After two days of rain here in the Île-de-France at the 2024 Paris Olympics, it was sunny and cool-ish with temps beginning in the high 50s and ending the day near 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) yesterday during the cross-country phase of eventing. Although there was plenty of mud in the walking paths for the estimated over 40,000 spectators arriving here, the galloping track on course looked to be fairly nice―not too hard, not too muddy, but perhaps sticky in a couple of spots.

Designed by Frenchman Pierre Le Goupil, the course was just under 3.2 miles (5,149 meters) and contained 28 obstacles with 41 jumping efforts. Placed on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, the track ran along the picturesque Grand Canal with the Palace in the background in some places, and through the woods where royalty once hunted deer and other game. The prescribed speed was 570 meters/minute with a time allowed of 9 minutes 2 seconds.

As always in this sport, especially with the current super-intense format of Olympic eventing, the story of the day boiled down to “it was the best of times and worst of times” to paraphrase Charles Dickens. There were some spectacular rounds, the current leader Germany’s Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH among them; they pulled ahead of Great Britain’s Laura Collett and London 52 by 0.5 going double clear when Collett and London had 0.8 time penalties.

Cross-Country Stats

Only 10 horse and rider combos out of 64 made it round within the time. In addition to Jung they were: Christopher Burton and Shadow Man (AUS), currently in third; Felix Vogg and Dao de L’Ocean (SUI) currently in fourth; Yoshiaki Oiwa and MGH Grafton Street (JPN), currently in fifth; Tom McEwen and JL Dublin (GBR) currently in sixth; Kazuma Tomoto and Vinci de la Vigne (JPN) currently in eighth; Karim Florent Laghouag and Triton Fontaine (FRA) currently in 10th; Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue (IRL) currently in 14th; Janneke Boonzaaijer and Champ De Tailleur (NED) currently in 16th; and Frida Andersen and Box Leo (SWE) currently in 20th.

Looking at the cross-country fence analysis, there were two rider falls (Ronald Zabala (ECU) at fence 23a and Christoph Wahler (GER) at 16a, and one horse fall (Portuguese rider Manuel Grave’s horse Carat De Bremoy at fence 3; I saw them both walking back to the stables looking unharmed). There were 13 refusals total, with one pair being eliminated due to three refusals (Polish rider Jan Kaminski on Jard). Six horse and rider pairs missed flags for 15 penalties each. One rider was eliminated by the Ground Jury (Finnish rider Sanna Siltakorpi on Bofey Click). One frangible pin was broken during cross-country as well.

Kevin McNab from Australia retired on Don Quidam on course between fences 11 and 12. The horse was taken to hospital for evaluation and the Australian Team issued a statement that he had a soft tissue injury and was being treated.

Another thing of note was that after the dressage phase, Brazilian rider Carols Parro, who rode Safira, was issued a yellow card by the FEI for using rollkur in training which is defined by the FEI as causing “unnecessary discomfort” to the horse; the issue was reported to the FEI by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 51st place after dressage, he was allowed to run cross-country and finished the day in 42nd place after 22.4 time penalties.

Team Standings

Team Great Britain headed into cross-country with a comfortable 14.5-point lead over the French Team but by the end of the day the story was quite different. Great Britain’s Rosalind Canter and Lordships Graffalo were assessed a 15-point penalty for missing a flag on fence 21D (other than that they went clear and inside the time; later Canter filed an official protest on the matter, but the ground jury denied her request).

For more coverage, visit our 2024 Paris Olympics main page.

With all three French pairs jumping around cleanly—one of them with no time penalties— they closed the gap significantly and are now only are only 4.7 points (just over one show jumping rail) behind the British Team after cross-country (87.20). In addition to Laghouag’s double clear, the other two French riders had only a few time penalties (Stephane Landoisé and Chaman Dumontceau, 2.8 time penalties for 7th place after cross-country, and Nicolas Touzaint and Diabolo Menthe, 3.2 time penalties for 11th place).

