<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><strong>The
scene is set for medal-winning performances from New Zealand's eventers at the
2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.</strong></font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Mark
Todd on NZB Grass Valley, Andrew Nicholson on Nereo, Caroline Powell on Mac
MacDonald, Clarke Johnstone (Outram/Matangi) on Orient Express and Jonathan
Paget (Muriwai) on Clifton Promise all passed today's trot-up with flying
colours and tomorrow three of the five will complete their dressage tests, and
the remainder on Friday (US time).</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">First
out for the Kiwis is Todd, who has had to give up his new-found running career
after injuring his Achilles tendon this week. He was in training for the
November New York Marathon, where he planned to do the run for CatWalk, and is
most definite the injury does not affect his riding.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">He
will be followed in the dressage on Thursday by Paget and Powell, with Johnstone
on Friday morning and Nicholson the last of the class late in the
afternoon.</font>
</p><br><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; "><img src="http://www.main-events.co.nz/pictures/crowd.jpg" align="left" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-right: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; " title="Crowd watching the trot up. Photo D Dobson." alt="Crowd watching the trot up. Photo D Dobson."></span>Paget
will ride as an individual, with the rest making up the team. Three of the four
scores count towards the team total.<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><br></span></font><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><br></span>Chef
d'equipe Erik Duvander (Auckland) had the Kiwi riders out walking the cross
country course today and has no doubt all of the 80 starters will be well and
truly tested by it.<br></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br></span>“<font face="Arial, sans-serif">It
is very much a proper world games track and exactly what we expected from
(course designer) Mike Etherington-Smith,” he says.. “It's undulating, so a real
test of fitness, but very fair – it's typical of his style.”<br></font><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><br>That
said, it's just what the Kiwis were selected on and trained for.</span></p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Duvander, who has ridden at Olympic level for Sweden
and was part of the gold medal winning team at the European Championships, says
his team is in a particularly good space.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western">“<font face="Arial, sans-serif">This
is one of the best environments to be in, and our riders are thriving. It's the
perfect place to achieve.”</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">With
that in place, it's key the riders keep their heads and stay focused.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western">“<font face="Arial, sans-serif">They
all know what they have to do.”</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Todd
will be first out of the Kiwis on Saturday for the cross country phase, and will
then stay near the start box to brief the other Kiwi riders before they go
out.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western">“<font face="Arial, sans-serif">There is not a better man in the world to do that,”
says Duvander.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Nicholson will be the last to go in the team in the
cross country.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western">“<font face="Arial, sans-serif">He's
just been doing so well all year...here's hoping that continues.”</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The
draw had been kind to New Zealand this year, which couldn't be said for some
earlier games.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Paget, riding as an individual, had developed
incredibly within the high performance environment over the past 18 months, and
Duvander said he'd have no trouble moving him up into the team if the need
arose.</font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The
World Equestrian Games, which had their opening ceremony on Saturday, are being
hosted in Lexington, Kentucky, and run through until October 10. New Zealand is
represented in showjumping and eventing as well as endurance. </font>
</p><br>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm" class="western"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">It is
the first time the games have been held outside of Europe and will attract more
than 800 riders from 58 countries. It is the largest ever World Games and is
expected to be worth around $US150 million to the economy.<br><br><img src="http://www.main-events.co.nz/pictures/eventers.jpg" style="height: 234px; margin-top: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; width: 600px; " title="The NZ Event team with all support people and officials." alt="The NZ Event team with all support people and officials."><br><br><br><em>- Diana Dobson, Media Liason</em><br><br><br></font></p>
