Australian eventer appeals against Houghton disqualification

Australian eventer Stephen Way is appealing against a decision to disqualify him after he won the CIC*** at the Subaru Houghton Horse Trials (27-30 May).

British Eventing’s Paul Graham notified the Australian federation that Stephen’s ride Secret Picnic was not qualified for the class by email on 11 May — national federations have to approve riders’ international entries and should have notified Stephen, but instead they approved his entry.

The problem with Secret Picnic’s qualifications was noticed when horsesport’s international governing body, the FEI, received the results after Houghton.

“I accept it’s the riders responsibility to make sure qualifications are met, but other riders in the same situation were all notified,” said Stephen. “My mare is 14 and I don’t know how many more runs she’ll have in her at that level.”

Paul said: “This is a good example of how riders find the FEI qualifications difficult to understand — they could be made clearer.”

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