Throwback EN photo, thanks again to Lara Knight
Good Morning EN! Today’s Road to London headline comes from the European front, specifically from the Saumur CCI***. After the first day of dressage, Aussie Christopher Burton and Haruzac lead the field with a 47.2. It was a good day for Australia, with Bill Levett sitting in third and Clayton Fredericks in seventh. Our very own Jules Stiller and Enjoy Me put down a 50.8 for fifth, and Kiwi Andrew Nicholson is close behind in sixth with a 51.4. Today the rest of the field competes, including Jules on her other mount and Tiana Coudray. There are several heavy-hitters riding as well, including Paul Tapner on two mounts, Zara Phillips, Lara Collette, Mark Todd, Nicolas Touzaint, and Fredericks and Nicholson on their second rides. Keep checking back for updates! [Results]
Your weekend preview of US events:
NWEC May Classic [Website] [Times/Scores]
Chattahoochee Hills [Website] [Scores]
Otter Creek [Website] [Scores]
Feather Creek [Website] [Times/Scores]
Greater Dayton Horse Trials [Website] [Times/Scores]
Kelly’s Ford [Website] [Scores]
CCC Spring Gulch HT [Website]
Hitching Post Farm HT [Website] [Times/Scores]
Kent School May HT [Website]
Onto your links:
As mentioned above, Chris Burton is looking good at Saumur, in the lead on his 2012 Adelaide CCI2* winner Haruzac. He is followed by Italian rider Giovanni Ugolotti and Stormhill Kossack, one of Andrew Nicholson’s former rides. [Horsetalk]
The Kiwi riders aren’t looking too shabby either- however Mark Todd must complete the weekend with a qualifying result in order for Grass Valley to be considered for the Olympic team. A qualifying round requires no more than 20 cross-country penalties and no more than 16 show jumping penalties. [Stuff.co.nz]
Bromont CCI will now be known as the Volvo Bromont CCI*** Three Day Event, thanks to a new title sponsor- yes, you guessed it, Volvo. The event will take place from June 7-10 in Bromont, Canada, and will be a final preparatory event for both US and Canadian Olympic hopefuls. [Horsetalk]
Canadian riders had a good weekend at Jersey Fresh. [Horse Canada]
Speaking of Jersey Fresh, yesterday Leslie linked to Will Coleman’s description of Cool Connection’s freakish injury sustained after he impaled himself on a broken cross country flag. The Chronicle reports that “Noodle’s” prognosis is good, and he is expected to make a full recovery. However, the incident has sparked an outcry for a new style of flagging in order to prevent an injury like this from happening again. Will was quoted in the article: “I think if this doesn’t provide enough impetus for [changing the flags] then nothing will,” he said. “It has killed one horse [at the 2007 Badminton CCI**** in England] and very nearly killed another. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.” [The Chronicle]
Australia’s 1992 Barcelona Olympic gold medal eventing team was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame this year. The team consisted of Gillian Rolton riding Peppermint Grove, Matt Ryan on Kibah Tic-Toc and Andrew Hoy on Kiwi. David Green was also on the team, but his horse was ruled “unfit” after the second day of competition. In 1992, the competition came down to the show jumping, where New Zealand had an eight-rail lead over the Aussies. However, after disastrous rounds, Matt Ryan was left with a rail in hand to win. Ryan did pull the last, but his 1.2 point lead cinched the gold and broke Australia’s 32-year gold medal drought in eventing. [Weekly Times]
Princess Anne thinks that the pressure on Olympic athletes has increased since she rode for her country in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In particular, she wouldn’t have liked to compete on her home turf. “I would have found it really difficult, I suspect, to do it on a home patch – much easier to have done it elsewhere. I’d hate to be doing it now – that’s all I can tell you. It’s got worse.” Princess Anne is the only member of the Royal Family to have ever competed in the Olympics. [BBC]
Another British Olympian, Bridget Parker, recalls her ride at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Originally a reserve rider and not expected to compete, she received a phone call at 6am the morning of the competition and was told that she and her horse, Cornish Gold, were expected in the ring. She placed tenth individually and won a team gold with fellow riders Richard Meade, Mary Gordon-Watson, and Mark Phillips, an achievement that was later called one of the “30 greatest sporting achievements of all time.” She is excited that the games will be in London, and that teams will be able to experience such a special sporting event. According to Parker: “I remember in Munich sitting in the canteen next to the Cuban heavyweight champion, it is a once in a lifetime moment.” [This is Somerset]
Speaking of the Olympics, the wet weather is wreaking havoc on the plans of British riders and selectors in the final run-up to the games. Riders are traveling all around Europe in order to get their necessary competitions in before the team is announced. The wet weather is also affecting the construction in Greenwich Park; workers have had to undertake additional groundwork work in order to support the spectator stands. [Horse and Hound]
In light of the recent event cancellations all across Britain, the organizers of the Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (6-9 September 2012) will be reviewing the results of those riders who are unable to qualify for the event before the closing date and determining if they will be able to compete. As of now, the qualifications require that a horse and rider have three double clear jumping rounds from BE100 events; if a rider lacks one round due to a cancelled horse trial, the organizers will consider accepting a qualifying round from a non-BE100 event as qualification. They stress that there are still 10-12 events left before the August 15 closing date, and encourage riders to keep after their BE100 qualifying rounds. [British Eventing]
Even with the cancellations, plans for The Festival of British Eventing are full steam ahead. The much-anticipated show, which takes place from July 13-15, will take place at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, the home of HRH The Princess Royal and her family. The Festival is being held two weeks early to prevent it from clashing with the Olympics, and will be the last chance to see top riders in action before they head to Greenwich Park. [British Eventing]
Weird news of the day: since true foxhunting has been banned in Britain, a paintballing company has taken matters into their own hands and will offer the opportunity to “fox hunt” to customers- except instead of hunting a real fox, you will be hunting an employee in a fox suit. According to a spokesman, “to maximize authenticity, all participants will don traditional hunting attire and there will even be a bugle to sound the start of the hunt.” The company is very enthusiastic about the event, and all systems are go except for one: they can’t find a volunteer to be the fox. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. [Horse and Hound]
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That’s all for now EN, thanks for reading!
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