National show jumping champion Shaun Neill demonstrated his love of animals recently when he nominated the Vereeniging SPCA as the beneficiary of a cash donation made in his name by Harcourts Real Estate as part of his winnings at the 2014 SA Championships held in Durban recently.
Neill, who took the honours on Clyde Z, received a cheque of R20 000 as a donation to his favourite charity from Harcourts CEO Richard Gray. The property group not only sponsored the five-day event, which is a highlight of the local equestrian calendar, but this year also decided to introduce the "Riding for a Cause" initiative in which the top riders were all asked to nominate a charity that would benefit if they won..
Those who missed the live action will be able to see all the highlights of the SA Championships on the SuperSport 8 channel from 18:00 on September 9.
Meanwhile, Gray has expressed the hope that Riding for a Cause will be adopted at other events on the equestrian calendar and will also become a regular part of the national championships. "Certainly the concept of possibly being able to donate a substantial sum to a favourite charity was warmly received by all the riders in this year's championship event," he said.
The real estate company also came up trumps at the Women's Day Harcourts knock-out pairs class, a fun event in which riders paired off on two identical tracks and raced over the jumps to the finish in a winner-takes-all challenge. Ryan Sander and Bronwyn Meredith Short squared up in the final after eliminating 14 other riders who started the event. In a tight race, Bronwyn knocked down a pole in the final stretch, conceding honours to Ryan who received the prize money of R10 000.
However, owner Murray Aberdein of Harcourts Suburban Spaces promptly put up an additional R5000 as runner-up prize for Bronwyn in honour of Women's Day.
