It’s silver for the USA at the world championships: UPDATE

by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 18, 2022

What a ride! Today’s show jumping finale of the FEI World Eventing Championships was far from an anti-climax after Saturday’s thriller of a cross-country test at Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy.

The course designed by Uliano Vezzani, set on undulating turf, provided surprises that I for one couldn’t have predicted, as the medal positions kept changing among the top four countries in a process that paved the way for  a new generation to make its mark in the sport.

The grass show jumping arena at Pratoni.

Explaining his challenging route that took a toll on top combinations, Uliano said, “After a cross-country test like yesterday’s, the horses have ‘opened up’ and today they have to show that they are back in balance, well in hand. Which is exactly what you want from an eventing horse.”

But four knockdowns by world number one eventer Oliver Townend and Kentucky 5-star winner Ballaghmor Class? Unthinkable, yet it dropped Britain (the favorite going into the week) from the podium to fourth place (100.9 penalties).

Two knockdowns from Germany’s Michael Jung, who has a Fort Knox-worth pile of gold medals? How could that be, when it appeared he would set a new world record with fischerChipmunk FRH to finish on his dressage score of 18.8 penalties?

Even so, Germany was able to end with a team gold (95.2 penalties) after lingering on the lower levels of the podium throughout the competition.

Hard to believe that Boyd Martin, the anchor of so many U.S. teams, would be the drop score (42.2) in twentieth place with Tsetserleg after four rails toppled. But America finished on silver (100.3) anyway, though for a brief shining moment earlier in the day, the squad had a glimmering of gold in its sights. There were only 0.4 penalties between the U.S. and bronze medal New Zealand (100.7), and just 0.2 between New Zealand and Great Britain.

Will Coleman and Off the Record mastered the course. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)

It was the first time in 20 years that the U.S. had medaled at the worlds, having won gold in Spain in 2002.

“I’m very proud to be an American today,” said Boyd.

“Having five clear rounds yesterday in the cross-country was awesome, and just looking at the results here, any three of the five of us could have gotten a team medal.

“I’ve been on many of these teams, and we’ve been so close over and over again, and it’s a massive sigh of relief. I’m really thankful for this team and proud to be here with these guys sitting next to me.”

The bonus was that the U.S. qualified to have an eventing team in the 2024 Paris Olympics, along with the other nations in the top seven. France already was qualified as the host country for those Games. The U.S. dressage team qualified for Paris at their championships in Denmark last month, as did the para team for the Paralympics. The show jumpers will have to use the 2023 Nations Cup Final or the 2023 Pan Am Games to qualify.

The U.S. team of Will Coleman, Lauren Nicholson, Tamie Smith and Boyd Martin.

What about the individual eventing medals, you wonder.

That, too, would have been an unlikely prediction if anybody had suggested 25-year-old Yasmin Ingham, riding as an individual for Britain, would take the gold.

At the Kentucky 5-star this year, a notice came to the press room that Yaz would be giving a press conference one afternoon. Huh? “Who is she?” I asked, wondering about her resume, aside from being the 2013 Sportwoman of the Year on her native Isle of Man, and winner of Britain’s 2021 Blenheim event. I couldn’t make the press conference, but a few days later, we found out who she was, when she finished second to Michi Jung in the 5-star.

Yasmin Ingham triumphant. (FEI / Richard Juilliart)

And today she was first on the Selle Francais Banzai du Loir, moving up from third after dressage (22 penalties) to second after cross-country (adding just 1.2 time penalties) to clear in the jumping, winding up number one on 23.2 penalties. Too bad for Britain that she was riding as an individual instead of on the team.

Yasmin Ingham jumped clean to win individual gold at the FEI World Eventing Championshipsl.

As Michi’s horse brought down the plank at the tricky final fence, Yaz gasped and was immediately enveloped in hugs.

“Honestly, I’m still not believing it,” she said,  a bit breathless moments later.

“I really didn’t think this would happen. My horse, Banzai, was just impeccable; perfect, could not fault him today in the show jumping round. I’m just over the moon. I can’t explain how happy I am, because there’s just no words for it.

“I’m shaking at the moment, even still.”

Describing today as extreme pressure and nerve-wracking, Yaz said she “tried to treat it as a normal competition, and make sure I did my normal plan, and routine and structured system. Stuck to it, blocked everything else out and focused on the job.”

Yaz on Banzai.

Banzai, she emphasized, “just delivered. He was absolutely perfect.”

She is the latest link in the tradition of British eventing world champions; Lucinda Green, Ginny Leng, Zara Phillips Tindall and Ros Canter, who won four years ago and was fourth today with Lordship’s Graffalo (26.2), who is only 10 years old.

