AUSTRALIAN RAIDER MEANS BUSINESS AT KIHIKIHI Megan Jones (AUS) began the 2010 HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing season in the same convincing style with which she dominated the Antipodean competitions last year, swooping on the New Zealanders’ Mitavite International Horse Trial at Kihikihi to snatch an emphatic victory. As in 2009, Jones and her Kirby Park Irish Jester led from the start. They scored a clear Dressage lead of 7.6 penalties over another former Kihikihi winner, Clarke Johnstone, on Orient Express, which gave them the luxury of being able to take a long route at fence 3 on the Cross-Country. However, this still only cost them 3.6 time penalties and they went into the final Jumping round with a two-fence lead, although this proved unnecessary, as they jumped clear, finishing 21 penalties clear of their nearest rival, Heelan Tompkins (NZL) on Major Difference. Last year, Jones was prevented from travelling to the Final in Poland due to quarantine restrictions. Now, no doubt inspired by the new format for the HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing, in which the top 15 riders in the series share the US$180,000 prize-pool, Jones, the sole Australian visitor at Kihikihi, will contest the next event, at Sydney in her home country (7-9 May), with a strong advantage over her compatriots and an exciting chance of dominating the series again.
