Eventing horses step into the spotlight at Versailles

The world’s best Eventing horses and riders will be first out of the starting blocks when the equestrian action gets underway at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Versailles (FRA) tomorrow morning with the opening dressage test.

A total of 81 horses, including alternates, came before Ground Jury President Christina Klingspor (SWE) and Ground Jury Members Xavier Le Sauce (FRA) and Robert Stevenson (USA) at this morning’s first Horse Inspection which began with some gentle rain in the air.

A total of four horses were held over for re-inspection before being passed fit to compete. They were Cash in Hand (Noor Slaoui – MAR), Toubleu de Rueire (Melody Johner- SUI), Golden Midnight (Malin Asai – SWE) and Banzai du Loir (Yasmin Ingham – GBR).

One additional horse, DSP Fighting Line (Lea Siegl) AUT, was reinspected and did not pass.

Late change

There has been a late change to Team USA’s line-up following the withdrawal of Will Coleman’s Diabolo. Elisabeth Halliday and Nutcracker have moved up from the alternate position to join Boyd Martin (Fedarman B) and Caroline Pamukcu (HSH Blake) in the US side, while Sydney Elliott and Diamantaire have been promoted to the alternate reserve position.

The horses are enjoying the fabulous facilities at the venue in Versailles and were brimming with energy and excitement as they strutted their stuff before the panel today.

One particularly enthusiastic chap was the lovely bright chestnut gelding Altier d’Aurois who nearly overshot the runway because he was so busy showing himself off in front of the officials and media. His rider, Ecuador’s Nicolas Wettstein, could only smile.

Draw

 The draw has been made, and the order-of-go for teams is as follows: 1, Germany; 2, Australia; 3, Canada; 4, Ireland; 5, Switzerland; 6, USA; 7, Poland; 8, Sweden; 9, Great Britain; 10, Brazil; 11, New Zealand; 12, Japan; 13, Italy; 14, Netherlands; 15, France; 16, Belgium.

German team member and defending individual Olympic champion Julia Krajewski will lead the way with Nickel 21 at 09.30 local time followed by Australia’s Shane Rose and Virgil, while Canada’s Michael Winter and El Mundo will go third and Ireland’s Sarah Ennis and Action Lady M will be fourth into the arena.

All combinations will do their dressage tests tomorrow and there will be a break after the 30th pair into the ring - USA’s Elisabeth Halliday and Nutcracker who will take their turn at 12.54. The action will resume at 14.15 with Poland’s Jan Kaminski and Jard and will be completed when Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Origi finish their test at approximately 18.22.

The dressage test is 2024 Olympic Games 5* test (short).

Great Britain is defending the team title and Germany’s Krajewski - who in Tokyo became the first-ever woman to win individual gold in Eventing with the great mare Amande De B’neville - will also be chasing a back-to-back double when setting the stage for all the rest as pathfinder with her 10-year-old gelding Nickel 21 who has shown some excellent recent form.