While the dressage and show jumping disciplines are still going through their selection processes for the teams that will go to Tokyo, the U.S. eventing squad was announced today. The short-listed dressage riders and show jumpers are still in their trials process, but eventing’s final trial was Jersey Fresh earlier this month, so there was no reason to delay.
As expected, Phillip Dutton and Z made the squad, along with Liz Hailliday-Sharp and DeNiro. But Boyd Martin was named with three horses–his Jersey Fresh winner, Luke 140; Tsetserleg his Pan Am Games double gold mount who had a fall at the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star last month and On Cue, a 5-star debutante who finished fourth at Kentucky to make Boyd the highest-placed U.S. rider in that competition.
Boyd Martin and Luke 140 (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
How this works is that if something happens to Luke, Tsetserleg would be the direct replacement. And if something happens to him, then it’s On Cue’s turn. Meanwhile, Doug Payne was named the traveling reserve with Vandiver. It’s a very important role, since substitution of a horse and rider will be allowed in some circumstances. The first alternate is Tamie Smith on Mai Baum.
The riders will have a mandatory outing next month at Great Meadow in Virginia before shipping to Germany for pre-export quarantine prior to flying to Japan.