Jog Strip Photo Gallery: A Monday Trot-Up

Phillip Dutton (USA) and Z. Photo by Sally Spickard.

To be quite honest, I’m not entirely sure what day it is at this point. This morning, I remembered my flight home is tomorrow so I had to scramble to spit in a tube and submit a Covid test so that I can hopefully be allowed back in the U.S., so you could say things are going well! Covering events, especially of this magnitude, is a massive amount of work involving many 12+ hour days, but it’s been an experience like no other that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I also can’t thank our team at home enough for their help keeping the content mill churning while I catch a few hours of sleep (and honestly, I think I’m still getting more hours of sleep than Tilly is!) – it’s truly been a team effort (not counting our development team, which we won’t talk about…) and we can’t thank you enough for following along with us!

It’s really hard to believe we’re already on the final day of competition here in Tokyo, and it’s also strange to be having a jog on a Monday (hence why I don’t know what day it is), but here we are. All of the remaining horses jogged for the Ground Jury this morning, and save one hold and subsequent spin the dramatics were kept to a minimum.

Doug Payne (USA) and Vandiver. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Now, you will see some pairs on the order of go – whenever we get it – that were eliminated yesterday. The new rules allow for combinations to continue on in the competition as long as they were not eliminated for a horse fall or a welfare issue (blood, abuse of horse, etc.). Carrying on does carry a hefty penalty of 100 points, so it’s not going to keep any teams in contention for taking this route, but it does give riders the opportunity to complete a team nonetheless. Personally…..I feel that if you’re eliminated, you’re eliminated. But I don’t make the rules, and I’m also not an Olympic rider who worked my tail off to get here, so my opinion is just that – an opinion.

Oliver Townend (GBR) and Ballaghmor Class. Photo by Sally Spickard.

One pair was held and subsequently spun upon re-inspection: Poland’s Joanna Pawlak and Fantastic Freida. It’s been a tough weekend for Poland, who also had a pair get spun at the first horse inspection (Pawel Spisak and Banderas). Aside from this, there were no other holds and all other pairs that presented were passed.

We did have several withdrawals overnight, and some riders who did not come forward despite having the option to continue on after elimination yesterday. Alexandre Zelenko of Belarus did not present Carlo Grande Jr..South Africa’s Victoria Scott-Legendre did not present Valtho De Peupliers. Marcelo Tosi also did not present Glenfly for Brazil.

Show Jumping Need to Know:

Team Start List
Order of Go
Team Final Course