Canadian Eventing Team 14th After Dressage

The first of the equestrian sports at the Paris Olympics, eventing, saw 27 countries, 16 teams, 64 horse/rider combinations, and 11 countries represented by individuals competing on the first day for the Olympic championship. The competition format has three riders per team with no drop-score, which was first introduced in Tokyo three years ago. Horses can be substituted for the team competition, and a horse/athlete combination may be substituted by a reserve combination for medical/veterinary reasons in any of the three tests after the start of the competition. Substitution will incur a penalty for the team of 20 points. One substitution per team is permitted.

The well-seasoned Canadian team drew third in the starting order and consists of Mike Winter on El Mundo, Karl Slezak on Hot Bobo, and Jessica Phoenix on Freedom GS. They finished the day with 106.40 points in 14th position.

Winter and El Mundo were the first to go and were also part of the gold medal Pan Am Team in Chile last year that secured Canadian eventers entry to the Olympics. Winter makes his home in Gloucester, England and competed in both Burnham Market and Bramham, both CCI4* events, there to prepare for this year’s Games. The pair’s dressage score was 35.2 which is higher than their usual mark.

“There was some tight trot work in the middle and tight canter lateral work,” commented Winter, adding that the highlights were the first extended trot and set of changes.

Having groomed at the 2004 Olympics for Gary Roque, Slezak is delighted to now be making his Olympic team debut. He was pleased with his round, which scored 35.80 and put him in 46th position. He noted the errors in the flying changes and some tension with left-to-right lead changes which also made his mark higher than usual.

“I was pleased that she was such a good girl,” Slezak noted after. “We all know that she can get a bit spooky in the dressage ring, and I thought she held it together really, really well.”

Despite having ridden at two Olympics, two World Championship, and four Pan American Games, astonishingly these Games are the first time that Jessica Phoenix is riding in the anchor position. She is riding Galten Farms’s Freedom GS, a mare by their own stallion Humble GS who competed to the 4* level, also with Phoenix. The pair scored 35.4 finishing in 43rd position.

“It’s her first time doing a test at the five-star level and it is by far the biggest atmosphere she’s ever felt,” explained Phoenix of the low marks for flying changes. “This test, I call it quick and dirty,” she added, “because it’s just like you get in there and if anything goes wrong, you’re done because you can’t get it back. There’s just no time to breathe.”

The team’s Technical Advisor is Rebecca Howard, who has been in that role for the last three years, having been with the team at the World Championships in Pratoni in 2022 and the Pan Am Games in Chile in 2023. Howard, who competed for Canada at the 2012 Olympics in London and in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, was pleased with the team’s performance.

“They really went in and did a super job, all three of them,” she said, noting that the hugely impressive venue may have played a role in the day’s scores. “We would probably have liked one of those scores to be lower, but at the end of the day I’m not disappointed at all with any of their performances.”

Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow’s cross-country created by French course designer Pierre Le Goupil. The course is 5.15km long through the Park of Versailles with 41 jumping efforts and a 9:02 time allowed.

“This is my third Olympics and it’s probably by far the most technical,” commented Winter. “It’s an extremely technical course and long routes are costly for time, straight routes are costly with risk. I think it will be an interesting day.”

“It looks good. Certainly challenging right off the hop,” said Slezak, “so it’s going to take a lot of concentration on our part to make sure we give them a good ride at the beginning. And then it looks like it opens up a little bit and hopefully we can be fast the rest of the way.”

“I’m pumped,” commented a beaming Phoenix. “I cannot wait to leave the start box on that horse. From start flags to finish flags, it is game on. I am so excited to take her out there tomorrow.”

Great Britain finished the day in the lead with 66.70 points ahead of Germany with 74.10, and France with 81.20.

Laura Collette, considered the favourite at the outset of competition, broke the Olympic eventing dressage record by scoring 17.5.

“I loved every second of it and that horse (London 52) is unbelievable. What he’s done throughout my whole career, it’s just amazing, and he keeps on delivering. So I’m just really, really grateful for him.”

The Italian team may substitute in a rider for the cross-country phase after Emiliano Portale’s horse, Future, was eliminated for blood in the mouth after the dressage test. The team is penalized 100 points for the elimination and 20 points for the substitution.

Full results here.