UAE rider Abdullah Kharmis Ali Saheed on the Toft Endurance-trained Tora Blar-Zay won the 160-kilometre endurance race in nine hours and 15 minutes. Howard Harris from Kurrajong, NSW, was second on Harmere Turfan.

The results bode well for Australia’s endurance team in the lead-up to WEG in August.

Penny, from Marburg, Queensland, achieved her third place in nine hours, 36 minutes riding Electra BBP Murdoch, the horse her husband, Peter, has been selected on for WEG.

Of her fellow WEG team members, Brook Sample from Kenilworth, Queensland, finished fourth in nine hours, 48 minutes on Brookleigh Mozart, Meg Wade came 8^th in 10 hours, 39 minutes on China Doll and Jennifer Gilbertson was 13^th in 11 hours, 15 minutes on Ferry Master at Webb’s Creek.

Bremervale Justice, the horse Penny has been selected on for WEG, won the  heavyweight division of the Tom Quilty, ridden by her brother-in-law Warwick Toft.

“We used this as a final Australian training ride before our two WEG horses leave for Aachen,” Peter Toft said.

Penny was a member of Australia’s gold medal winning team at the world championships in 2000, its bronze medal winning team in 2002 and its silver medal winning team in 2005, making her one of Australia’s most internationally decorated riders in endurance.

The Quilty was started by bush legend R.M. Williams and his wife, Erica, in 1966. It was named after Kimberly cattle producer Tom Quilty. The objective is to ride 100 miles on one horse in one day. The race, which started at midnight on Friday, June 9, followed bush tracks through the hills around Boonah in south-east Queensland. The event had 305 starters, including riders from Ireland, the US, Namibia, the United Arab Emirates and Japan.