The word from Galway is that Allison has made an official protest regarding the incident at fence #14 earlier on Saturday. The official score sheet signed by the TD was posted just after 5:00pm ET which showed Jennie and Cambalda as the Galway leaders and Allison with 20 penalties.
Arthur had a sticky moment over the drop into the second water and Allison circled before jumping fence #14, which is an orca whale skinny. The entire question is whether or not Allison committed to jumping #14 before making the decision to circle. Allison clearly thinks she didn’t commit and the officials thought that she did when they signed the official score sheet. The result of the protest has large implications to the Galway competition because Allison would be in the lead without the 20 penalties.
I don’t know what the reversal rates are on official protests against stops after the score sheet has been signed but I can’t imagine that they are very high. At Fair Hill, the show jumping was delayed because a protest from Saturday still had not been resolved by Sunday morning so the reality is that because an official protest has been made we don’t know exactly when there will be decision. There’s never a dull moment in eventing.
In other news, Zenyatta and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (6:45pm ET) is being broadcast online at ESPN3.com as well as on ESPN. ESPN3 is not available in all areas depending on your internet service, but click here for the free online broadcast starting at 6:15.
In other news, Boyd has just posted his Saturday blog entry from Pau on his blog.
More soon…
