Great Britain, as expected, is heading the standings in the FEI World Eventing Championships on the first of two days of dressage at Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy. The Olympic champs are on 45.5 penalties, as their Laura Collett leads the way individually with 19.3 penalties aboard London 52.
New Zealand has 53 penalties and the U.S. is just a bit behind in third at 53.5. Individually, the USA’s Will Coleman was marked at 26.4 on Off the Record, putting him in a tie for fifth, while Lauren Nicholson and Vermiculus scored 27.1 to be seventh.
Will Coleman and Off the Record. (Photo courtesy U.S. Equestrian)
The other American riders, Boyd Martin, Tamie Smith and Ariel Grald, will ride on Friday. It’s worth noting that this is the first time since 1994 that Phillip Dutton has not been part of a world championships team.
Looking ahead to Saturday and Guiseppe Della Chiesa’s cross-country course over rugged terrain, French rider Thomas Carlile assessedit this way: “It seems to me like a balance between a true championship test and a modern look at eventing, with a lot of frangible pins that we all have our ideas about.
“But it’s the way the sport is going and we need to choose and produce our horses in that aspect now. There are plenty of different routes to make sure everyone has the possibility to get around and it will require proper cross-country riding with the terrain,” added Thomas, who tied with Will in fifth place aboard Darmagnac de Bellard.
This is the last of the world championships this year in which the U.S. will have a team. The four-in-hand driving championships, which follow the eventing at Pratoni next week, will not have an American squad because Misdee Wrigley dropped out for health reasons. Chester Weber is the lone American driver competing.
There is no endurance championship because the event was cancelled due to a problem with track.