Charlotte Penny & Festival were the stars of the show at the NZ Three Day Eventing Champs  (NZ3DE) held 9-12th May 2024 at the National Equestrian Centre, Taupō. Kicking off their competition to produce a stunning Dressage test in the Wade Equine Coaches CCI4*-L class leaving them top of the table going into the Cross Country phase sitting on 30.1. Impressively, the combination produced two flawless performances in the Jumping phases to add no faults to their score and finish well ahead of the field on 30.1 penalties and take home the Wills Trophy. This is a stellar effort from this talented combination. They also received the Casley Trophy for the IRT Best Presented combination of the Event and the Charlton Stud best performed mare. They were also the recipients of the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned for the 4* class. Charlotte is one of the kindest and most humble athletes you’ll find within sport therefore deserving of this long list of awards!

Emily Cammock and the stunning Zealand Blue HSH, winners of the Fiber Fresh CCI2*-L class in 2023 have made leaps and bounds to finish second in the Wade Equine Coaches CCI4*-L in 2024, only adding XC time to their Dressage score. Brittany Fowler and Game Keeper finished third in the class and were the Thoroughbred in Equestrian Sport (TiES) best performed Thoroughbred in the Wade Equine Coaches 4* class. The TiES Best Performed TB is generously sponsored by NZ Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR). It was great to have the team in attendance at the NZ3DE. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for interviews of the competitors on TB’s at the NZ3DE!

 

Sticking with the youth domination theme, winners of the NRM CCI3*-L class were Mia Gilbert and Schnapps MH who added no faults in either jumping phases to finish on their dressage score and take home the Piccadilly trophy. This combination also won the best placed NZPCA award. Their 2024 Oceania team mate, Bridie Quigley and Oranoa Greyson ended up 2nd in this class with Donna Edwards-Smith and DSE Tommy Thomson in 3rd place. The winners of the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned for this class was Scout Lodder and Overnight Success. The Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned is a new initiative to the 2024 NZ3DE – a mystery, well qualified judge was appointed to select the best conditioned horse at the horse inspections based on top line, coat health, body weight and general wellbeing.

The TiES best performed TB in the NRM 3* class was 1st DSE Tommy Thomson (Donna Edwards-Smith), 2nd Overnight Success (Scout Lodder) & 3rd WS Empyrean (Rebecca Wardle).

Equilume generously provided two masks to give away to the 3* and 4* entrants. The names were put into a hat and pulled out at the Equissage Rider’s Function on Friday evening. The winner of the 4* Equilume mask was Charlotte Penny and the 3* winner was Donna Edwards-Smith.

The winner of the Fiber Fresh CCI2*-L class and Mamaku trophy was Ashleigh McKinstry with Pioneer Tenacity who also won the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned. Second place went to Kate Fleming & Lumiere VWNZ and Douglas Thomson was 3rd with Lordy.

The TiES best performed TB in the Fiber Fresh CCI2*-L was 1st: My Beau (Heelan Tompkins), 2nd: Pop It (Holly McInnes), 3rd: On the Rise (Isobel Kimble).

The winner of the Thomson trophy and Land Rover CCN1*-L class was Helen McGrath with Woodbine Glide Time. This combination won the Young Event Horse class in 2023 therefore have come a long way in 12 months to take this title. They were also the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned for the Land Rover CCN1*-L class. Second went to Brittany Fowler and Im Xtreme with Hollie Falloon and Sweet Chilli II ended up in 3rd place.

The TiES Best Performed TB in this class was 1st Typical (Jordan Smythe), 2nd Mr Johnny Cash (Neeve Buckingham) 3rd DSE Permissive (Elise Edwards-Smith).

Canter for Cancer have been long time generous sponsors of the NZ3DE, providing the winners rugs for all classes. This year they sponsored the CCN105cm-L class which was won by Anna Isaac and Anonymous who moved up the leaderboard adding no faults to their dressage score. Second went to Shannon Galloway and Cooper PSH with Dana Hawkins and Waitangi Blueprint finishing in 3rd. Lisa Kennedy and Steelfix were the Best Placed first time competitor as well as the winners of the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned for the C4C CCN105cm class.

