Tom McEwen looks to continue his hot streak, trotting up this week at Boekelo with Isa.
While we are sadly not covering Boekelo full-tilt as we ordinarily would this year (budgets, they’re a real pain), we’ll nonetheless be keeping you as up-to-date as possible on this absolutely bursting CCIO4*-L field. Some riders are competing for the honors of winning the FEI Eventing Nations Cup Final, while others are looking to confirm their horses as future championship and/or five-star contenders with a strong weekend here in the Netherlands.
Boekelo wouldn’t be the most dimensionally imposing course there is, but the packed-tight atmosphere with spectators in the five figures and beer tents strewn about essentially right on the galloping ropes means it’s a unique environment that often provides a real confirmation of a horse’s coping ability for the future. While it does look like we might avoid cross country day sog, it will be raining in the early going of competition as an additional layer of enjoyment.
For the USA, a team of four + one additional horse for Allie Knowles comes forward to contest this Nations Cup Final. It’s primarily a team of developing horses and next-gen riders, with experience like that of Lauren Nicholson’s anchoring the team. Lauren rides Bromont 4*-L winner Landmark’s Jungle Gold, and is joined on the team by Allie with two of her exciting younger horses, LS Crown Royal (on the team) and Montpelier Scais as an individual. Jack Curtis and Luska Candy Clover are tackling their first 4*-L together this week as a part of team USA (but they’ve got a good amount of experience at this early stage of their career, having also competed at the inaugural FEI Eventing World Championships for U25 Riders in Ireland this summer), and Hallie Coon steps forward with Sirius SB, whom she’s taken the rider on for fellow American Katherine Coleman.
Coming into the week, it’s Burghley champion Gemma Stevens who’s been tapped as the highest chance to win with Cooley Park Muze, and for good reason with multiple four-star wins and a top-five finish in his first 4*-L at Royal Jump in May. EquiRatings gives this pair a 22% win chance and a 61% of a top 10 finish. You can get the full sense of field, on paper at least, here.
Today’s First Horse Inspection wasn’t without its tension: it wasn’t to be Irish young rider Tom Nestor’s weekend, with his ride Cooley Diamond Dancer sadly not accepted on re-presentation after being sent to the hold box. The Ground Jury this week is presided over by New Zealand’s Andrew Bennie, joined by Angela Tucker (GBR) and Polly Ann Huntington (AUS). Also not coming forward for the jog was French rider Lisa Gualtieri with A D’Aunis.
Dressage commences on Thursday at 9:00 am in the Netherlands, which is six hours ahead of EST. To find the start time in your local time zone, reference the widget below. Starting orders for both Thursday and Friday, as well as live scoring, can be found here. All of the live action can be found on ClipMyHorse.TV here.
Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com
This article will be updated with additional photos and social media — check back soon!
Military Boekelo / FEI Eventing Nations Cup CCIO4*-NC-L (Netherlands): [Website] [Entries/Timing/Scores] [Live Stream]
