JAKE Hunter has collected yet another accolade, having won an award at the Global Future Stars showjumping competition in Maastrichterweg, The Netherlands, earlier this month.
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The Singleton High School alumni took out the CSIU under 25 1.40m final on Jativia, his new 11-year-old grey mare, at Tops International Arena.
He was the fastest of 11 clear rounds in a class of 30 starters, confirming his status as Australia's highest ranked U25 rider.
Currently based at Waldman Horses in Putten, The Netherlands, around an hour east of Amsterdam, it has been a truly intriguing journey for Hunter.
The former Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist and Melbourne and Sydney Royal Show Junior Showjumping champion moved to County Mayo, in western Ireland, at age 18 to ride professionally for Duffy Sport Horses. He has been based in The Netherlands for approximately a year and a half now.
Following his latest achievement, Hunter now has his eyes set on a rather significant upcoming event.
"With the new horse I got her from Danielle Goldstein, she is the owner, she jumped her up to five star level, the highest level, so it was nice for her to let me have the ride," he said.
"So now the plan is a bit towards Tokyo [Olympics Games 2021] with this horse."
There is some doubt around qualifications for the Olympics due to COVID-19, but he believes there are ways to use the interrupted schedule to his advantage.
"It's all a little bit up in the air at the moment and there's not so many competitions on, no one really knows what's happening," said Hunter.
"But we'll use the rest of the year to build up with that horse and see what happens come January."
