Team Thailand Takes Gold at Inaugural FEI Asian Eventing Championships

By on Dec 6, 2019 1:00 pm -

Team Gold for Thailand: (L-R) Arinadtha Chavatanont, Weerapat Pitakanonda and Korntawat Samran. Photo by FEI/Yong Tek Lim.

The inaugural FEI Asian Eventing Championships took place this week in Pattaya, Thailand, alongside Championships for dressage and show jumping. Nine riders and two teams — Thailand and Hong Kong — contested the CCI2*-L eventing competition, and it would be Thailand who laid claim to team gold.

The team was anchored by Arinadtha Chavatanont and Tzar of Her Dreams, who also earned individual gold. Arinadtha and the 2007 Selle Français gelding (Volchebnik x Ultra de Rouhet), owned by Marcei Virginie Neillwere and Harald Link, were 3rd after dressage on 31.8 and moved into first after cross country, having turned in one of two double-clear rounds across Peter Fell’s course. They sealed the win yesterday with a fault-free show jumping round.

In addition to eventing, Arinadtha, who is based with Maxime Livio in France, competes in international show jumping and dressage. She represented Thailand in dressage at the FEI Asian Championships as well, claiming individual bronze in the Freestyle.

Meet Arinadtha Chavatanont

Arinadtha Chavatanont started her campaign as a part of the team for Thailand that took the Gold Medal in Dressage. Arinadtha then continued her run of success with a Team and Individual Gold in Eventing and a Bronze medal in the Dressage Freestyle! 🥇🥇🥇🥉

Posted by FEI Asian Championships Pattaya 2019 on Friday, December 6, 2019

 

Also contributing to Thailand’s eventing team gold: Weerapat Pitakanonda and Luminous, who finished 6th, and Korntawat Samran and Ridano Elmy, who earned individual bronze. The team’s fourth pair, Preecha Khunjan and Snowrunner, were eliminated cross country and thus the drop score.

While we’re on the topic of Thailand, we owe you an update on their Olympic qualification — at last glance, the nation had a team ticket but only two qualified riders. Arinadtha was Thailand’s best hope for fielding a full team, despite not having competed above CCI2*-L before this year. She picked up a CCI4*-S qualifying result on her first run at Strzegom in August with the experienced Boleybawn Prince, but wasn’t able to tick the CCI4*-L box this fall in advance of the Dec. 31 deadline. That means Thailand’s team ticket will be rescinded and they’ll be given individual places instead. (Tilly Berendt breaks down that process in “The Trail to Tokyo: What’s the Deal with Composite Teams?“)

Team Hong Kong earned silver in the competition. Teammates Yu Xuan Su and All Or Nothing were 8th, Annie Ho and Lost In Translation were 7th, Thomas Heffernan Ho and Jockey Club Charlene Old were 4th, and Patrick Lam and Jockey Club Weronique earned individual silver.

The venue for the Championships, Thai Polo & Equestrian Club, looked like a fitting host for the 100+ horses and riders that competed at the Championships this week.

Relive the eventing dressage and show jumping action:

It’s great to see our sport growing its footprint around the world. Go Eventing.

#ACPattaya2019: Website, Results, Live Stream