Japan was another headliner yesterday. The Japanese have been working incredibly hard on achieving equestrian success in recent years and just missed the podium in Tokyo, finishing fourth there. They took the bronze medal spot after cross-country yesterday on 93.8, 8.6 points ahead of fourth-place Switzerland (102.40). After his teammates went double clear, Japanese rider Ryuzo Kitajima riding Cekatinka jumped clear on cross-country but they were assessed 6.4 time penalties putting them in 28th after cross-country.

Then, there was an unfortunate turn of events for the Japanese Team this morning in the second horse inspection when Kitajima’s horse Cekatinka was sent to the hold box where the Japanese Team decided to withdraw the mare and not re-present. In order to stay in the team competition, they opted to substitute reserve rider Toshiyuki Tanaka and Jefferson and took a 20-point penalty. This dropped them into fourth place (113.80) behind Switzerland before show jumping.

Beyond the top four team places after cross-country, this is where the other countries stood: Belgium, fifth; New Zealand, sixth; Sweden, seventh; Ireland, eighth; the USA ninth; the Netherlands, 10th; Canada, 11th; Brazil 12th; Italy, 13th; Germany; 14th; Australia; 15th; Poland 16th.

The USA team, two of which were mounted on very young horses (Caroline Pamukcu’s HSH Blake at 9 years old and Liz Halliday’s Nutcracker at 10) had a credible go on cross-country, in general. But, in an unlucky turn, Pamukcu and Blake miscommunicated at fence 16c which caused a refusal, adding 20 penalty points to their score; the rest of their round was quite good, but they also had time penalties (12) to stand in 47th after cross-country. Halliday and Nutcracker and Boyd Martin and Fedarman B jumped around clear, but incurred time penalties (1.6 penalties for 17th place for Martin and 6 penalties for Halliday for 22nd place).

Martin spoke well of Fedarman B’s effort on course, “He’s an absolute legend. He just was brilliant every step of the way; I couldn’t have asked for anything more today. He gave me his heart and soul, and got a little tired over the last three fences, but he just dug deep and kept going. I was very, very pleased with him,” said Martin.

Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello commented the team’s cross-country rounds, “[Caroline] had a great round the rest of the way around after the miscommunication at the 16 combination. Both Liz and Boyd really did the U.S. proud. I think they all did. It was just a real shame for Caroline that happened. We’re incredibly disappointed at the result to be honest, because we have put in so much work to be more competitive here. I think it shows why this Olympic format is, for better or worse, intense; it’s completely unforgiving, and that’s the game we came to play today, and it didn’t go our way.”

Going into Sunday’s show jumping phase, the Australian, Brazilian, German, Irish and Polish Teams each had to take the hard hit of penalty points substituting in new riders, each after losing one team member on cross-country (with Australia’s McNab retiring his horse on course due to the injury, Germany’s Wahler falling off, and the Polish rider being eliminated due to refusals) or because one of their horses was not presented for inspection today (see below). This dropped each team way down in the rankings and will be quite hard to recover from today.

Also, replacing a team member before cross-country yesterday, and thus incurring penalty points, was Italy when blood was discovered in the mouth of Emiliano Portale’s horse Future after their dressage ride on Friday resulting in their elimination due to the FEI’s “no blood” rule.

Eventing Second Horse Inspection

In this morning’s eventing second horse inspection, three horses were sent to the hold box, two from Japan (Kitajima’s Cekatinka which was withdrawn as already mentioned and Yoshiaki Oiwa’s horse MGH Grafton Street who was re-presented and passed) and Australian rider Shane Rose’s horse Virgil which was passed on re-inspection. Four horses that had finished cross-country yesterday were not presented for inspection, three of which were team horses causing substitutions: McNab’s Don Quidam (AUS); Sarah Ennis’ Action Lady M (IRE); Parro’s Safira (BRA); Sanna Siltakorpi’s Bofey Click (FIN, riding as an individual), and Carlos Diaz Fernandez’ Taraje CP 21.10 (ESP, riding as an individual).

Eventing Show Jumping Phase Preview

Today, there will be two rounds of show jumping, the first to determine team medals and a qualifier to move on for the second individual round. This is because Olympic rules do not allow an athlete to earn two separate medals for one performance. Then, the top 25 horse and rider combinations come back an hour and a half later to jump again for individual medals. Then, team and individual medal ceremonies will happen.

