by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 2, 2024
Britain earned its first Olympic show jumping team gold since the landmark 2012 London Olympics with a mere 2 time penalties Friday, as the U.S. claimed silver on 4 faults and France was third with 7. The Brits took the lead with a 1-time penalty from their pathfinder, defending individual gold Olympic medalist from Tokyo, Ben Maher aboard Dallas Vegas Batilly, and they never gave up that spot.
Riding second for Britain on a fault-free trip was Harry Charles (Romeo) who broke his arm a month ago in Aachen but was determined not to miss the Olympics and redeem himself from a retirement on course in the Tokyo Olympics.
“That was probably the best round of my life,” said Harry, whose father, Peter Charles, was on the 2012 gold medal team, as was Ben and the man who went on to be the anchor in Paris, Scott Brash (Jefferson). He left the rails in place to clinch the title, picking up just a single time penalty.
Scott recalled that it was incredible to win gold in London 12 years ago in front of a home crowd, on “one of the best days of my life, but here is right up there. I mean, what an unbelievable setting, what a beautiful venue for our sport and facilities for the horses were incredible.”
British Chef D’Equipe Di Lampard summed up her team’s performance saying, “The lads were ice-cold and delivered on the given day.” She was “completely overwhelmed” by the result after four years of planning. The British first won gold at the 1952 Games.
This was the second gold of these Games for Britain, which also took top honors in eventing. And they may have had the potential to do so in dressage as well, except that their star, Charlotte Dujardin was sidelined by scandal (read about it here) and replaced by a competent, but less-experienced, rider.
The silver was the first medal for U.S. equestrians at the Games in Versailles following disappointments in eventing and dressage.
U.S. silver medalists Karl Cook, Laura Kraut and McLain Ward. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
After an uncharacteristic knockdown by Laura Kraut on Baloutinue in the initial rotation at the A element of the cinema-themed triple combination (she called it “an interesting mistake. The horse doesn’t normally jump over his front end like that”) the U.S. carried 4 penalties but was buoyed by clear rounds from Karl Cook on Caracole de La Roque and anchor man McLain Ward with Ilex, who bucked joyfully after his first fence.
“I knew he was in perfect shape today,” McLain said of the Dutch-bred horse he began riding only this year.
“I believed in him and my team put me in a great position to deliver. Everybody behind me made my job a little bit easier,” said McLain, noting he’d had a year of “seconds,” at Aachen last month and in the finale grand prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival last spring.
Poised at bronze medal level, the U.S. was able to move up after the last French rider, Julien Epaillard on Dubai Du Cedre, dropped that nation a place with a toppled rail at the Jardin Francaise oxer. That elevated the American team to silver, the same medal it won at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
“We came here expecting big things, but you never know,” said U.S. Coach Robert Ridland, commenting it was the best team the U.S. had in the last three Olympics. This was the third time in a row that America earned silver at the Games.
Both Laura and McLain were on the Tokyo team, but Olympic rookie Karl Cook–a last-minute replacement with Caracole de la Roque for veteran Kent Farrington and Greya –proved his worth with clears in both Thursday’s qualifier and the final.
Karl said of his mount, previously ridden by Julien Epaillard, “I’m so grateful to Caracole, she’s such an amazing horse.”
Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque, who jumps in a hackamore.
Karl, whose performance has improved impressively this year, noted it is “Amazing to be with people I’ve watched and respected for so many years and be able to go in and jump and do it all together is what you hope for when you’re a kid.”
McLain called the three-rider, no-drop score format, which had debuted in Tokyo, “a real pressure cooker”:…that ratcheted up the pressure and excitement. I think it’s great sport.”
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, watched the competition in the stands full of 20,000 fans, including avid flag-wavers from the nine countries involved in the final (Mexico did not appear due to a veterinary issue with one of its horses.) France made the podium despite being tied with the Netherlands on seven penalties because its team had a faster collective time.
Big surprises were the placings of Ireland, which had been favored by many going into the competition, and Tokyo team gold medalists Sweden. World number one Henrik von Eckermann had a pole with King Edward at the lavender fields fence that was a bit of an optical illusion, number 11 of 14 obstacles. Rolf Goran-Bengtsson and Peder Fredricson each followed with knockdowns for 12 penalties to put Sweden in sixth place, four penalties behind fifth-place Germany.
