Aussie dressage team qualifies for Olympics

Australia qualified its first ever Olympic dressage team at an event in Sydney today.

Australia was battling New Zealand and Japan to gain one of two dressage spots for the August Games, where the equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong.
With a total of 196.167 at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre today, Australia beat Japan's score of 194.792 at an event in Cannes, France, last week.
New Zealand will perform for the judges in Palmerston North on Thursday.
Australia has only had one dressage team compete at an Olympics and that was in Sydney where, as the host country, the Australians were automatically given a place.
High performance manager Brett Mace said he was thrilled Australia had qualified a team for all three equestrian disciplines: dressage, show jumping and eventing.
"It's terrific. Obviously a lot of effort has gone into getting here so we are very, very pleased," he told AAP.
"It is really just the start now towards the Olympics."
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Tony Burke had talks with the Equestrian Federation of Australia (EFA) last week.
Mace said he was hopeful the minister would respond favourably to the EFA's request for $1.5 million of additional funding to help send Australia's equestrian team overseas to prepare for the Games.
The outbreak of equine influenza has hampered preparations in Australia, with today's event in Sydney the first elite competition since last August.
The EFA receives around $1.6 million for their high performance budget from the Australian Sports Commission annually.