It’s been a brilliant day for New Zealand showjumpers Bruce Goodin and Daniel Meech who finished second and fifth in a tough CSIO3* 1.60m Grand Prix on the Drammen Spring Tour in Norway.
The 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games team mates were two of nine combinations to come back for the jump-off in the 59-strong class. Daniel and his 11-year-old Swedish warmblood mare Fine were first out and had an unlucky back rail at the second fence to finish with four faults in 43.39 seconds – the fastest time of the round.
Bruce and Backatorps Danny V were second-to-last to go and knew he had to give it his all. Ahead of him there had been just two clear rounds and he wanted to put the pressure on the Norwegian rider to follow.
“Hege (C.Tidemandsen) doesn’t have a huge amount of experience at this level so I wanted to put the pressure on her,” said Bruce. “However, she did a great job in front of her home crowd today and deserved the win.”
Bruce stopped the clock at 45.39 seconds with Hege and Carvis crossing the flags at 45.09. “It was pretty close,” he said. “I am really happy. It was a great day for the Kiwis today,” he said. “Daniel was very unlucky not to win the class.”
Bruce had been disappointed with his and Danny’s round in the Nations Cup but made a gear change this morning before the Grand Prix, going for a single jointed broken Pelham bit and it made all the difference. Bruce and the11-year-old Dutch-bred gelding have only been together a year. The plan is still to sell the horse, but Bruce is excited for the youngster Copain VDB Z who he got the ride on in December.
Daniel was very happy with the efforts of both his horses this weekend. “Today was a nice top off,” he said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win – it was so close but so far – but I am really happy with Fine. She jumped great the whole weekend including a super clear in the Nations Cup and then today was the first clear of the class.”
Their rail was a “small fault” on the back rail of an oxer at the second fence. “I am really happy for Bruce too, to come back like that with Danny (after the Nations Cup class). He had a great show with his horses. New Zealand did really well to have two in the top five of the Grand Prix. It was a big Grand Prix with a lot of 1.60m verticals and a few really big oxers and tough combinations, so you really had to be on it.”
The two were team mates in the victorious New Zealand team to win the Abu Dhabi Nations Cup competition last year.
The horse details:
Backatorps Danny – owned by Backatorp Ryder AB
Copain VDB Z – owned by Lina Wiman
Fine – owned by Ann Liwing and Daniel Meech & Friends
By Diana Dobson – HP Media Liaison