The tight 79-second time-allowed was an issue for several riders early on, including Maher, and it caught Shane Sweetnam, the Irish pathfinder on James Kann Cruz with one for time in addition to a rail. Daniel Coyle was foot-perfect with Legacy, but the most experienced Irishman, Cian O’Connor, had surprising rails at two fences and a time penalty with Maurice to put the team in seventh place. Ireland has never won a team show jumping medal in the Olympics, where Cian was its only individual medal winner with a bronze in 2012.
The course, laid out by Gregory Bodo of France and Tokyo Olympics designer Santiago Varela of Spain, was just challenging enough.
As Laura, who has jumped many of the routes designed by Bodo pointed out, he is an “important designer,” noting there were “no eliminations, no disasters; lots of poles down. He’s very crafty with the time allowed. I felt I was flying and I only came in a second and a-half under (the time). it’s just what you would expect at the Olympics.”
Laura Kraut and Baloutinue. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
The team final course was as beautifully produced and themed as the previous day’s qualifier layout. Bodo has a way of using all of the ring in his designs, with no space wasted. The intriguingly designed fences resumed the tour of French history and culture that we saw on Thursday.
The vinification fence complete with grapes and wine barrel (it’s in our lead photo being jumped by McLain Ward) is a tribute to the country’s wine industry. There was a fence flanked by the Statue of Liberty (a gift to the U.S. from France) and its torch; the Eiffel Tower (of course!), a wall crafted to look like the stained glass at Notre Dame, and seaside cabins (we would call them cabanas) in a nod to the country’s popular beaches.
The US, British and French teams with their medals. (U.S. EQuestrian Photo)
Laura, 58, who started her Olympic career as an alternate at the 1992 Barcelona Games, has the distinction of being the oldest female U.S. Olympian to medal since an archer who competed in 1904. When it’s brought up, she laughs about it. Laura is a good sport. Anyway, she wasn’t the oldest in the class. That was Rolf Goran-Bengtsson, who is 62. It’s wonderful that riding is such a lifetime pursuit!
Jumping returns to Versailles on Monday with the qualifier for the individual medals, but the action continues on Saturday with team dressage at 4 a.m. Eastern Time. Don’t worry about getting up, I’ll tell you what happens. The U.S. does not have a team; it was eliminated earlier this week because Marcus Orlob’s ride, Jane, had a small scratch on her right hind fetlock. No U.S. rider qualified for the individual finals on Sunday.
Click here for team jumping results. Click here for individual results
by Nancy Jaffer | Jul 29, 2024
It was a historic day at the Olympics, for Germany’s Michael (Michi) Jung and the British.
Let’s rename the country “Very Great” Britain.
The British eventing team of Laura Collett Ros Canter and Tom McEwen at the Paris Games defended its Tokyo team gold against a challenge from the home favorites, France, finishing on 91.3 penalties for three days of competition after a tense show jumping finale. It is the most successful nation in the history of eventing, now having earned team gold five times.
Laura Collett in the show jumping arena and a look at its fabulous vista.
Silver medal France had 103.6 penalties, while Japan — which has been getting better and better at the eventing game — made history itself by finishing on the Olympic podium in the sport for the first time with a score of 115.8 for the bronze. The U.S. wound up seventh with 133.7 penalties, 3.2 behind Sweden and 0.9 ahead of New Zealand.
The British celebrate another gold medal.
Michi, who had a rail at the double in the team final, came back when it really counted in the individual final with Chipmunk FRH to post a clean round and is now the first person in history (there it is again!) to win three individual Olympic gold medals.
Australia’s Christopher (Burto) Burton was silver with just 0.4 time penalties over two jumping rounds added to his dressage score of 22 penalties. He had a bit of an edge in the final phase — he had been concentrating on show jumping when he turned back to eventing and started riding Shadow Man just this year.
As he heads back to Australia from Britain to start his own stable, he believes the horse, the former and future ride of Ben Hobday, will return to the owners.