The eventing jumping team final and individual qualifier begins at 5 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, and the individual final begins at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. NBC’s Peacock and NBCOlympics.com will livestream the competition.

◆ Team Start List
◆ Individual Start List

Thanks to CareCredit for our spring and summer equestrian coverage.

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With the stunning backdrop of the Palace of Versailles, eventers took to the cross-country course for the second day of eventing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After surpassing an Olympic record yesterday in dressage, Michael Jung (GER) and Chipmunk FRH went clear to take the lead. The pair heads into the jumping phase tomorrow with only 17.8 penalty points in pursuit of Jung’s third Olympic individual gold medal.

Laura Collett (GBR) and London 52, who set an Olympic record themselves on Saturday with a 17.5 in dressage, completed the cross-country course with only 0.8 in time penalties. The horse and rider combination trails Jung and Chipmunk FRH by just 0.5 with a total score of 18.3.

Four penalty points back in third is Christopher Burton (AUS) and Shadow Man with a score of 22.0, followed by Felix Vogg (SUI) and Dao De L’ocean in fourth (22.1). Yoshiaki Oiwa (JPN) aboard MGH Grafton Street completes the top five after cross country with a 25.5

Great Britain still leads the team standings with a score of 82.5; France is not far behind in second with 87.2 total penalties. Japan (93.8), Switzerland (102.4) and Belgium (111.0) round out the top five heading into show jumping.

Team USA’s highest ranked rider after cross-country is Boyd Martin aboard Fedarman B, currently in 17th with a 32.1. The U.S. Eventing Team is now in ninth with a score of 128.5, slipping from their previous sixth-place position.

Tomorrow, eventing medals will be decided during the show jumping phase. The eventing jumping team final and individual qualifier begins at 5 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, and the individual final begins at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. NBC’s Peacock and NBCOlympics.com will livestream the competition.

Please enjoy a photo gallery from today’s cross-country phase at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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Helpful Links

◆ Individual Results
◆ Team Results
◆ Cross-Country Fence Penalty Analysis

Stay tuned for more to come. For more coverage, visit our 2024 Paris Olympics main page.

Thanks to CareCredit for our spring and summer equestrian coverage.

The post 2024 Paris Olympics: Eventing Cross-Country Photo Gallery and Results appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Nestled in low mountains on the border of La Campana National Park about half an hour inland from the Pacific coastline, the Grenadier Regiment Riding School (a military cavalry school) is the equestrian venue for the 2023 Santiago Pan American Games. Both the Pacific Ocean and part of the Andes mountain range can be viewed from the 6,170-foot mountain called Cerro La Campana which is located inside the park.

British explorer Charles Darwin visited the area in 1834 while on one of his many excursions. In fact, there is a large tree within the compound of the military post that was already planted and growing in the year that Darwin visited. The area is known for producing lemons, avocados and cherimoya fruit, among other agricultural products.

This scenic backdrop gave Pan American Games cross-country course designer Pierre Le Goupil (FRA) and course builder Dominic Moore (GBR) a wonderful opportunity to incorporate the landscape and history of the area into his course design. Each jump had some sort of theme related to Chilean history, culture, agricultural and mining products and geography.

For example, jump #1 was the famous Viňa del Mar clock (located at a seaside resort about half an hour from Quillota) and the jump #7 A-B-C complex was called the “Paso de Libertadores,” a pass through the Andes used by Chilean patriots to defeat the enemy. Then, jump #14 A-B was the Darwin fox and Darwin frog themed obstacle, while #17 was the Andean condor nest. Other fences featured local things such as a Chilean barbecue, a copper mine, an Aconcagua Valley (the river which runs through the region) market cart, the Andes rails, the Maipú battle wall, Easter Island moai, the cavalry school yard, the Pan-American oxer, and more.

