Eventing comes under the Tokyo spotlight
It’s the turn of the world’s best eventing athletes to stand under the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games spotlight over the next few days as all but one of the horses presented at this morning’s horse inspection at Baji Koen Equestrian Park were confirmed for action by the Ground Jury.
The Polish reserve combination of Jan Kaminski and Jard have been called up because Pawel Spisak’s gelding, Banderas, did not get through. Meanwhile, Castle Larchfield Purdy, competed by Lauren Billys from Puerto Rico, was sent to the holding box but was subsequently declared fit to compete. Canada’s Jessica Phoenix did not present her gelding Pavarotti, so the number of starters in the opening Dressage phase has been reduced from 65 to 63.
First
First into the arena tomorrow morning at 08:30 a.m. local time will be Thailand’s Arinadtha Chavatanont with Boleybawn Prince. The pair were on the bronze medal-winning team at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018. It’s a history-making moment because both Thailand and China are fielding an Olympic Eventing team for the very first time.
Also making his mark, and elegantly turned out in the inspection, is the first-ever Eventing athlete to represent Hong Kong, Thomas Heffernan Ho who will partner the stallion Tayberry.
There will be two sessions of dressage tomorrow and another on Saturday morning before the horses are transported for a sleepover at Sea Forest in Tokyo Bay where the cross-country phase will take place early on Sunday morning. They return to Baji Koen that afternoon and on Monday the final show jumping phase will decide the team and individual medals.
New test
A brand new Olympic dressage test, taking just under four minutes to complete, will be performed for the very first time, and second to go tomorrow morning will be world number one Oliver Townend with Ballaghmor Class. The British rider will be aiming to put as much pressure as possible on reigning individual double-champion Michael Jung from Germany who will be second-last to go on Saturday morning with Chipmunk. France will be defending the team title.
There’s a 40-year gap between the oldest athlete in the field, 62-year-old Andrew Hoy from Australia, and the youngest, 22-year-old Lea Siegl from Austria. Every one of them will be hoping to hog the Olympic limelight, and you can keep up with all the results live at this link here.
Stuart Landrum and Laurie Garner have been helping direct riders to the dressage ring at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event for nearly 30 years, maintaining a calm and collected atmosphere for each pair in the final warmup ring before they head down the chute to the Rolex Stadium.
Still riding high on the excitement of the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event? So are we! One of the most exciting parts about the event is getting to watch, and sometimes meet, your eventing idols up close and in person. This year, the Kentucky team put together a group of really fun "behind the barn" videos with both four- and five-star competitors to help you get to know them a little bit better.
It was a weekend to remember at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. Special stories were plentiful, with Oliver Townend taking his fourth Kentucky win in his 100th career five-star start, horses like Sharon White's Claus 63 and Liz Halliday's Cooley Nutcracker completing their first five-stars, and fan favorites like Mia Farley and Phelps and Lauren Nicholson and Vermiculus impressing.
Pierre Le Goupil, a former elite-level eventing athlete, turned decorated course designer in charge of designing the eventing course at this year’s Paris Olympics, has been appointed the new cross-country course designer for the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill presented by Brown Advisory, beginning in 2025.