“It would be my dream to keep riding him, he’s just the most delightful animal. From the minute I sat on him, I thought he was incredible, like we were made for each other, but I think anyone that sat on him would have the same experience I’m afraid, it would break your heart. But what a story we had and what a great time we had in Paris,” Burto commented.
And Laura Collett took individual bronze with London 52 on 23.1 penalties. She was fault-free in the individual round, but had a rail and 0.8 time penalties in the team jumping round. Without those errors, she would have had gold and foiled Michi’s historic moment.
Silver medalist Christopher Burton, gold medalist Michi Jung and bronze medalist Laura Collett. (FEI Photo)
The first woman from Britain to earn an individual Olympic eventing medal in 16 years, she is an achiever who wasn’t going to be stopped by a fall that nearly took her life in 2013 and left her without sight in one eye. She set an Olympic record with her dressage score on Saturday, which made it an obvious prediction that she would be in the medals.
Even so, she said through tears of joy, “I never thought this day would come.”
“I owe everything to that horse and the team that made it possible just to get here. I’m so lucky to be the the one that gets to ride into an arena like that and come out with a team gold and individual bronze medal.”
Expressing her gratitude for the help people gave her along the way, she emphasized, “I want to say thank you to every single one of them. It’s so many years of hard work and blood, sweat and tears. Emotional rollercoaster doesn’t even do it justice.”
To others who have aspirations, she advised, “for moments like this, every bad day is so worth it. You just have to never give up, never lose faith. You can never dream too big.”
Michi’s campaign for a third gold was foiled at the 2021 Tokyo Games when he was in the lead, but received 11 penalties in a controversial issue with a MIM system device at a cross-country fence there. Some felt the call was quite unfair, as he had galloped off before a pole fell at a fence his horse touched, but now he has achieved what he set out to do three years ago.
Even someone as experienced as Michi had nerves to control in the last stages of his medal quest, as he rode in front of a packed and noisy stadium.
“I tried to say to myself it’s just a normal show,” he revealed.
“I try to push my horse not too much, to give him the feeling it’s a normal show, although it’s not so easy with so many spectators. In the end I needed to look at the board to see that it’s really true, and now I need a moment to realize what it means. It’s a very special moment for me.”
The U.S. wound up seventh, securing a spot in the top 10 after some rocky moments in the previous phases. With the gallant Federman B, Boyd Martin delivered two double-clears for America over the course designed by Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo. The route was beautiful, with fences symbolizing various aspects of France and its history, including the street signs of Paris and the art of Toulouse Lautrec (seen in the photo below).
Boyd Martin and Federman B were heroes in the show jumping phase of eventing. (US Equestrian photo)
He finished tenth on 32.1 penalties total. Teammate Liz Halliday, originally the traveling alternate, was fifteenth on Nutcracker with 34.8 penalties. The third team member, Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake, finished thirty-seventh (66.8) and so did not qualify to be in the top 25 who contested the individual round, an hour after the team show jumping wrapped up.
Boyd noted how pleased he was with his horse, known as “Bruno,” saying, “He didn’t touch a jump in the warmup and came in the round and jumped like a superstar. I’ve got supreme confidence in Bruno’s jumping ability.”
He cited the help he got in the warm-up from trainers Peter Wylde and Erik Duvander. But as he wrapped up his experience in Paris, where his flying change problem in dressage foiled his medal hopes despite wonderful performances in the event’s other phases, Boyd observed, “it’s heartbreaking, to be honest. I feel like we’ve been so close so many times. This is my fourth Olympics and my career is probably in the second half now. I thought everyone tried hard, it’s a tough sport, a game of inches and I had all these dreams of wearing a medal and it’s not going to happen this weekend.”
U.S. Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello was both philosophical and insightful while discussing his team’s experience at Versailles.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about the weekend and I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m just being overly Polly Annaish, but I really truly believe that there were more positives this weekend and there are still signs that we are here competing with the rest of the world, we didn’t compete in this format to a level that was going to get us a medal this weekend.
“I think we have to get better at this Olympic format because it is unique, but we really do have to think about what are the things that we can definitely…concentrate on and improve that are going to make us more significant in a competition like this, which is unique. I’m heartened when I look at the quality of the riders we have here…they all have a deep bench of horses coming along. When I’m looking to the future, I get a little bit worried about the `deep bench of athletes.’
