Families that event together, stay together – or at the very least, they have a marvellous time embracing the chaos together! Hollie Payne Caravella and her mother, FEI judge Marilyn Payne, went head to head in the Open Training division at Essex Horse Trials over the weekend, finishing third and fourth respectively after romping home on the exact same cross-country time. Sure beats bickering over whether the chicken’s been defrosted for dinner, doesn’t it?
National Holiday: It’s National Stick Out Your Tongue Day, which I guess makes sense, because it’s also the day that pandemic restrictions are lifted in the UK, possibly against better judgment. Stick your tongue out and lick those doorhandles with aplomb, folks. (Please don’t.)
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US Weekend Action:
Champagne Run at the Park H.T. (Lexington, Ky.): [Website] [RResults]
Summer Coconino Western Underground Inc. H.T. (Flagstaff, Az.): [Website] [Results]
Essex H.T. (Fair Hills, Nj.): [Website] [Results]
Full Moon Farms H.T. (Finksburg, Md.): [Website] [Results]
Genesee Valley Hunt H.T. (Geneseo, Ny.): [Website] [Results]
UK Weekend Action:
Forgandenny (2): Results
Moreton (2): Results
Stafford: Results
Global Eventing Roundup:
Four FEI competitions spanned Europe over the weekend, with Austria’s Ried am Riederberg hosting a CCI2*-S, Denmark’s Copenhagen International running classes from CCI1*-Intro to CCI3*-S, including a CCIYH2*-S, and Russia’s Dubrava Horse Trials hosting a spectrum of short- and long-format classes up to CCI4*-S.
But the crown jewel of the weekend gone was France’s Haras de Jardy, which ran classes to CCI4*-S. It feels oddly fitting for Jardy to run on the same days most of the Olympic eventing horses headed to Tokyo; after all, the French event is just a stone’s throw from Versailles, where the equestrian events will be held at the 2024 Paris Games.
2017 Pau CCI5* winners Gwendolen Fer and Romantic Love took top honours in the CCI4*-S for the home nation after leading the first and final phases in the 50-strong section. She also took third place with Arpege de Blaignac, sandwiching Japan’s Atsushi Negishi and Ventura de la Chaule JRA, who finished on their dressage score of 32.8 for second place.
Check out full results from Jardy here.
Your Monday Reading List:
Andrew Hoy is making history at Tokyo as the first Aussie athlete to go to eight Olympics. Most of us just daydream about one. Fortunately for us, Hoy Boy is happy to share his extraordinary memories, giving us all more fodder for those daydreams. [Olympic Musings with Australia’s Andrew Hoy]
Speaking of Olympic veterans, Kiwi showjumper Bruce Goodin heads to his fifth Games as New Zealand’s eldest athlete. Mind you, he’s just 51 – a toddler compared to a certain venerated horse-riding countryman of his. [New Zealand’s oldest Tokyo Olympian, Bruce Goodin, was inspired by a tennis superstar]
Owning horses often means getting to grips with some seriously tough decisions – and one of the hardest is making the call to retire your equine partner. Morgan Osbaldeston shares her experience of calling time on her horse’s competitive career and making the transition a smooth one. [When Retirement is the Right Choice]
There’s been plenty of drama over the weekend from Tokyo, including the first positive COVID test in the athletes’ village. The result came from an unnamed member of the organising team, who is now self-isolating – but it raises some serious concerns in what is already a Games fraught by pandemic-related worries. [Tokyo 2020: Athletes ‘probably very worried’ after positive Covid test in village]
Meanwhile, South Korean athletes have been forced to remove their banners from the athletes’ village, after it was ruled that their verbiage could be considered political. Political demonstrations are banned from the Olympics — and this has also seen Japan’s ‘rising sun’ flag shelved for the duration of the Games. [S Korea removes banners at Olympic village after IOC ruling]
The FutureTrack Follow:
Want to get a closer look at life in Tokyo? Give Jon Stroud a follow – he’s the super photographer responsible for Team GB’s library of horsey snaps.
Morning Viewing:
Confused by all this pre-export quarantine stuff? Team USA chef d’equipe explains the whys and hows of the Great Aachen Exodus of 2021.