Yaz has looked up to the more experienced riders on the team and took advice from them.

“Now that I’ve managed to do it and become world champion, I’m just speechless,” she said.

How cool is this mounted band that led in the medalists?

Olympic champion Julia Krajewski of Germany took silver with a clear round on Amande de B’Neville (26 penalties), moving up from fifth after cross-country. New Zealand’s  world number three, Tim Price, also fault free, took bronze with 26.2 penalties. He had the same score as Ros, but with a cross-country time closer to the optimum to break the tie. His mount, Falco, was developed by Sue Dempsey, who designed the cross-country course for the 2012 London Olympics.

“We worked so hard for this, we focused on it for years, this kind of major event, it means everything,” said Tim, whose wife, Jonelle, rode on the team with him.

Michi wound up a disappointing fifth (26.8), but emphasized he was very happy for the team.

“It was a fantastic performance, everyone was great. Today I’m a little bit unlucky, but luckily, on the other side, it was enough for the team.”

The USA’s Tamie Smith, poised for the podium in third place with Mai Baum after cross-country, saw her individual medal prospects disappear with two rails down, putting her ninth on 32 penalties. Her horse had lost his front shoes on cross-country and may have been feeling the effects of that today.

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)

Her score left Will Coleman as the highest-placed American, seventh with Off the Record (27.2) after a fault-free round.

Lauren Nicholson had two rails and a time penalty with Vermiculus (41.1) to place nineteenth for the team, while Ariel Grad, riding as an individual for the U.S., was part of that rising generation I mentioned to end up eleventh after a faul-free trip on Leamore Master Plan (32.5).

That was impressive, considering she was fiftieth following dressage. Jumping is the forte of her Irish-bred son of Master Imp.

Ariel Grald and Leamore Master Plan. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)

U.S. Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello called it “such a crazy day. I had a feeling when I walked the course that it was going to be very influential. I’d never seen such a consistently big and very technical track and have those three lines, all single jumps to combinations, with three completely different distances. It was a real important phase, and no team went unscathed, and you had to keep fighting to the end.”

Ariel, Tamie and Boyd are still working with former eventing performance manager Erik Duvander, whose contract was not renewed last December by the U.S. Equestrian Federation. Bobby Costello took over as interim chef d’equipe this year.

“The most pleasing thing is that America has won a medal after a long drought and I’m very, very proud of the way the riders rode and how they present themselves, It’s very, very good,” said Erik, who was in Italy to help his riders but expressed pride in the team as a whole.

Much of what they have done was built on a foundation of the four years he gave the U.S. effort.

Although pathfinder Will Coleman does not work with him, Erik called that rider “very impressive…he’s been in the game for such a long time, but I think he’s now grown into the shoes and is now a serious competitor on the world stage but also within the team. He’s got the confidence and the self-belief and the skills as well.”

The nicest development, he added, is the number of people from other nations who “came up to me and congratulated on how America has turned around from being an average nation to a top nation. It has been noted by everyone.”

Click here for the team results. Click this link for the individual results.

USA moves up at eventing world championships

by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 17, 2022

The deck was reshuffled today by a demanding cross-country course at the FEI World Eventing Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro Italy, with team standings doing a switcheroo that put the U.S. in second place from third, elevated Germany to the lead, and dropped Britain from first to third place.

What didn’t change was the very top of the individual standings, as Germany’s Michael (Michi) Jung kept his personal best score of 18.8 penalties from dressage with a double-clear aboard fisherChipmunk FRH, as he headed toward what could well be his second world championships title.

“An amazing horse,” Michi enthused after his ride.

“FischerChipmunk is just a machine in the cross-country.”

Michel Jung and Chipmunk.

He did contend, however, “The course is not so nice to ride. The ground is not that perfect and it’s a tricky course….you have to work a lot. This is a horse for big gallops,” which are not found on this route. He had one iffy fence, where the horse took off close to the obstacle and got his head a bit sideways, but that was just a blip in a perfect trip that finished nine seconds under the optimum time.

Willberry Wonder Pony got quite a ride on Michael Jung’s back, crossing the finish line with him. The stuffed pony is the symbol of a charity in memory of teen eventer Hannah Francis, who died of cancer. Read more at https://www.willberrywonderpony.org/.

Germany is on 76.1 penalties, with the U.S. not so far behind on 77.4, while Britain has 80.9 and New Zealand 88.3. Those are the players for the medals, barring unforeseen disasters in Sunday’s show jumping segment, since fifth-place Switzerland is burdened with 109.4 penalties.

During the last seven world eventing championships, the eventual winner was a team that was either first or second after dressage.

In addition to the world titles, what counts here is qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the top seven teams making the cut.