He wants to “really knuckle down and look into the next four years and map a blueprint of what it’s going to take to make sure the improvements keep going and that we’re always putting ourselves in a place where we can be competitive on a world stage. I feel so very hopeful about the trajectory we are on. We just have to stay focused and positive but not be patting ourselves on the back for being seventh. We need to be better than that, but we also can’t get discouraged, either.”
I was thinking about why the Brits are so great at eventing, and I believe part of it might be because the deep bench they draw on has a lot of experience foxhunting, or trail hunting or drag hunting. That really stands in good stead for cross-country. And eventing is also a popular sport in Britain in the panoply of equestrian disciplines, which encourages people to draw in at a variety of levels.Just my musings…
Click here for team results. Click here for individual results
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 5, 2024
There were some astonishing results in Monday’s Olympic show jumping individual medal qualifier. A couple of very key contenders failed to make the list of 30 eligible starters from a field of 73 seeking a place in Tuesday’s final competition, which still promises to be outstanding.
Podium prospect McLain Ward, for instance, who anchored the USA’s silver medal team last week with the impressive Ilex, had 4 faults at the last of 14 fences, the Le Petit Prince oxer of blue and gray rails named after a famous book.
Only 20 riders were fault-free in the class that drew 73; the other 10 qualifiers all had knockdowns, with the exception of one with a single time penalty. But with time separating the tied 4-fault competitors, McLain was too slow to make the cut, finishing thirty-fourth in 75.50 seconds.
Of Ilex, McLain observed, “He was brilliant; actually jumped it very easy.
“Coming down the last line, it was getting easy coming to the (out) gate. I think I just got myself a little bit anxious and put on little more leg than I needed and made him go a little flat. It was just a small rider error. It’s a little frustrating,” he said.
McLain Ward looks back at his fallen rail.
That’s particularly true because his horse is capable of handling bigger challenges than what was laid out in the Versailles arena.
“For me, I wish it was a more difficult track. It was very soft,” he suggested. (Click here to see the course diagram)
“We’ve seen a lot of that this year, 30 clear in Rotterdam, 25 clear in Aachen. My horse is a big jumper. I wish it was a little bit stronger track. The rail was my fault.”
Richard Vogel of Germany is another who was expected to vie for medals in the final, where riders all start with a clean slate but run in the final according to their order of merit from the qualifier. Richard toppled three rails with United Touch S as he rushed to make a time that would get him in the final. The stallion is deemed one of the world’s best horses and a jumper everyone would like to have in their stable. He finished fifty-fifth and thus will not be seen again at these Games.
The defending gold medalist from the Tokyo Games, Britain’s Ben Maher, had a very bad moment when Dallas Vegas Batilly crashed through the trapezoid-shaped wall at the start of the last line, sending blocks flying everywhere. There were numbers on the pieces, so the ring crew could put the dizzying pattern of suns and horse heads back together properly. No other horses took issue with the obstacle.
Ben Maher and his mare scatter some bricks.
With his great skill, Ben didn’t turn a hair and recouped to finish twenty eighth.
“I don’t know what happened. She felt amazing today,” said Ben of his mount
In terms of the wall, he noted there was a shadow there at the time he rode, which could have affected her perception.
“She rolled around the corner and as she took off, it took her by surprise. Luckily, I’m a little older and experienced, and we made a quick recovery together.”
Ben had a plan B to insure he was fast enough to get into the final if he had a knockdown, and it worked.
Despite having a rail at the C element of the troublesome Champs Elysee triple combination, the USA’s Laura Kraut wound up twenty- seventh and will start on Tuesday, when the class begins at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
Laura Kraut and Baloutinue. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
While she felt confident going in, Laura noted, “it’s a different sort of mindset when you know how many are clear already. Any mistake is going to be very costly. I jumped into the triple and he jumped a little right. I didn’t hear him hit it; I heard the crowd” (reacting to the knockdown).
She agreed with McLain that course designers Gregory Bodo of France and Santiago Varela of Spain had made their route “a little bit softer,” taking into account that some riders were not in the team competition and so hadn’t jumped in the ring.
But Laura felt the course was well done and noted “nobody’s on the ground. I think it’s been a great week for show jumping.” As for Baloutinue, she emphasized, “I couldn’t ask for a better horse to have in an Olympics.”
Karl Cook, who originally was the U.S. alternate, put in his amazing clear round number three of the Games with Caracole de la Roque. Karl, who gained his spot on the team after Kent Farrington’s Greya suffered allergy problems, had a remarkable Olympic debut as he helped the U.S. to team silver last week.
Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque. (US Equestrian Photo)
Of his mare, he said, “She has more energy today than she had before, she feels stronger, more power, which is a great thing,” said Karl, who knows she is excited to show.
Karl warms up Cara in a regular bridle, then switches to a hackamore, where he has no option for adjustability. But as he noted, it works for jumping.
Interestingly, the man who previously rode Cara, France’s Julien Epaillard, lived up to his speed demon reputation in the qualifier by finishing first in the class with Dubai du Cedre. Julien, who also rides this mare in a hackamore, will have the advantage of going last in the final, where time will determine the placings when there is a tie.
Julien (who’s in our cover photo) was clocked in 73.07 seconds. The slowest of the fault-free rounds within the 79-second time allowed was Japan’s Takashi Haase Shibayama on Karamell M&M (78.97).
Julien Epaillard triumphant.
Julien recounted, “It was a lot of pressure in the team, I was last to go and playing for a medal and you don’t want to disappoint anyone. Today, the weight was off my shoulders and I rode differently, more relaxed. Also, my mare is every day more relaxed and it helped me to have more precision.
“But it was not so easy, because it’s not a big, big, course. It’s more delicate and a bit open, which is not the best for me. I like when it’s a bit short (distances) with my mare, but I’m really happy to be to be in the final tomorrow.”
He won individual bronze at last year’s European Championship and was second this year in the FEI World Cup Finals. Although France medaled in the eventing and show jumping team events, it has yet to enjoy a gold, so the home side wlll be rooting for Epaillard to end the Games with a win.
EquiRatings analytics gives Julien a 7 percent win chance
Ireland had been favored by many to win the team gold Friday, but only Daniel Coyle had a clear round and they were out of the medals. Today Daniel was clean again on Legacy (he’s one of my medal picks), but it wasn’t the best of circumstances for him. He had food poisoning the night before the class.
“I was under a lot of pressure today in all the wrong ways,” he said.
“But I was just trying to get through the finish with a good score, because after this week, my mare deserves to be in the final no matter what. So I would have been disappointed if she wasn’t there”, he said.
His teammate, Shane Sweetnam, also left all the rails in place with the lovely James Kann Cruz.
“We didn’t really have the rub of the green on Friday,” he said. “When I watched the video of my round (in the team jumping), it was like he just breathed on that fence (that came down). But that’s just show jumping for you. You have to have a little bit of luck, and today we had it on our side.”
Click here for results
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 3, 2024
The entire U.S. show jumping squad that earned silver at the Olympics on Friday will be starting Monday in the individual medal competition qualifier.
Kent Farrington, whose mount, Greya, was under the weather last week will stay on the sidelines and not ride in Paris. Originally named to the team, he was replaced by traveling alternate Karl Cook with Caracole de la Roque, who put in clear rounds over two days and helped the USA to the medal.
“The three medalists earned their shot,” said Coach Robert Ridland, referring to Laura Kraut and McLain Ward as well as Karl, while explaining the lineup for the final phase of these Games. The team silver is the only medal earned in Paris by the U.S. so far.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jul 30, 2024
The Cinderella story of dressage did not have a happy ending, as the USA’s Marcus Orlob and Jane were eliminated in their Olympic debut partway through their Grand Prix test after a judge spotted a nick on the mare’s right hind leg. Although it was small, it showed up on the front of her white fetlock. Had the leg been brown or black, the scratch likely wouldn’t have been obvious from the judge’s booth.
The 10-year-old mare had whirled after entering the arena, trying to follow the previous horse who was leaving. For eventing dressage, horses entered and exited through separate gates, but that was not the case for Grand Prix. It is believed Jane cut herself as she spun quickly and half-reared.