The CCN95cm Championship class was sponsored by Penny Homes which is owned by Charlotte Penny’s parents. We are very lucky to have this family in Eventing! This class was won by Brea Walker & Tia Celeste. Second was Scout Lodder with Marty McFly, 3rd place went to Ingrid Liefting with Stelvio GNZ. Brea walker & Tia Celeste were also the lucky recipients of a grooming system prize pack, generously donated by MiEqui. This grooming system is valued at $200 and consists of all products required to create impeccable turn out! Dana Hawkins and Fitzy were the winners of the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned of this class.

The CCN95cm open class was sponsored by Oranoa Sport Horses. This is another family that Eventing is incredibly lucky to have – Janet and Graeme who are the owners of Oranoa Sport Horses, also compete in Eventing, dedicate hours of support to the Northland Organising Committee and Officiate in Eventing. This class was won by Zara McDonald and Bentley who also won the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned in the class and a grooming system from Miequi. Second was Ella Reichenbach & VPS Call Me Cash and 3rd was Chloe Cann and Windrunner.

 

The NZ3DE had a new sponsor for the 2024 Event who wished to remain anonymous. This wish will be adhered to but we would like to acknowledge the time, dedication and support this individual provides for Eventing. Their wish was for the 80cm class to be called “For the Love of The Sport – Celebrating Volunteers”. The success of every Event is solely due to the dedication, expertise and unwavering support that our Officials and Volunteers provide. The NZ3DE could not have gone ahead without the many vital people but those in particular are Jenny Draper, Rowan Armer and Sandra Marsden. These individuals provided an immense amount of time away from their lives and jobs to provide an Event that ran smoothly and with a fantastic atmosphere. Thank you also to the long list of Officials who took five days plus of annual leave to attend and officiate at the Event. The list of volunteers is long and has been provided to the riders who competed with email addresses – please reach out to these people and provide your thanks!

The winners of the CCN80 was Emma Dickons & Bizzie McGuire who also received the Miequi grooming system. Second was Rebekah Davison & Bellecara Beaumont who were also the winners of the Fiber Fresh Best Conditioned horse for the class. 3rd place went to Madison Goldsbury & Jippy Ki Yay.

Jenni Calver generously provided a grooms prize for every winning combination of these classes which was well received. Jenny also put her hand up to be the Grooms representative of the Event – an avenue for grooms to go to and ask questions.

The annual Silver Spurs Teams competition was held at the NZ3DE. This is a North vs South Island teams competition which has been contended since 1975. This year the winning Island was the North Island consisting of Mia Gilbert & Schnapps MH, Bridie Quigley & Oranoa Greyson, Charlotte Penny & Festival and Scout Lodder & Overnight Success. The South Island team consisted of Emily Cammock & Zealand Blue HSH, Suzanne Black & Colton AF, Rebecca Wardle & WS Empyrean and Bonnie Farrant & Basil B.

The Young Event Horse class was sponsored by NZ Warmblood Association. It was fantastic to have Jody Hartstone and Kieryn Walton of NZWA in attendance for the Event – Jody showed off her commentating abilities and knowledge of breeding throughout the competition which was invaluable. The class had the largest amount of entries for some years at 24 entries and the quality of young horses being produced was evident. The overall winner was Benny MSNZ ridden by Ashleigh McKinstry, 2nd was FF Laboni ridden by Sarah Milne and 3rd place was LV Labou Access ridden by Jessica Amohanga. FF Laboni was also the winner of the Best Mare and the Best 4 year old. The winners of the Best Thoroughbred was Valdez ridden by Holly McInnes.

Thank you to all of our sponsors, trade stands and grant funders who provided support for the Event. Not only did we have the class sponsors but we also had Equissage who sponsored the Riders Function, Brandright who provided the Riders Bags, Jenni Calver who provided the grooms prizes, Stihl Taupō for the use of their Polaris’ for the Event and Jenny Pearce for running control for XC on both days so impeccably.

We look forward to Eventing Canterbury hosting the 2025 NZ3DE at the Dunstan Fiber Fresh National Equestrian Centre, Christchurch.

For full results, please visit the Evo Events website here