The Sweet Sixteen headline: NUMBER 1 GOES DOWN! Northern Iowa (who?) took out number 1 Kansas, just as (4) RINGWOOD COCKATOO rose above (1) TOYTOWN. On the other side of the bracket, (1) BIKO walked over (4) PRINCE PANACHE into the Elite Eight.
COMMENT OF THE DAY:
Despite Cockatoo’s resounding victory, Toytown still had his (anonymous) fans.
Hard one between Ringwood Cockatoo and Toytown but Toytown was the most generous horse I have ever seen go xc. Look at his WEG round how much he dragged his rider out of serious trouble when other horses said no. RC was not so generous and I have seen some cracking refusals by him (Euros)and Bettina always went slowly xc to try and not make a silly mistakes because it did not take much for him to throw the towel in. Luckily Bettina always had an amazing dressage to cushion it all a bit.
TODAY’S MATCHUPS:
The (1) vs (4) continues with the Davidson Region and the Aussie/Kiwi Region. Will WINSOME ADANTE walk to the finals? Will BOUNCE be bounced by READY TEDDY? Your vote decides!
DAVIDSON REGION
1. WINSOME ADANTE
If Biko was the American horse of the 90’s, Dan is certainly the horse of the 00’s. Partnered with Kim Severson, he kicked off his domination with a win at Blenheim CCI***, then went on to win Rolex CCI**** a remarkable three times (’02, ’04, and ’05). Winsome Adante was a member of the Gold Medal team at the 2002 WEG (6th individually), and won Individual Silver/Team Bronze at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Once again he represented the U.S. in the 2006 WEG, and closed out his career with a third place finish at Badminton CCI**** in 2007.
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4. POGGIO (II)
Like something out of a Disney movie, Pogi worked in the mines as a trail horse in the Cascade Mountains before he was rescued discovered by a friend of Amy Tryon. The bay Throroughbred was notoriously difficult to ride, but he and Amy managed to form a partnership that took them to two Olympics (2004 and 2008) and two WEG teams (2002, 2006). There, they earned a Team Gold, Individual Bronze (WEG), plus Team Bronze from the Olympics (where I believe he was one of the very few horses to showjump double clear in *both* rounds). Poggio was 3rd at Rolex in 2002, in awful wet conditions, where he was also named “Best Conditioned Horse.” Pogi was always a fan favorite to watch, even if his “RUN RUN RUN-chip-JUMP!!!!” style made you gasp a few times.
AUSSIE/KIWI REGION
1. READY TEDDY
Ridden by Blyth Tait, Ready Teddy represented New Zealand in the 1996 Olympics at the age of 8…and won Individual Gold, Team Bronze. In 1998, Teddy did it again, winning Individual Gold and Team Gold at the WEG in Rome. He also won Burghley CCI*** in 2001.
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4. BOUNCE
Partnered with Vaughn Jefferis in 1994, Bounce would become a top competitor for New Zealand. He won the Individual Gold medal at the 1994 WEG at the Hague, Team Bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Team Gold at the 1998 WEG in Rome. Bounce was third at Badminton in ’94 (behind fellow NZ competitors Mark Todd and Blyth Tait).
