Another photo of the now infamous not Team USA leather jackets
At 3am on June 18th, 2012 a plane will leave Newark, NJ carrying Team USA’s eventing short listed horses to England. Those horses will compete at the mandatory outing at Barbury Castle and then 5 pairs will meet their destiny at the London Olympics. One event stands in the way of getting on that plane for USA’s Olympic hopefuls, and that event is in Canada.
64 US pairs applied for 2012 Olympic selection. That hopeful group has been winnowed down to approximately 20 pairs who have a legitimate shot at making the short list. The selectors can name up to 15 pairs to the short list and he USEF has budgeted for 10 horses to make the flight, but I am told that is a flexible number by one or two pairs.
In consultation with the selectors and US coach Mark Phillips, many of our Olympic hopeful pairs will attend Bromont. Those pairs will do either a the CCI, CIC, or a combined test such as the one that Neville did at Jersey, depending on each horse’s best path to preparation and what the selectors want to see from each horse. For example, Boyd told us during Jersey that he is planning to run the CIC3* cross-country at Bromont with Neville. Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen are also headed to Bromont and I would certainly expect them to run cross-country after they had such an impressive performance in the dressage at Rolex before an elimination in the cross-country. Other pairs who have proven themselves on the cross-country throughout the spring will do a combined test. Mark and the selectors will be on scene all weekend looking at all of the pairs that interest them no matter what format the pairs choose.
Remember that the Olympic format features 5 pairs for each nation competing with the best 3 scores counting towards team results. My guess is that the USA will send three rock solid pairs that we know will finish clear on the cross-country (Phillip+anything, Boyd+anything, etc.) and two pairs that are riskier but have a chance to win it all (think like Allison and Arthur, Clark and Glen, Michael and Jude). I think that the short list, which will likely be released the Monday after Bromont, will contain about 5 pairs from each of the two groups.
Although Bromont is certainly not a technical mandatory outing, my personal expectation is that anyone with a shot at making the short list is planning on going to Canada. Here is a look at 17 pairs that I think are among the top pairs in the eyes of the US selectors at this point, in no particular order:
Will Coleman and Twizzle — US team vets inspected them on the Monday after Rolex
Phillip Dutton with Mighty Nice and Fernhill Eagle — Vet inspection after Rolex
Boyd Martin with Remington and Otis Barbotiere — Vet inspection after Rolex
Becky Holder with Can’t Fire Me — Vet inspection after Rolex
Allison Springer with Arthur — Vet inspection after Rolex
Karen O’Connor with Mr. Medicott — Vet inspection after Rolex
Marilyn Little-Meredith with RF Demeter — Vet inspection after Rolex
Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper — Vet inspection after Jersey
Michael Pollard and Jude’s Law — Vet inspection after Jersey
Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM — Vet inspection after Jersey
Sinead Halpin and Manoir De Carneville — Vet inspection after Jersey
Will and Pawlow — Vet inspection after Jersey
Boyd and Neville — Duh
Will and Andromaque — Word on the street
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen — Word on the street
I would also add maybe another of Buck’s horses (although Buck’s collarbone, which he injured at The Fork, is still a big concern) and perhaps another pair or two. Undoubtedly, the odds are that a few unlucky horses will drop out of contention before Bromont due to soundness.
Also, please note that the USA has several British based hopeful pairs who will of course not be competing at Bromont. Tiana Coudray and Jules Stiller are both competing at Saumur in France this weekend. Canadians, stay tuned for your high performance road to the Olympics post.
Go eventing.
