Probably the biggest issue on everyone’s mind here at the AECs is the footing. The Georgia ground is clay based and very dry. David O’Connor and Mark Phillips took matters into their own hands Thurday night and used an aggravator (similar to an aerator) to loosen up the clay, but only so much can by done to dry ground and the footing is still noticeably firm. All the horses here have certainly ran on worse ground before, but the short listed riders in particular are certainly thinking about the ground.
On top of this, the advanced course is relatively small and looks considerably more straightforward than the Richland course that nearly all of the short listed horses ran just two weeks ago. So, as I’m sure you can already imagine, the logic from the riders goes something like: if we just ran around Richland, why should we have to run our horses on an easier course with bad footing two weeks before the WEGs? From an information theory perspective, I’m not convinced that the selectors would learn enough by watching the horses on cross-country to justify running a full course. On the other hand, it makes sense to give the horses some stress on Saturday to get a more realistic evaluation of how they jog and show jump. The US team has already addressed similar concerns by having Woodburn, The Foreman, Bobby, Ballynoecastle, Remington, and Neville gallop on Saturday morning instead of running XC.
I have heard some chatter amongst the teams about coming up with a revised cross-country course for the potential WEG horses. Looking at the advanced map below, one option might be to go from fence #8 directly to the water at #24, or to go from fence #12 directly to #21 and then pull up after the water or finish the course. Obviously, this would eliminate all of the team horses from the competition, but it would save the horses a lot of pounding. This shortened course possibility is still very much just a possibility, but it makes a lot of sense to me.
—-
Now a few notes from the dressage:
(1) The US team did really really well on Friday. 15 US short listers finished inside the top 17 and all of the top 10 horses going into the XC are on the US short list. Mark Phillips and the entire US team support staff should get a lot of credit for bringing in Oded Shimoni to help with the dressage coaching, and, as I have been saying for a while, the US team is looking really good on the flat right now.
Video: Check out Kim’s preview of the advanced water, Boyd’s favorite NFL team, and Steph Rhodes-Bosch’s post dressage thoughts. Apologies for the announcers, who did a great job today but talked over our interviewees occasionally.
(2) After winning at Richland, anyone would have expected to see Allison Springer and Arthur around the top of the leaderboard after the AECs dressage, but they went ridiculously low on Friday. Imagine riding against the entire US and Canadian short lists and beating everyone in the dressage by 6 points! Arthur has been consistent in the jumping since Rolex, but the big question now is how the selectors will weigh the potential upside against a less than stellar record at four-stars.
(3) The Canadian team had a decent day on the flat, with Hawley Bennet-Awad and Gin & Juice leading the way in 12th place. Port Authority and Colombo both took a slight step back from their great performances at Richland. It’s great to see Rebecca Howard’s Riddle Master back in action after withdrawing from Richland due to an abscess. Diana Burnett with Manny and Ian Roberts on Napam round out the top six placed Canadian short listers. The Canadians usually make their move on Saturday, and the amount that they can move up on Saturday will all depend on the difficulty of the Chattahoochee Hills XC course.
Please also enjoy a tour of the AECs as I wander aimlessly around Chattahoochee Hills:
(4) Someone told me that there is an SUV driving around the AECs with “insanity in the middle” written on the back window. Anyone who gets a picture of the SUV with their cell phone and emails it to me wins some huge EN Karma.
(5) 51 horses finished the dressage and as of right now, 45 are scheduled to start the XC. Go eventing.
