A Day of Sun, Showjumping, Food and Wine at The Takapoto Classic

This coming February marks the largest annual showjumping event at Takapoto Estate - The Takapoto Classic. A week of world-class showjumping, accompanied by a stellar social calendar of food, wine and music set amidst the backdrop of some of New Zealand’s most luscious scenery on Lake Karapiro, Cambridge. Remix Founder & Publisher, Tim Phin chatted with Takapoto’s Mikayla Plaw on what we can expect from the fifth annual showjumping event and why this year’s event promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

What can we expect from Takapoto this year?

So many great, fun things. We started in 2018, and I think like any new event it takes a little while to become known. Particularly as showjumping doesn’t have the reputation or following like Polo or the races say and admittedly, we tried to keep it pretty low-key until we had all of our systems in place, the facilities built and the property managed well. Have to say though, every year, it just gets bigger and better and more exciting! We’ve got really amazing social events on the calendar now, great sponsors offering unique experiences like off-road driving with Defender, wine tasting with our Takapoto Estate wines, clay bird shooting, jewellery trunk shows or you can sit back enjoy the jumping whilst enjoying a glass of GH MUMM Champagne, a cocktail made by our amazing mixologists Lemon, Lime & Butter or if you’re feeling peckish, a homemade Takapoto Angus Beef burger.

Who are your main sponsors this year?

Our main sponsors are Jaguar Land Rover with their Defender brand, APL Window Solutions, Partridge Jewellers and Dawson & Co furniture. Our champagne sponsor is GH MUMM and our gin sponsor is Malfy through our relationship with Pernod Ricard. We have the Lemon, Lime and Butter crew come down from Auckland to set up and run all of our bars for the week so you can indulge in the tastiest cocktails. We also cater for those who are more partial to a non-alcoholic beverage with delicious mocktails, and we’ve got great food trucks, a cafe and a restaurant. 

What are some of the main events people can look forward to this year?

During the week, it's free entry. You can just come along, be a spectator and enjoy it, then during the weekend general admission is $25, and all of our ticketed social events run throughout the week. 

Some highlights include a farm-to-table dining experience where all of the wine, fresh produce and meat comes from the property – we believe in regenerative and biodynamic style farming so we are as organic as we can be and pro-seasonal eating so you just get mouthfuls of tasty, wholesome goodness. We also wine-match each dish and it's prepared and served by the wonderful Kerr & Ladbrook team. 

On the Friday night we have our cocktail party with the Sweet Mix Kids spinning some tunes! This year we’ve chosen to go all out and theme it! So in the spirit of the Barbie movie this year we’ve made it a Barbie-themed dress-up party. We think this is such a great theme because you have so many different Barbie and Ken characters to choose from. 

We have a corporate teams event on the Saturday which is a great hosting opportunity for our sponsors and suspenseful viewing for all other attendees.  

Then Sunday is the pinnacle event, that’s the Grand Prix Final’s lunch for our silver and gold tours. With a $200,000 prize pool to compete for, it makes for incredibly suspenseful viewing. All of this excitement has DJs or live music to keep the vibe going. 

We know this is a family business, so how did this event come to be? Were you into showjumping when you were younger?

To be honest, other than dabbling in Pony Club as a kid, we were not a horse family. We got into this game after meeting Vaungh Jefferis and then Samantha McIntosh (Sam), two of our top NZ riders over the years, both having competed at the Olympics. We started sponsoring a couple of other top riders at the time and then purchased horses for Sam and supported her through another European campaign to track towards the Olympics again. Through this partnership, we were lucky enough to go to a number of the top shows in Europe which were held at the most beautiful venues, incredibly glamourous, top VIP experiences with some of the world's leading brands sponsoring. It made our showjumping events in paddocks in NZ look very behind the times which we were, due to a major lack of funding. It felt like such a shame because we have some seriously talented riders in NZ, but like any sport, without funding, suitable training facilities, programs and pathways, it's difficult to make it on the world stage. So the decision was made to lift the standard back home and provide great arena surfaces for horse and rider whilst also providing a unique experience for people completely removed from the sport – queue Remix readers. 

How does the breeding and training tie into everything you do?

So it’s the same concept really. Once you have the facility, you need a suitable training program, from grassroots through to High Performance, but obviously, the rider is only half the equation. You need top horses to play their part so that’s where the breeding part can come in. I love having foals in the paddock and watching them grow and develop into the sport. It’s a long game though. 

I think the best sporting example in New Zealand to compare it to is track cycling and when the  Velodrome was built in Cambridge. It wasn’t too many years later, that our track cycling teams were winning medals and a lot of them at the Olympics, Commonwealth and World Games. Having that centralised professional training centre, you draw in good coaches, the athletes, the collective passion, plan and drive. Same as what happens when you form great teams in business. It leads to success. 

Is there anything else that you would like our readers to know?

Probably just that the property (and I know I'm obviously super biased), is magical. The setting, surrounding bush, and views of the lake make it so special. It's worth visiting at least once just to lap it all up and drink yummy cocktails with friends. I’m a big fan of exploring other areas of NZ and having different experiences, so if you’re that way inclined as well, this is a good option for the weekend or a day out. 

How can our readers purchase tickets?

All of our tickets are currently on sale. You can purchase tickets through Flickit, you can also get tickets through the link in our website and on our socials.