Marcus has a cool head and did a great job of calming her down and getting her into the ring, where her test was going well, with marks as high as 7.6 for half-pass. But it was in the zig-zag that the horn sounded for him to stop, and judge Suzanne Baarup, president of the ground jury, came out to tell him why he was being excused.
The U.S. Equestrian Federation reported that after Jane returned to stabling she was relaxing in her stall and the cut was no longer bleeding.
Recalling what had happened, Marcus said, “I was excited to go down center line; clearly Jane, too.
“I believe she maybe nicked herself in the entry, because I never had this issue. She felt in the ring amazing, I was super happy with her once we went down center line. She settled nicely and unfortunately, due to blood, we are eliminated. It’s like a very minor cut, almost like a mosquito bite,” he noted.
“We showered her, nothing to see anymore, she’s happy, she’s healthy. It was bad luck. Unfortunately, that’s our sport.”
Although the crowd made her nervous in the beginning, “Once I got going, she got more and more relaxed,” commented Marcus, who said he was thinking, “Okay, I’ve got this now. I was really sad to hear the bell.”
Marcus Orlob and Jane in their test. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
That marks the end for the U.S. team in Paris, since there are no drop scores in the Olympics and teams have only three members. Although the U.S. was not a candidate for a medal, it was expect to finish in the top six or seven in the field of 15 countries.
Adrienne Lyle and Steffen Peters, the other team members, are continuing to ride, trying to qualify for the freestyle, which will accept 18 entries. Adrienne scored 72.593 percent Tuesday percent with Helix. That is on the cusp of what is believed will be the qualifying score for the Freestyle. Six-time Olympian Steffen rides Suppenkasper on Wednesday.
Marcus, who only began riding Alice Tarjan’s Jane in March, just made the cut for the U.S. contingent that went to Europe, where competition there would help determine who would be on the U.S. team.
A native of Germany who is a naturalized American citizen based in Annandale, N.J. Marcus had been Alice’s coach. But she turned over the mare she had trained to him because she wasn’t strong enough to show Jane at her best.
The thought of being in the Olympics with such a short run-up was amazing, especially since Marcus had never been on a U.S. team. But the combination had amazing performances in the observation trials in Germany and won a team place on the basis of those scores and the potential they showed.
Adrienne only began riding Helix this year, but she is a two-time Olympian and the horse had been competed previously in European Grands Prix by a Swedish rider.
Adrienne Lyle and Helix against the backdrop of the chateau at Versailles. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
Having Marcus eliminated before her ride was bad timing, and Adrienne felt for her teammate at the same time she knew she had to focus on her own ride. But of course, she was sad.
“My heart just broke for him,” Adrienne said.
“I thought he was riding so beautifully and that’s such an incredible horse and combination coming up. To be having such a great ride and hear the bell ring, none of us knew why at first. Sometimes those things happen. The good thing is the horse is fine. Hopefully, he left a nice impression on everybody to see what they’re capable of.”
In terms of her performance, Adrienne said, “I am thrilled with my horse out there. He was really excited at first and the fact that he settled down and trusted me means everything.”
Taking the ride on a horse trained by someone else, when she usually does her own training, “was a challenge and not something I’d done before. It was learning to speak each other’s language.”
Her score was “about dead-on with our average when qualifying. I’m excited for the future.”
Click here for individual results. Click here for team results
by Nancy Jaffer | Aug 1, 2024
The U.S. made it into Friday’s Olympic team show jumping competition by finishing second in Thursday’s qualifier, which sorted out the 10 countries that will ride for medals Friday from the 20 entered in that discipline at the Games. Those competing start with a clean slate.
There was intense pressure on the U.S. squad after the country’s eventing team failed to medal in Paris and the dressage team was eliminated. Show jumping is “it” If America is going to get a medal at Versailles (and not go home empty-handed, as U.S. equestrians did from London in 2012.).
In the qualifier, Germany was the only team to finish on 0 penalties. The U.S. had 6 faults; clear rounds by Laura Kraut and last-minute sub Karl Cook, while anchor rider McLain Ward collected 4 penalties for a rail at the tallest jump on the course, a vertical standing 1.63 meters, and 2 penalties for going over the 79-second time allowed.
But McLain had no worries about his performance on Ilex, a horse he has been riding for only a few months.
“I was thrilled,” he said after his trip over the fences in a stadium that was packed with fans, as it has been every day of the Olympics.
“I knew going in we had a pretty big margin of error, so I made a plan to be a little conservative and make sure there wasn’t a big blow-up,” he said.
Of his knockdown at the eighth of 14 obstacles, which had wings commemorating the clock on the Musée d’Orsay, he commented, “It was a very light rub and not a big deal. I think all the team performed brilliantly and look very good going into tomorrow. It’s a whole new competition. The horses feel great.”
He added, “I think it’s not only obviously important `job one’ is to qualify. We don’t want to take that for granted, the sport is strong.”
He pointed out that Sweden’s Tokyo Olympics team gold medalist Peder Fredricson, one of the most experienced riders, on one of the most experienced horses, Catch Me Not, had a run-out at the spooky-looking Graffiti Wall fence, so nothing is a given. (Luckily for Sweden, its pathfinder, World Number One Henrik von Eckermann, was fault-free on King Edward.)
Henrik observed, “I always think the first track is the worst one because you’re not really sure. I mean, I know my horse very, very well, but still, you never know — it’s animals, not machines, and you just want to have a good feeling, and you don’t know how it is going to be before you do it.”
What’s important to consider for the U.S. in addition to faults, McLain said, is “How did the horses feel? They felt fresh and jumped well. The time wasn’t super tight today. I made the time always with him, I didn’t put a lot of concern on the time. I didn’t want to have too many (time faults) but there were a couple of places I took my time, especially at the end.”
Karl, riding Caracole de la Roque, had been the alternate but was called off the bench when an alllergy-related question arose about team member Kent Farrington’s Greya. With no drop score under Olympic rules, the team couldn’t take any chances on a horse who might be sub-par.
And the pinch-hitter was ready for his big moment.
“It was very clear, obviously, that I was the alternate, and very clear how late I could be called,” pointed out Karl, who had everything packed and was ready to ride if needed.
“We knew that going in, so it was important to act, all of our prep, everything, last night, this morning, was as if we were showing, because it’s too hard to do that after the fact. We were on the team the whole time, mentally.
Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque at the macaron fence. (US Equestrian Photo)
He added, “I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but that’s what you’re here to do. It’s not supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be challenging, it’s supposed to test you, and I’m just so appreciative for the opportunity. I feel proud that I could do that for team USA and my other team members.”
Admitting there was a feeling of pressure before his round, he noted, “Once you pick up the canter, then everything kind of just goes away. I don’t have enough mental ability to do both of those (worry and ride), because it takes so much focus.”
Of his Selle Francais mare, one of the fastest horses in the world, he commented, “She loves this. This is all she loves to do. She gets so excited; I would say she’s zero percent stressed and 100 percent excited.”
He noted with a smile that attitude gives her an edge over her rider. Interestingly, he does most of the warm-up in a different bridle than the hackamore she wears in the show ring.
Laura acknowledged the pressure, saying it was a relief to have produced a perfect trip with Baloutinue, the only horse on the 2024 squad who also competed at the last Games in Tokyo, where the U.S. earned silver.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure what my plan was going to be,” Laura admitted, “because, to be honest with you, the course wasn’t really suited to him, but going first I just thought I’ve got to go in and be quick, since time is going to be such a factor, and just have faith that he’ll clear the fences. And he did!
“It was pretty nerve-wracking before I went in,” said Laura, who had support from her partner, Nick Skelton, winner of individual gold for Britain at the 2016 Games in Rio.
“It’s never a low-stress event at the Olympic Games,” Laura observed.
Laura Kraut and Baloutinue. (U.S. Equestrian Photo)
Discussing the route designed by Spain’s Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo of France, she said, “The course was very technical and big. Bodo is a brilliant course builder. I’ve been jumping his courses quite a bit lately. He has a way of sneaking in things that are far more difficult than they appear to be, as he’s done today.”
