The US Eventing Team for the championship CCI3* in Aachen on June 27-29th was announced on Tuesday eventing. The selection pattern is mercifully simple — the two highest placed US horses at Rolex who applied for the Aachen trip and the two highest placed US horses at Badminton were selected for Aachen. I don’t know the full list of pairs who applied for Aachen, but I do know that Lynn Symansky and Donner (5th at Rolex) did not apply, and it’s important to note that this was very much an application event–you had to apply to go to get selected.
The Aachen team:
Buck and BallynoeCastle
Will Faudree and Pawlow
Clark Montgomery and Universe
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister
Reserves:
Marilyn Little and RF Smoke On The Water
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen
I take two main points away from the selection:
1) The US is sending our best competing 4* pairs at this moment to Aachen. I know US coach David O’Connor wants to make a statement at the international competitions this year, and this team is sending our best of the best right now to go and try to win.
2) The team appears to have been selected largely on the merit of latest 4* results. My guess is that we’ll see more and more of a correlation between selection and competition performance as the new selection system is used more and more. It’s hard for any pair to gripe about not being selected when it’s so clear that achievement at the biggest events of the spring led to selection.
Clark’s selection as a reserve with Glenny make sense because Loughan Glen will be the best US horse based in Europe who is not already selected to the Aachen team. Marilyn and RF Smoke On The Water have already received the Saumur competition grant and nothing about tonight’s announcement changes that.
Go eventing.