Britain had some tense moments as officials deliberated for a long time on whether to give team member Tom McEwen 15 penalties for the way he and Toledo de Kerser handled fence 7B, the second element of a skinny brush double below a steep slide. In the end, they deleted those penalties, which kept the team in podium territory.

Earlier in the day, however, there was a huge disappointment for the Brits when Badminton winner Laura Collett, who had been standing second following dressage, experienced a run-out  with London 52, who fussed with his head much of the way around .It was the skinny combo below the slide that caused the problem again.

A big leap down the drop made it tough to shorten up for the three strides between the  skinnies. The horse just couldn’t get his legs over the second brush, leaving him no option but to leap out to the side. Laura is now forty eighth on 58.1 penalties.

“I’m absolutely gutted for the team. He just ran out of room,” Laura explained about the mishap.

“He was great around the rest”.

Misfortune on course visted Kevin McNAb of Australia, riding Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam. A rein broke in the middle of a combination and he had to spend time fixing it, winding up with 20 penalties for the stop and 24.8 time penalties, going over the optimum time because of the delay.

“They jumped one of the classiest rounds of the day. Very unlucky to have a broken rein in between a combination. I don’t know how he managed to tie the rein in a knot and finish, but he did,” said a statement from the Australian team.

Laura Collett and London 52.

The USA, benefiting from the counsel of cross-country consultant Ian Stark (a former British team member and designer of the cross-country at the new Maryland 5-star) offered his wisdom about the twists and turns of the up-and-downhill terrain based on volcanic sand.

The route designed by Guiseppe della Chiesa had 30 fences, 44 jumping efforts and an optimum time of 9 minutes, 50 seconds. It was at 4-star level (dressage and show jumping are 5-star level) because at a championships, some of the countries aren’t as experienced as the sport’s leaders. So it’s necessary to make sure those riders will be safe while providing a challenge for the others. That meant the highest fence was 1.2 meters, or 1.3 meters for a brush jump, and the widest obstacles measured 2 meters.

Several riders in addition to Michi commented that for horses with a long stride who need big jumps to be at their best, the course was not optimum.

As Tom noted, “The course rode well, but I thought the distances were quite short compared to what we’re used to. Obviously, I’m on a rangy horse with a great jump, so it slightly hinders me in my pace because sometimes I make up quite a bit of time actually being able to keep quite smooth in these big strides.”

At the same time, he added, “The ground is phenomenal and the way they’ve presented the course is great, so I’ve really enjoyed it.”

The USA’s Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. (Photo courtesy of Pratoni.)

Both America’s Tamie Smith, a podium possibility standing third on Mai Baum (24 penalties) and Boyd Martin, the U.S. anchor rider, sixth on his familiar partner Tsetserleg (26.2) were among the 11 riders in the field of 88 who were double-clear.

That distinction also belonged to Ariel Grald, who made the biggest leap of any competitor, going from fiftieth on Leamore Master Plan in dressage (67.53) to seventeenth. She is riding as an individual for the U.S.

Tami said of her mount, “He and I have such a great partnership now. This is a hard course, especially for our horses, because the jumps aren’t that big, but the course was super technical and twisty, but he’s such a good jumper and he was right there and just on it.

“I have an unbelievable, magical unicorn and he’s the horse of a lifetime. He’s made a lot of dreams come true.  I know his heart is as big as mine, so we’ll give everything we have until the end.”

Boyd was spot-on the optimum time. That lifted him above New Zealand’s Tim Price individually, breaking the tie of 26.2 penalties each incurred in dressage, since Tim was one second under.

While Boyd smiled and commented that he’d like to say he planned the timing perfectly, actually, he admitted. “I was just going as fast as he goes. I thought I was right on the time. It was a relief.”

That was especially true since, “This track doesn’t suit him. He’s so suited to the 5-stars, the Kentuckys that are just long gallops.”

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)

The stopping and starting necessary at Pratoni isn’t his preferred approach.

“ I have to give the horse credit, he tries and tries and tries. It’s his best attribute.”

He has ridden Tsetserleg at the Olympics, the Pan American Games and the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

“To keep a horse at this level for this long is a testament to his toughness and soundness and bravery,” said Boyd of his partner

He admitted that when the diminutive son of the Olympic veteran Trakehne, Windfall, came to his farm, “I thought he was a fluffy little pony. It goes to show how much I know. A horse that tries counts for so much.”

Boyd allowed himself a sigh of relief, even though the final phase will be “a massive day.”

But so far, so good. As he noted, “In the past it’s been a bit of everything, but today it seemed to come together.”

American pathfinder Will Coleman, eleventh with Off the Record, had just 0.8 time penalties to bring his total to 27.2 penalties.

