Boyd Martin and Blackfoot Mystery Lead The Way for Team USA in The First Olympic Dressage Session
The opening day of equestrian eventing competition has finally arrived with sunny skies, a light breeze and temps in the low 80s. The Olympic Equestrian Park in Deodoro is a very nice facility with a new stadium, world-class footing on the cross-country and a sand-fabric footing in the main stadium. More about the facility later today.
The morning session has ended with 16 riders having gone down centerline. First out in the dressage phase was Jessica Phoenix for Canada riding the Trakehner mare A Little Romance. The scored a 52 and are currently in 12th place. Ten tests later it was time for the lead rider for the U.S.A., Boyd Martin riding Blackfoot Mystery. The Blackfoot Mystery Syndicate's 12-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred put in a good test for 47.7 penalty points, a personal best for this pair.
The leaders after the morning session are Sandra Auffarth from Germany riding Opgun Louvo (41.6) in first, Astier Nicolas from France on Piaf de B’neville (42) in second and Sam Griffiths from Australia on Paulank Brockagh (46.3).
Coming up in the afternoon session are William Fox-Pitt on Chilli Morning, Mark Todd and Leonidas II, Michael Jung and Sam FBW and Clark Montgomery riding Loughan Glen from the U.S.A. To follow the competition with live scoring go to the FEI’s website.
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