The course certainly was beautiful, with themed fences including a combination where the most faults were incurred, the Olympic triple of medals and an image of Olympics founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin (wonder what he would have thought of the opening ceremonies); L’Opera, complete with paintings of comfy theater seats on the jump standards, a water jump honoring French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and a triple bar with a Champs Elysee street sign.
“I’m just very fortunate I have an absolutely amazing horse. He was in the zone and he was on it,” Laura said.
“The water (jump) is quite big, it’s going away from the gate it comes on a bit of an awkward angle and I think some of the horses aren’t quite getting up to the front of it as much as they’d like. Even my horse landed shallow a little bit.”
She also noted the third fence, topped with a gray plank, is difficult and hard to see. Her horse touched it, but luckily it stayed up.
“There’s a lot out there,” Laura observed.
Karl had noted that course designers these days are “playing with color” (the candy-striped rail at the macaron and pastry A element of the double and the pink rail in the middle of the triple came to mind when he said that.) He mentioned it’s hard for both horse and rider to focus on those kinds of poles.
“So making it harder makes it more careful, and that’s what increased the difficulty without having to make it massive,” said Karl.
“It’s a good way the sport is going.”
Laura had only been riding Baloutinue for two months before her last Olympics and hardly knew him at all, but now she has had time to build a partnership.
“It’s really comforting to come here this time knowing the horse. He trusts me and I certainly trust him.
“He has it all, he’s got personality in the stables. When you get on to ride him, he’s all about the business. He’s brave, careful and scopey. That’s kind of what you need when you go to the Olympics.”
“I felt completely confident that he could go in there and do it today,” Laura noted.
He walked into the ring, looked around and saw his fans.
“Even he was excited about it,” she said.
“I think he thought, this was it.”
Coach Robert Ridland was understandably proud, saying, “Our team jumped really well today and executed our first goal of qualifying through to the team final.
“We have another day, though, and need to be prepared for a tough day of competition tomorrow. We obviously had a change to the team this morning, putting Karl and Caracole into the line-up and they really stepped up to the plate for us in a big atmosphere. Laura and Baloutinue are veterans and set the tone with a clear round right off the bat. Karl and Caracole have been on a hot streak and rode a well-executed round for our second clear. McLain and Ilex are looking strong and the entire team is feeling ready for tomorrow’s final.”
The other teams that qualified were Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, all with 8 penalties. Ireland, favored by many to win the team title, collected 9 penalties to wind up sixth after Shane Sweetnam had a rail with James Kann Kruz and anchor Cian O’Connor dropped the pink rail at the B element of the triple combination with Maurice. Cian also had a time penalty. The third team member, Daniel Coyle, was fault-free with Legacy.
France and Sweden had 12 and 17 penalties respectively, while Israel and Mexico wound up with 20 each to round out the starting list for Friday. Switzerland, usually one of the strongest countries, failed to qualify, finishing twelfth.
Ties were decided by which country was fastest. The U.S. was faster than the others, but that didn’t matter because it was the only one with 6 penalties so a tie did not have to be broken. But speed ability could be handy when it counts for the medals on Friday.
McLain’s buddy Richard Vogel of Germany rides the spectacular United Touch S and is among those touted as an individual medal possibility. But before that, he’s thinking about his team.
“All riders performed well today. I think all three German rounds were smooth, so that makes us optimistic for tomorrow. But we’re also aware that it starts from zero, and besides a good starting position there’s not so much achieved yet – we will see,” he said.
Defending Olympic individual gold medalist Ben Maher of Great Britain and Dallas Vegas Batilly after their clean round. (Photo Jon Stroud Media)
Britain’s defending individual gold medalist Ben Maher made an eleventh-hour swap out of Point Break and put in Dallas Vegas Batilly. Point Break is only 10 years old, and Ben felt with the atmospheric venue and the heat, he needed a horse with more mileage.
“Experience will carry us forward,” he said, noting that as his mare continued her round, “She grew in confidence and really found her feet, so to speak.”
“That was a great start and it’s good just to get going; to be honest, there’s a lot of waiting around and not knowing what’s coming on the first round, but it’s a big enough test today and Dallas Vegas was listening and really on point for me,” Ben commented.
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