The Canadian team put up a score of just four faults and is sitting in sixth place after the first round of team competition at the 2016 Olympic Games. The result was good enough to earn a spot in tomorrow’s second round, which is reserved for the top eight countries.
Yann Candele and First Choice 15 are tied for 15th after the second individual qualifier.
The team’s top placing after the first competition earned Canada a later draw for today’s class and the benefit of watching the early rounds. Yann Candele and First Choice 15 were 32nd in the order, but first in the ring for Canada and produced a clear round. “I’m very pleased,” he said after. “That’s my position – go first and try to put a score of zero. It’s a good start for everybody and try to come back for tomorrow. It’s great for me and the whole team.
Candele said the course was technical but rode well. He paid particular attention to how he rode the water jump, commenting that it was quite difficult to jump clear. “It is 4m, it’s red tape. They don’t really see it that well. It is just a big box in front. If you don’t come spot on and the horse does the right thing, you’ve got a foot in the water very easily. It’s not like it’s hard to jump, it’s just hard to jump clear.”
Tiffany Foster and Triple X III are tied for 30th individually.
Second in Canada’s roster, Tiffany Foster and Tripple X III had an uncharacteristic fault at the wall in the last line. The tap was so light that Foster didn’t even realize that it had come down. “I thought he jumped unbelievable. He felt so good, he didn’t come close to touching a jump. I thought I was clear when I went through the timers,” she explained. “I had no idea he even rubbed that and I felt he jumped it great. I didn’t know he knocked it down. It was really, really unlucky because it must have been a very, very light rub. I never had a wall down with him ever so, of course, here is where we have the first one! I thought it was really unlucky, but I was so happy with him I thought he jumped unbelievable he felt really good like he was having a good time out there.”
Tripple X III was part of the British gold medal team under Ben Maher at the 2012 Olympics, and Foster has earned her own gold medal with him at the Pan Am Games last year. “I’m telling you anybody can go in the ring and ride Tripple X and feel confident because you honestly don’t think there is a jump he can’t jump,” she said. “That is a great feeling when you feel that at the Olympic Games. When you walk the course and you don’t even register how big the jumps are, that’s a great feeling I don’t think everybody gets. I feel really fortunate to have him and just have to thank Andy and Carline Zeigler for horses like this and also for the confidence it gives us to have nine horses that are awesome.”
Amy Millar and Heros are tied for 26th individually.
Amy Millar and Heros had a single rail and time fault for a score of five faults. “He was fantastic. He jumped really, really well. We just made one little mistake,” she lamented. “If I had got a little bit faster to that vertical, I would have made the time allowed and probably jumped clean. That’s the thing with this course, it’s a game and you hesitate for one second and end up with 5 faults.”
Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 are part of an 11-way tie for 1st place individually.
Riding as Canada’s anchor, Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 had a clear round to secure Canada’s spot in the second round. “Mark told me you gotta go clear if we want to keep playing,” he said referencing team coach Mark Laskin on the team’s chance of making it through to the second round, though the pair actually had a one rail margin. “She jumped a fantastic warm-up and I just felt good up on her. She didn’t feel like she was going to be lazy, it would have to be a mistake on my part. I didn’t have the feeling she was looking to make a mistake or was tired or anything. She felt very good.”
Four-way Tie for First
Many were surprised by the number of clear rounds today which has left a four-way tie for first place between USA, Netherlands, Germany and Brazil with France in fifth with a single fault.
The class saw 21 clear rounds and six more with a single time faul,t but the riders appreciated what Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge was trying to accomplish.
“Looking back, you could say maybe it was a bit on the soft side, but I prefer this to too many crashes and fall,” said Ludger Beerbaum, who had four faults and was Germany’s drop score with Casello. “There are four teams in first position and everything is up to tomorrow to decide it. It keeps the drama up!”
Mclain Ward rode the anchor for the USA and was clear with Azur. “The stronger horse/rider combinations certainly handled it pretty easily. I think the course was good,” he said. “I think they are going to need more size tomorrow to separate these teams.
End of the Road
Seven teams will not continue tomorrow, including Qatar, Argentina, Spain, Great Britain, Ukraine, Japan and Australia.
Great Britain, the defending gold medal champions, had no luck all day with rails falling in each round. Anchor rider John Whitaker and Ornellaia scored 23 faults after a refusal in the triple combination and dropping other rails on course. The result is particularly surprising as the 11-year-old mare recently placed fourth with a double clear round in the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.
The ground jury also disqualified two more riders today. The Brazilian team will have to continue with just three riders after their team member Stephan de Freitas Barcha was disqualified for excessively spurring his horse, Landpeter Do Feroleto. Ukraine’s Cassio Rivetti was also eliminated for excessive use of spurs on Fine Fleur du Marais.
The jury had already disqualified Nicola Philippaerts, who was competing as an individual for Belgium, for the same infraction during the first competition.
Dutch rider Jur Vrieling was also disqualified from individual competition for drawing blood on Zirocco Blue after reprimanding for two refusals on course. He is permitted to continue to compete for his team, which is a separate competition, but will not be able to proceed into the individual final.
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