Another medal would be great but MJ Tumbridge's sights are well beyond next month's Pan-American Championships in the USA.

So, even with people's high expectations of her, the Island's equestrienne is content to sacrifice short-term sweets in favour of long-term triumphs.

"Any of the three medals would make me really happy but if I was in the top five that would be good and would give me enough points, I believe, to get me into Athens," said the eventer, revealing the prize she is really eyeing.

Next summer's Olympics in the Greek capital is where she truly wishes to be on top of the world and her priority now is to ensure she gets there. Therefore, her keeness to excel in the Pan-Am competition in Maryland will be tempered by some sobering factors, including the reality that the horse she is likely to be riding is still young and learning.

"I would love to do it for Bermuda again but I know what I am riding and I'll always think of the horse first. You can over-run a horse and you might get one thing and not get to where you want to go.

"The main thing is Athens. It's a building block so if I don't win a medal, as long as I feel like I am getting closer to Athens, I think we'll all be pleased," said Tumbridge who boasts a gold medal from the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1999.

Now rebuilding after the loss of Bermuda's Gold - the horse which took her to glory four years ago - she is slowly but surely making steps towards another profitable partnership which will be seriously tested for the first time at the Pan-Am meet.

"I think my preparation has been good so far. This year has pretty much gone to plan. I think Ginger May Killinghurst is the one I'm leading towards taking because she's an eight-year-old but I have done everything with her since she was four and we've got a good relationship.

"Lily the Pink I only got last year and there needs to be some improvement on her dressage and the other ones are still a little bit greener so it's all sort of pointing towards Ginger May.

"I think with these type of things - in a medal situation and you're representing your country in an Olympic qualifier - you've got to take the one that's on the best form."

Also in Ginger May's favour was that she placed second in the prestigious Intermediate Championships in England.

"That's a big competition and this horse was second. That's quite impressive and she's gotten a lot of publicity and I have. My last competition just before I came here she was fourth out of 65 horses.

"It keeps pointing to her and as long as it keeps going like that she will be the one that's going."

Still, Ginger May is a far cry from Bermuda's Gold who was a 13-year-old and was "over-qualified"

when Tumbridge conquered all in 1999.

"Even though I still think my chances are good - because this horse is very clever and is doing well among horses that are 13 years old - I will be up against some more experienced horses.

"David O'Connor, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, will be there. It's going to be hot competition but I can be just as hot. We'll go in there going for it," said Tumbridge cautiously optimistic.

"I know that in my dressage I've got to be in the top five. I'm on what I'd say was 'dressage boot camp'. I'm getting a lot of dressage training, spending a lot of money on it because I have inexperienced horses.

"It isn't that Ginger May hasn't got the ability it's just that she hasn't got to that stage yet. We're going at it, really concentrating on it, and she's come on leaps and bounds. I think by the time I go she'll be really doing it well."

The September 24 to 28 Pan-Am Championships take place at Fair Hill, a venue with which the Bermudian is familiar having spent some time in the USA.

"I know the layout. It's hilly and you must have a fit horse and I know what the ground will be like so I have an idea and that helps. But I will have time to walk the course and get it in my mind."

In the coming weeks, the 39-year-old will spend time around her base in Surrey, England, sharpening up until she and Ginger May travel to the USA.

"I feel I have done a lot with her this year already. Her cross-country is good. Her show-jumping is good and in the dressage she is very relaxed in the atmosphere most of the time.

"Now she just needs a couple events to just touch base, a lot of training and maybe some show-jumping to improve on different things."

As Tumbridge continues striving to bring more honour to her country she is somewhat disillusioned by the apparent lack of support for her discipline.

"There's so much money in Bermuda but, for some reason, equestrianism doesn't get anybody's attention and it's so unfair because we've done a lot of good for Bermuda," pointed out Tumbridge, citing colleagues such as Jill Terceira and Patrick Nesbitt making strides in the sport.

"Everybody has the same moan and groan. When I won the gold medal I thought it would help change that not just for myself but for equestrians in general and I don't think it has.

"It's very disappointing. We're trying real hard to do it but if we don't get the financial help then how will do it?"

Hailing the contribution of her lone sponsors, Black Seal, she acknowledged that because people see her going about her ambitions some may wrongly assume she has "enough money".

This, she said, is far from accurate.

"It isn't so. It's that you do without a lot. I live on a farm where I don't pay rent. I work. I do lots of things so I don't have to pay and that's how I survive."