format Ultimate Design & Renovation CNC3*class, being run in conjunction with the South Island Three-day Event.
Former international Emily Cammock rides two of the entries, Shaw Lee and Lewis, with Kirsty Sharapoff and Shoot The Breeze, winners of the Tru-Test Amateur Rider series last year, challenging her supremacy. Sharapoff stepped up to 3* level in the spring, following her win of the CCI2* class at the NRM Three-day Event at Taupo.
She placed second behind Brent Jury and SE Hedging in the first Super League leg at McLeans Island in November. He is currently campaigning in the North Island, so she will be keen to consolidate that form, despite Cammack not contesting that first leg. It will be a case of winner takes all with so few participants.
The next leg of the Super League series is the Central Districts event at Pukemarama, near Foxton, which will be the last competition before the teams are named to contest the Oceania Championships at the Melbourne Three-day Event on June 9-12. The team horses will not contest the NRM Three-day Event at Taupo, and the Super League will conclude with the Melbourne event this year.
The only North Islander to travel south for this event is Jessica Woods from the Waikato, who is contesting the CCI2* with her new Australian horse, Just de Manzana, hoping to earn qualification for the CCI3* at Taupo. Woods had the misfortune to lose her top horse, Defies Logic, in the spring, and hopes to keep competing at elite level with the well performed Australian import.
