Equestrianism: Blenheim benefits from Pera

THE PROFESSIONAL Event Riders' Association, Pera, launched in June with Mark Todd as its president, will be making a contribution of nearly pounds 10,000 to next month's Blenheim International Horse Trials.

This is the latest initiative from the new organisation which last week announced that it had secured sponsorship from Husky for the World Three- Day Event Rider Rankings. It had been expected to go ahead without prize money after Land Rover withdrew its support at the end of last year.

One of Pera's objectives is to make the sport more rewarding for the riders. To that end, it provided pounds 10,000 for the prize fund at Bramham in June as well as a similar amount for Blenheim, where the first prize had been reduced to pounds 2,000 through lack of sponsorship. Pera's intervention means that it will now be raised to last year's level of pounds 4,500.

The Husky deal, worth pounds 130,000 with pounds 100,000 allocated for prize money, is Pera's greatest achievement so far. The new rankings will include a category for owners, among whom Giuseppe Veronesi from Husky is one of the leading lights. He owns Broadcast News, New Zealander Todd's winning mount in last year's European Open Three-Day Event Championships.