One of the most interesting equestrian stories tied to the name of yesterday’s cross-country obstacle #3 is that of a horse named “Huaso” (chestnut colt, foaled 1933-died August 24, 1961, the horse was named for the Chilean word for cowboy). Huaso was ridden by local cavalry officer Captain Alberto Larraguibel. Together they set the high-jump world record (not to be confused with an indoor Puissance high jumping competition) on February 5, 1949, by jumping 8 feet 1 inch in Viña del Mar, Chile. This is one of the longest-running unbroken sport records and is still unbroken. Huaso is buried on the cavalry school grounds here and the avenue which runs along the school grounds is named for Larraguibel. To learn more about Huaso, go to the Chilean Equestrian Federation and Wikipedia.

Now for the statistics from the day, the course was 4,425 meters in length with an optimum time of 8 minutes, three seconds (speed of 550 meters per minute) and a time limit of 16 minutes, six seconds. The course had 23 numbered jumps and 35 jumping efforts. While 20 horse and rider combinations jumped clear on cross-country, only six of those were within the time.

Thirty-four horses from nine nations started on cross-country yesterday with 25 horse and rider combinations finishing the course for a completion rate of 73.529%. Countries represented were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and the United States. All but Ecuador (which had only two entries) fielded an entire team of four horse/rider combinations.

By the time the last horse had jumped the final fence, the “Caribbean Treasure Ship,” the leaderboard had changed a bit from the previous day of dressage. U.S. riders still fill the top three spots, but Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake had a clear, fast round to move up to first ahead of Liz Halliday who had 4 time penalties with Miks Master C. Sharon White and Claus 63 remain in third despite 2.4 time penalties.

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“I really have to thank the [U.S. Equestrian] Federation, because I felt very prepared coming into this event and Blake did too,” said Pamukcu. “We did the young horse and young rider program together and we went to Strzegom this summer for the Nations Cup. That was such a perfect prep for this event. We felt confident out there and I’m quite pleased with him. I made sure I moved on the galloping tracks. I had to set him up a bit more than normal. It was a championship course that asked 4* questions at the 3* height. The ground was unbelievable; all the jumps were just so beautifully decorated.”

The final U.S. rider, Sydney Elliott riding QC Diamantaire had a fault-free, within-the-time trip and advanced from 10th place after dressage to seventh. So, all in all, a very strong showing for the U.S. riders thus far here in Chile.

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Looking at the others in the top ten after cross-country, Brazil’s Marcio Carvalho Jorge riding Castle Howard Casanova moved up a spot yesterday, too, and now sits in fourth. His fellow teammates, Carlos Parro on Safira and Rafael Mamprin Losano on Withington also moved up in three places with Parro moving from 11th to eighth and Mamprin Losano jumping from 12th to ninth.

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The Canadians switched their order as well. Colleen Loach and FE Golden Eye had been fourth after dressage, but accrued 13.2 time penalties to move them down to 11th in the Pan American Games standings after cross-country. Lindsay Traisnel and Bacyrouge moved up from seventh to fifth and Karl Slezak and Hot Bobo jumping from eighth to sixth, both on the strength of fault-free rounds within the time allowed.

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The USA leads the team standings (86.2) with Brazil in second (101.5) and Canada only a few points back in third (105.2). Argentina is in fourth (194.1) and Mexico in fifth (209). Sadly, the home team, Chile, had two rider eliminated yesterday, as did Uruguay. Colombia had three of their horse/rider combinations eliminated as well.

U.S. Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello summed up the day, “The team really went out and executed our game plan yesterday and each of them did the job we tasked them with. Ian [Stark] was really thorough with how he wanted them to approach this course and all of them delivered. The horses are all looking great and finished well―which is a testament to their fitness and preparedness coming into this event. We have one more day left though, and we are not taking our eye off the ball.”

The cross-country fence analysis shows that one frangible pin was broken and there were three rider falls, but no horse falls. Four obstacles had two refusals incurred and there were 18 single refusals. Overall, the course designer did a very good job of safeguarding horses and riders.