He noted his horse is “kind of a bulldog out there. He was really strong and it was almost like he was telling me, `Let me at it, Dad.’”

Will added, “He’s not the fastest horse, to be frank; he’s a very efficient horse. He loses a bit of step as he tires.”

But they got around in an impressive clocking and Will noted, “I’m super happy with how he ran. He did his absolute best.”

Lauren Nicholson, eighteenth on Vermiculus, had just 5.6 time penalties for a total of 32.7.

“This is like our ninth 5-star. I know him really well, he knows me really well. I knew all the questions were there for him. He doesn’t have a huge gallop. It was more chasing the time than the actual fences.”

She was “Toeing the line of being gutsy and trying not to do anything stupid that’s going to affect the team.”

She told Ian Stark, “I don’t want pep talks…just give me facts, give me an order.”

“He said, `Ride the plan we talked about it and hammer at it’ and I did.”

Ariel noted cross-country is her horse’s best phase.

“I tend to play it a little bit safe with him,” she said, but not this time.

“He started off a little keen, he rattled a couple of jumps. I had to trust in his carefulness.”

The terrain and the corners were a challenge for a strong horse like her Irish sport horse by Master Imp, but she noted he stayed right with her.

“This is my first horse at Advanced and 4- and 5-star. Being here in the world championships was a bit of an incentive for me to take a risk. My dressage isn’t the strongest, but I’m going to finish on it,” she said, referring to her score in the first phase of the event.

Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello observed, “Today absolutely met my expectations and I think everyone leading up to this day has just had a really good feeling about where we were heading.

“We haven’t had a day like this in a really long time for the U.S. It’s really gratifying and I’m happy for everyone here, ;he riders, the grooms, the owners, the staff and everyone at home.

“But having said that, we’ve already stopped celebrating. We’re 100 percent focused on the job tomorrow and aren’t thinking about anything other than finishing this competition and doing what we came here to do.”

Click here for the individual standings. Click on this link for the team standings.

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The Barisone case will be in the spotlight this weekend

by Nancy Jaffer | Sep 14, 2022

The CBS show 48 Hours, which investigates “the most intriguing crime and justice cases,” will begin its fall season with a program on the matter of dressage trainer Michael Barisone.

Set to run at 10 p.m Saturday, it will explore how a U.S. Olympic dressage team alternate came to stand trial for attempted murder and weapons charges, after a dispute with his tenants spiraled out of control. In April, Barisone was found not guilty by reason of insanity of the attempted murder of a student, Lauren Kanarek, who lived on his farm and whom he was trying to evict.

The show is called, “The Shooting of Lauren Kanarek,” and includes interviews with both Barisone and Kanarek, as well as her father; eventer Boyd Martin, a friend of Barisone’s; the prosecutor, Christopher Schellhorn, and Barisone’s lawyers, Ed Bilinkas and Chris Deininger.

Michael Barisone in court during this month’s hearing with his lawyers,, Chris Deinnger and Ed Bilinkas. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)

When Kanarek was unhappy about the level of training she received, she began posting messages on Facebook branding Barisone a bully, racist and anti-Semitic. He denied the  allegations, and his supporters say her postings were unfairly damaging his reputation as he worried about how it would ruin his business.

The Facebook posts seemed to rattle and unnerve Barisone to the point where he called 911 four times, telling police he “feared” for his life.

“I remember complete and total panic,” Barisone tells CBS correspondent Nikii Battiste.

“Everybody says I was unglued. I was unglued.”

Then, on August 7, 2019, he allegedly confronted Kanarek. She testified that Barisone “pulled out a gun and shot me once, twice, directly in the chest.”  She called 911 and was taken from the scene to undergo emergency surgery.

Lauren Kanarek testifying in court. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)

Barisone tells Battiste he recalls the messages Kanarek posted on social media about him, but says he has no memory of the shooting.

“Did you shoot Lauren Kanarek?” Battiste asks Barisone.

“I’m told I did,” Barisone says.

“But I have no recollection of that event,” Barisone says. “Zero. Nothing.”

At trial, his attorney argued that Barisone was driven temporarily insane by Kanarek’s attacks and then snapped. Kanarek said during the trial that Barisone bullied her..

Kanarek and her family do not believe Barisone’s story, that he had no idea what he was doing when the trigger was pulled.

Michael Barisone as he appeared in court during his trial. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)

“Michael Barisone should be in a state prison for the rest of his life,” says Lauren Kanarek’s father, Jonathan Kanarek.

Barisone spent four months being evaluated at the Anne Klein Forensic Center in West Trenton, N.J., until a hearing on his status earlier this month. Judge Stephen Taylor, who presided at his trial in Morristown, N.J., ruled that Barisone should be treated at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County, with his situation to be evaluated in six months.