Piopio eventing rider Tessa Bradcock with her horse Ceremony at the Oceania Championships in Adelaide recently. Photo: Supplied
Piopio eventing rider Tessa Bradcock has risen to third in the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) junior rankings following a stellar performance at the Oceania Championships.
Competing at her first international event and riding her nine-year-old horse Ceremony on her New Zealand debut, Bradcock placed sixth overall in the Racing SA CCI3-L competition at Adelaide’s Victoria Park in mid-April.
The performance has seen her jump up the FEI junior rankings, which are based off international-standard events, to third behind Great Britain’s Ella Howard and Germany’s Pia Sophie Schreiber.
Piopio eventing rider Tessa Bradcock on her horse Ceremony competing in the showjumping at the Oceania Championships in Adelaide recently. Photo: Supplied
The 18-year-old former Piopio College student, who was supported to get to Australia by the community, said the ranking reflected her efforts in Adelaide.
“The FEI rankings are just the privilege of a world ranking, it’s not tied to going to any event, but a ranking’s pretty cool,” Bradcock said.
“Most of the time when you’re trying to get into teams, it’s all on how you’re performing that season. Generally if you’re doing well enough to get in the team, you’re doing well enough to get a ranking,” she said.
It was a real thrill to compete at an international five-star show even as a three-star rider, Bradcock said, who first took up eventing as a six-year-old.
“It was pretty cool to go over there and be at a five-star show, as well as my first international one,” Bradcock said. “It’s the thrill of being at such a high-level event. I’d like to go back over there eventually and give that five-star a crack in a couple years,” she said.
While happy with her overall performance, there had been times leading up to the event when she thought she and Ceremony wouldn’t get to the start line.
“Preparations for the show weren’t quite as smooth as I had hoped, with our training at home not quite running to plan and with the added pressure of making sure we were ready in time for the show made for a few sleepless nights.
“I’ve learnt from situations like this in the past; that I needed to trust myself and do what feels right. For me, that was taking a step back from the high level and build back up with confidence, and then thankfully the last few rides before the horses flew over, everything felt like it was finally back on track.
“It couldn’t really have gone better. It was one of those shows – normally you come home from a show and you’re like, ‘I wish I’d done this, I wish I’d done that’ – but there’s nothing I’d really change about how it went and for the level I’m training at the moment, it all went to plan,” she said.
After sitting in 10th out of 35 riders after the dressage and cross-country disciplines, Bradcock rode a clear run in the final show-jumping discipline to move up to sixth.
“I got told I was the first clear round, but I hadn’t really paid any attention to that because I was so focussed on myself. I did all I could so I could only wait to see how everyone else went.”
Currently working on Kendayla Park in Matangi helping at the pre-training, rehabilitation and agistment equestrian facility, Bradcock said she hoped to represent her country at the Oceania Championships in NZ next year and has her eyes on a possible appearance at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
Piopio eventing rider Tessa Bradcock with her horse Ceremony at the Oceania Championships in Adelaide recently. Photo: Supplied
