United States Eventing Association

Cross-Country Review with EquiRatings

Ingrid Klimke and SAP Hale Bob OLD

The reigning European Champions were faultless across the country to move up into individual gold overnight. They have left all of the poles in the cups on three previous occasions at CCI4* level from five runs and did so when on the way to winning in Strzegom last year. Ingrid’s 23.3 is the third lowest two-phase score in WEG history behind Michael Jung (22 – Kentucky 2010) and Mark Todd (22.7 - Rome 1998).

Rosalind Canter and Allstar B

A clear inside the time for Ros leaves her on a score of 24.6 going into Monday. The final phase is a speciality for Ros and Allstar B. While they had one pole down at Badminton this spring these are the only show jumping penalties to be added for them in their last eight international runs.

Sarah Ennis and Horseware Stellor Rebound

Sarah achieved Ireland’s second best ever WEG dressage score yesterday and followed up with a clear round inside the time. At four-star level, this combination are yet to have a penalty free show jumping round, their best result was one time penalty at Badminton 2017. Watch the clock, in all three of their show jumping rounds at CCI4* they have gone over the time allowed and incurred time penalties. They’ll need to avoid that here.

Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot

Waiting in the wings to move up onto the podium this is a combination to watch. They’ve jumped clear on the final day on all three of their Championship appearances (Strzegom 2017, Rio 2016, Blair 2015) although note that they did have one pole down in the second individual round of jumping in Rio. They are likely to put the pressure on the top three here.

Flawless Great Britain

Great Britain were flawless in the cross-country and added nothing to their team dressage score of 80.80 with all four team members going clear and inside the time.

This equals the feat of Canada who also added nothing to their dressage team score after the cross-country at WEG 2010. They then went on to add just four show jumping penalties the following day, the lowest addition in the history of the World Games.

It means that Great Britain can also challenge the lowest ever finishing score of a team at a World Equestrian Games. New Zealand hold this record at the moment, they finished on 85.7 when winning in Rome in 1998.

Only one team has won team gold after not being in gold position overnight. Great Britain in 1986. All other team gold medalists have been in first position after cross-country. Things are looking good for Team Great Britain. They should win this by ten marks or more.

The Chasing Pack

There is little to choose from between Ireland and France in the next two medal positions at the moment although Ireland would be ahead of France even using their drop score which will give them a slight advantage.

Team Finishing Scores

When converting past results to the new scoring system, only two teams would have ever completing on a score lower then 100 – GBR 2010 (Fox-Pitt, King, Wilson, Cook) and NZL 1998 (Tait, Todd, Jefferis, Clark).

Three teams could still join this club, Great Britain, Ireland, and France as they all sit on sub-100 scores going into the final phase.

Poland

Pawel Spisak could be on for the best finish by a Polish rider at a World Championships. The record is currently held by Piotr Piasecki in Stockholm (1990) who finished 13th with score of 74.7. Pawel currently sits in 13th himself after the cross-country.

FODs

Ninteen combinations have finished on their dressage score in World Equestrian Games history. The largest number of these were nine in Kentucky.

Tryon can challenge this with 16 combinations still able to finish on their starting score.

Show Jumping Pointers

The toughest ever show jumping track we have seen at a World Championship came at Stockholm in 1990 – just 8% jumped clear. The highest is 38%, which came at Burghley in 1974. In Kentucky 2010, we say 36% jump clear (second highest) and in 2014 at Caen, 22% jumped clear. What will the extra days rest bring?

About EquiRatings

EquiRatings is an equestrian data analysis company based in Ireland. We work with federations and teams around the world to bring insights and content from data. The company was founded by Irish event rider Sam Watson who will be competing for Ireland in eventing at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon.