McVean and Delphi Sprucing Up for the Best

Mcvean and Delphi Sprucing Up for the Best

New Zealand's newest golden girl of showjumping is winging her way to Canada where she'll compete at a run of the most prestigious shows in the world.

Katie McVean (Mystery Creek) and her star mare Dunstan Delphi will compete at Spruce Meadows at the summer series shows.

The New Zealand Showjumper of the Year faced some tough decisions after their big win at the Kelt Capital Horse of the Year Show with strong offshore interest in her eight-year-old home-bred mare.

But it was with an audible sigh of relief that McVean announced that Chris and Sandy Shore (Ashburton) had bought a share in the horse enabling her to stay in New Zealand ownership and keep her own World Equestrian Games and Olympic hopes alive.

“This just makes it all possible,” says 23-year-old McVean. “Being so young, there is so much more she can do, and especially when you consider this is just her first year of grand prix.”

Together this very formidable partnership staked ownership of all the nation's majors, including the NZ World Cup series, the Olympic Cup as Showjumper of the Year, Norwood Gold Cup, the Super League Series, the leading mare crown and the rider championship series.

“It was amazing.”

But now their focus lies on some of the best in the world. Spruce Meadows, in Calgary, attracts Olympians, world champs and the stars from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond, and the summer series has prize packets to match.

Their first show will be the five star National Tournament, running June 9-13, followed by the four star Continental Tournament from June 17-20, then the four star Canada One from July 1-4 and finally the five star North American from July 7-11.

She plans to easy Delphi into the top-flight shows, starting her in the 1.5m division before edging up to the 1.6m.

“I know it will be tough – very tough – but this is the kind of test we need. I think the openness of the courses there will really suit Delphi.”

The show holds a special place for Aussie Olympian dad Jeff McVean, who never got to compete at Spruce Meadows – as much as he would have like to.

McVean snr has no doubt Delphi, who is out of his own world cup mare Flower Power, is a gold medal winning horse.

“I knew she was special from very early on,” he says.

Following Spruce Meadows, McVean and Delphi will head back to California where they will base with Kiwis Butch and Lou Thomas, the parents of Olympian Guy Thomas.

McVean recently sold one of her promising youngsters to Australia, and another to a New Zealand rider, to fund her WEG and Olympic mission.

McVean is one of a clutch of female stars and rising stars competing offshore. Samantha McIntosh, who features consistently in top grand prix, is based in Belgium with her horses Loxley 38 and Lindberg des Hayettes, and is eying selection for the New Zealand team for the World Equestrian Games in September, while the 2008-2009 New Zealand world cup series winner Anna Trent has recently headed back to the United States where she will campaign Muskateer NZPH for WEG.

Trent, who missed this year's Kelt Capital Horse of the year Show with a broken ankle, has already been picking up wins and places in shows around California, but her mission begins in earnest in the coming weeks with shows at Del Mar and Show Park, two of the Western American circuit.

Also starting at the Del Mar and Show Park events will be Olympians Maurice Beatson and Guy Thomas.

Cutting her teeth a little closer to home is teenager Bridget Hansen, who is based in Australia with top rider Billy Raymont riding New Zealand Performance Horses and also starting attract attention for all the right reasons.

ENDS

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