The Pan American Games will take place this year in Guadalajara, Mexico from October 21st to 23rd. As we all know, the Pan Ams have gone back to being CCI2*. The main idea of downgrading them from a CCI3* was to give more countries in Central and South America the chance to field teams. But, you say ‘tell me something I don’t know.’ The USEF recently sent out an email to long listed riders explaining the selection procedures with some important details about the application process.
The email explained that we have not yet been notified of formal entry requirements or deadlines, which matches with several instances I have heard about regarding a general disorganization by the Pan Am organizers this year. The USEF’s application requirements include some pretty straightforward things like US citizenship, USEF membership, qualifying results at a CCI2* and CIC2*, and athletes need to fill out an application. A Mandatory Outing will be named for sometime after June, and the maximum number of US horses that will compete at the event is 5.
The one key of the USEF’s selection procedure is that athlete/horse combination who have competed at a CCI4* will not be permitted to apply for the Pan American Games. This effectively means that no pair hoping to go to the 2012 Olympics will be sent to the Pan American games because anyone with hopes for London probably needs to do a 4* by this spring or autumn. We already knew that it would be unlikely that Olympic horses would be worrying about the Pan Ams, and this entry requirement wisely prevents anyone from even thinking about that possibility.
My guess is that the USEF will send top High Performance riders on their developing horses, such as Boyd on his new horse from France, as well as maybe a few developing pairs that they think have a good shot at 2014. We’ll of course keep Eventing Nation updated throughout the selection trials and process.
Go eventing.
