American Olympian Boyd Martin (Cochranville, PA), came to Bromont to prepare his very best horses for the biggest event in the world. He should leave feeling fairly confident, having taken the win in the CCI4* Saturday afternoon with his Tokyo Olympic mount Tsetserleg on a final score of 52 points. He also took third with On Cue (56.1), and fifth with Commando 3 (59.3), as well as third in the 3* with Contessa (44.6).
With the event running as a ‘short format’, the dressage and show jumping phases were completed Friday, leaving the exciting cross-country as the final and deciding phase Saturday.
Given the rain of the past three weeks, it was expected that galloping times would be conservative, and riders would tread carefully. Thankfully the ground held up well, and the organizers were generous with stone chips and gravel as needed on takeoff and landings to ensure safety across all levels. Time was the deciding factor Saturday, with every FEI rider save one (Canada’s Jessica Phoenix, winner of the 2* with Tugce) adding time faults to their overall score.