Life is rough for Otis Barbotiere at Boekelo, photo courtesy of Leigh Mesher
When 110 of the best horses in Europe and from around the world get together to compete at a CCI3*, a few points make a big difference. That is exactly what we saw Thursday and Friday at the Boekelo dressage with 28 riders scoring lower than 50 in the dressage. Only one US pair–Boyd Martin and Remington–broke under 50 and their score from Thursday puts them in 8th place after the dressage. Michael Pollard and DV8 are the next highest US pair, finishing their dressage on a 52.8 and going into the cross-country in 41st place. Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor are 47th after delivering a 54.2 earlier today, and Boyd is in 55th place with Otis Barbotiere on 55.6. If you haven’t already done the math, 2.8 points separates the 14 places between DV8 and Otis. All four of the US horses are in the top half of the field after the dressage.
Raf Kooremans with Cavalor Demeter of the Netherlands and Mark Todd with NZB Campino are tied for the lead at Boekelo on a dressage score of 39.0. I was a bit surprised to see that only two riders in the field broke under 40. The Thursday dressage leaders Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries slid to third behind Raf and Mark, but they are in great position going into the weekend.
As a bit of perspective, Michael’s score of 52.8 that puts him into 41st place at Boekelo would have put him into 4th place after the dressage at the Bromont CCI3* in Canada earlier this year.
Boekelo Dressage Results:
1T. Raf Kooremans and Cavalor Demeter (NED) 39.0
1T. Mark Todd and NZB Campino (NZL) 39.0
3. Zara Phillips and Lord Lauries (GBR) 40.6
3. Chris Burton and Undersidcussion (AUS) 43.4
5. Peter Flarup and Calista E (DEN) 43.6
…
8. Boyd Martin and Reminton (USA) 45.8
41. Micahael Pollard and DV8 (USA) 52.8
47. Tamra Smith and Mar De Amor (USA) 54.2
55. Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere (USA) 55.6
Great Britain leads the team competition (shocking, I know) with a 137.4 after the dressage, but their dropped score is a 62, which will open the door for the trailing teams if one of their top 3 dressage scoring pairs has an issue on the cross-country. Germany, Ireland, and Sweden are 2nd through 4th respectively. The US is sitting in 5th place and just 15 points behind the leaders, but our team chances are severely hurt by the fact that we are only competing 3 horses. We are going to need three clutch performances from Boyd, Tamra, and Michael tomorrow–no pressure guys. There are 13 nations with teams at Boekelo and all but 3 of them have 4 riders on the teams. [Boekelo Team Scores]
Tamra Smith warming up Mar De Amor, via Leigh
Tamra Smith and Mar De Amortization have all the talent for a great weekend and the pressure on them is to be consistent in all three phases. After a solid 54.2 in the dressage, it is so far so good for Tamra and “D”. Tamra wrote about her test on her Facebook page. Read it, check it out, become a fan:
“Deep breath!!! And a big pat for D!….My test was very good. Minus the 2 Halts that Dinero proceeded to piaffe instead if halt I would have been in the high 40’s……there were so many things that were so much better than ever before and therefore I couldn’t ask for more!
The laugh for today is a quote from a friend that you all can guess who said it….after I said “If I would have halted I would be in the 40’s” and I was told…”If my aunt had xxxxx she’d be my uncle”! So I had to have a laugh……I went back and watched my test and I was very pleased!!!
…The good news is this will not be a dressage show!!! The course wheels about 6 seconds short! Which means making the time is going to be tough! So that is all for now. We have some decisions to make before I’m out for xc tomorrow. A couple difficult lines to decide on! I can’t wait!!!!!!”
Perhaps you haven’t heard but it tends to be wet in Holland. The footing is going to be a big factor on the Boekelo cross-country course along with the distance that Tamra mentioned. Boyd and Remi are 6.8 points out of the lead with only 7 pairs in front of them. A fast round will hopefully get them within a rail of the lead and then anything can happen on Sunday. As part of your comprehensive Boekelo coverage, here is a look at the muddy dressage schooling area, again courtesy of Leigh Mesher:
Go Boekelo.