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Today will bring new challenges for the remaining competitors with the second horse inspection scheduled for 9 a.m. and the show jumping at noon Chile time (11 a.m. Eastern US, 10 a.m. Central, 9 a.m. Mountain, 8 a.m. Pacific and 5 a.m. Hawaii). Team and individual medal ceremonies will follow. The competition can be viewed on ClipMyHorse.tv (subscription required).

For more information on the U.S. Equestrian Team competing in Chile, click here.

Find schedules, start lists and results on the official games website here and click on “equestrian eventing.”

The post Cross-Country Day at the 2023 Pan American Games appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Hailed by fans as the “best weekend all year”—and the best day of the best weekend—34,298 people streamed through the gates to catch a glimpse of the amazing equine athletes and their riders. 

CCI5*-L Division

After an unfortunate runout at the skinny C element on the Park Question (jump 6), overnight leader Yasmin Ingham of Great Britain was knocked out of contention for a top finish.

West Coast rider Tamra Smith and her long-time partner Mai Baum ran double-clear on cross-country, moving from 3rd place up to 1st, poised to try to become the first American winner of the event since Phillip Dutton in 2008—assuming she has a near-perfect stadium jumping round tomorrow.

“That horse is such a fighter,” said Smith after her ride. “These are what dreams are made of. I was a bit disappointed after the dressage scores because I wanted to bring it home.” (Mai Baum is notoriously excellent in the dressage phase.) Well, it looks like she still just might.

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Tom McEwan of Great Britain remained in 2nd place after adding 5.2 time penalties to his dressage score.

“The course was magnificent, it presents beautifully,” he said. “We had no runs in Britain this year [due to record rains], but it was a shame to have a few time penalties.”

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Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C had just 1.6 time penalties, moving them from 5th to 3rd.

“I had a plan to try to make the time with him; I planned to go out of box and see how he was tackling the course,” she said after her ride. “He got strong toward the end, and that’s where the couple of time faults came in.”

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CCI4*-S Division

The leaderboard in the 4* experienced an even bigger shake-up on cross-country day at Land Rover Kentucky. Karl Slezak of Canada riding Hot Bobo jumped from 7th place after dressage to 1st going into the final phase.

“My horse has had some issues in the past; she was really spooky as a young horse,” he said after his ride. “In the warmup she was spot on, so I just kind of went for it.” 

Slezak told a funny story about how he bought the mare at a sale in Ireland as a resale horse when she was 4, but nobody wanted to buy her. “Cross-country schooling, she acted like she’d never seen a cross-country jump in her life!” 

Confirming the mare stereotype, Slezak says she will pin her ears whenever his working students go in the stall, “but she comes to me for treats and love when I go in.”

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Tamra Smith and Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp are currently in the top 3 in this division as well. It’s looking like a good year for the USA!

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Stay tuned on Sunday for stadium jumping to see who takes home the $123,000 first-place check in the CCI5*; the winning rider also receives a 12-month lease on a Land Rover Defender. 

Follow all our coverage of the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event here.

CCI5*-L Top 10 After Cross-Country

1. Tamra Smith and Mai Baum (24.2)
2. Tom McEwen (GBR) and JL Dublin (27.8)
3. Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C (28.5)
4. Sandra Auffarth (GER) and Viamant du Matz (30.4)
5. William Coleman and Off the Record (31.2)
6. Phillip Dutton and Z (32.3)
7. Maxime Livio (FRA) and Carouzo Bois Marotin (35.5)
8. David Doel (GBR) and Galileo Nieuwmoed (35.6)
9. Doug Payne and Quantam Leap (37.3)
10. Jennie Saville and FE Lifestyle (38.1)

CCI4*-S Top 10 After Cross-Country

1. Karl Slezak (CAN) and Hot Bobo (29.3)
2. Tamra Smith and Solaguayre California (30.0)
3. Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Be Cool (31.1)
4. Mia Farley and Phelps (33.0)
5. Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire (34.9)
6. Phillip Dutton and Azure (35.4)
7. Hayley Frielick (NZL) and Dunedin Black Watch (36.0)
8. Dan Kreitl and Carmango (36.2)
9. Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capitol Him (37.2)
10. Leah Lang-Gluscic and AP Prime (37.7)

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