Tegan Fitzsimon rides Campari
Tegan Fitzsimon is no stranger to winning national titles, but this time it wasn’t her superstar Windermere Cappuccino stealing the limelight.
Instead, Tegan and Campari were the winners of the Graham McClintock New Zealand Grand Prix (part of EvoEvents Horse Grand Prix Series) at the New Zealand National Jumping and Show Hunter Championship in Christchurch.
She has twice won the Mary Dalley Trophy with Windermere Cappuccino but in those years, the class was a blended premier and horse grand prix offering due to low numbers.
The West Melton rider, who spent five months in the North Island this year as she successfully chased the FEI POLi Payments World Cup Series, enjoyed being back on home ground and competing at Nationals after a two year absence.
It was particularly nice for Campari’s owners, the Tapley family. “It’s great for them to be able to watch him go and even better for him to enjoy the limelight for a change as Vollie (Windermere Cappuccino) steals it a lot.”
Tegan started Campari as a four-year-old before handing the reins to Florence Tapley who started him in his five-year-old year. “He came back to me near the end of the season and just stayed. He really has been jumping well this season, so I was confident that if he kept that up, we should do well at Nationals.”
She enjoyed Gary Sinclair’s courses, saying he had done well considering the challenging conditions. “I did have a life in round B through the treble though!”
Tegan and Campari finished on 1.42 faults, with runner-up Makenzie Causer (Christchurch) and Copabella Camouflage on four faults and Sophie Scott (Palmerston North) with Lakota third on 4.48.
Jumping Team
February 14, 2022