It was 31 degrees today in Rio for the first day of dressage and, sitting in the shady tribune overlooking the arena, I was reminded of the question ‘What are the most expensive seats at a bullfight?’ Answer, the ones in the shade
For the smallish number of spectators in the arena today the best place to be was in the shade of the big screen and they understandably flocked to it like moths to a candle. Some hardy souls sat in the sun all day which shows either true loyalty to the sport or Brazilian immunity to the sun
It was pretty warm for the riders in their fancy dressage gear and top hats or crash hats for some but not the New Zealanders (despite their new National ruling) and William Fox-Pitt. One of the quotes of the day was William’s response to the question as to whether he has considered wearing a crash hat for dressage since his fall. The response was an adamant no
“I’ve always worn a top hat and I’ve been eventing for 33 years. It’s important to me because it’s part of the part of the dress. Of course I’ll wear one when they force us to which sadly one day they will.”
William and Chilli Morning
As it turned out, it is probably the members of the press who should be wearing head protection. Just after 1pm today the British photographer Jon Stroud was sitting in the Media Facility (basically a large white tent) and heard a loud noise when something fell to the floor just behind him. It turned out to be a bullet which had been fired through the roof, making for quite some excitement. Whoever said that dressage days were boring? The authorities have reassured us that they believe it was a stray bullet (possibly from the shooting competition also taking place here) rather than a deliberate attack on the Olympic media. Well, that’s okay then but these Olympic shooters need to improve their target
But back to the competition arena...........
Regardless of what he had on his head, William moved into the lead in the afternoon on a lean looking Chilli Morning with a score of 37 and he was obviously delighted with their performance following the long road of rehabilitation that had got him here. Apologising for not having shaved he joked “They’ll say I’ve lost it since the accident but my razor broke and I haven’t had time to go to the shop”
“Of course it was what I was hoping for because he is good on the flat and he’s been working brilliantly with Tracie Robertson in the lead up to being here. He’s done a lot of good tests in the past and today he felt lovely, calm and really on the job and I just didn’t want to let him down”
“In November I thought ‘August is months away and I’ve got loads of time, I’ll be in Rio because Chilli is such a good horse’ but then you suddenly realise that Rio is just around the corner and I was really just ready in time. I’m very lucky and very happy to be here”
Chris Burton and Santano II
It had to be a good test because Chris Burton and Santano II had shown just why they had been chosen for the Australian team only two rides before. Chris admitted to some nerves before coming in to the warm up arena but then he said to himself “Come on, if there is ever a chance to enjoy yourself, it’s on this horse, in this arena, at this Olympics so let’s have some fun”
There was a big smile on his face as he saluted the judges and there was a big smile at the end – he knew that he had done something pretty special with the first sub-40 score of the event and as he rode out there were whistles of approval from his team mates. There were scores of 9.5 and 9 being pulled out from the judges and the New Zealand judge Andrew Bennie had Chris well ahead however a poor walk cost them dearly. Chris’ final score of 37.60 was just pipped by William on Chilli Morning who performed a less expressive test which was however mistake free, leaving Chris in second place
Michael Jung and Sam
Of course there was still Michael Jung to come and William, still standing with the press as Michael rode, watched with interest. It was very close at the start of the test with Michael and Sam’s scores trending with those of William and Chilli Morning but Michael made a mistake in the counter canter, bringing Sam back to a walk due to a ‘miscommunication’
“It was a stupid mistake in the canter; it was just a little bit of misunderstand between us. It wasn’t that he was nervous or looking at something, he was just wondering, do I do a change or not?”
“Hopefully that is our last mistake of our competition” added Michael with a smile, who moved up from 11th after the dressage to win individual and team gold at the 2012 London Olympics
Michael’s team mate Sandra Auffarth was one of the earliest riders out today and she took an early lead on 41.60, which was maintained until Chris and Santano moved ahead in the afternoon.
There are some heavy expectations for the German team who have been described as ‘unbeatable’ in recent times but they are really just humans and horses! Sandra too had a little glitch in the changes but was happy with her test although the people around her were probably expecting a little more from the World Champion who finished the day in fourth place
“My feeling in there was really great and I’m a bit sad that everyone was a bit down and saying ‘what happened?’ when I came out” said Sandra “I know he’s a good horse and it’s a tough cross country so it’s certainly not lost here!”
Astier Nicolas and Piaf De B'Neville
On her score of 41.60 Sandra just overtook France’s first rider, the young Astier Nicolas and his Pau 4* winner Piaf De B’Neville who put on a good show of dressage, again with just a small mistake in the changes
“When he does the changes well, he does them to a high standard– it’s very black and white – but today we had a bit of a problem to the left” explained Astier
Both Astier and his team mate Karim Laghouage, who also rode today, are Olympic first timers and have impressed with a sixth and seventh place. Whereas the top five riders’ scores had no huge discrepancies, Karim and his 11 year old stallion’s score of 43.40 varied quite widely among the judges, with Andrew Bennie having him in third place and Sandy Phillips ranking him in 18th. Karim believed that his horse was capable of doing well and was very happy with his test but a little less happy with the score, which he thought was worth six percentage points more than he was given
Another unhappy camper despite being in the top ten was the USA’s Clark Montgomery who finished the day in 10th place on a score of 46.60 which is certainly not the usual score for Clark and Loughan Glen. In their last 16 starts at 3*/4* level they have had only two scores above 40 and Clark was visibly disappointed with their performance
“I squeezed every point I could out of him” said Clark “I have no idea really what happened. He warmed up beautifully and it felt good until he tried to walk! And then he just didn’t click back in – usually if we make a mistake you can make it up again but this time he just stayed in that frame of mind and I couldn’t get him out of it”
Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh
Australia’s Sam Griffiths is currently in ninth place on 46.30 and the Netherlands’ Tim Lips in eighth on 46.40, making this group in the bottom half of the top ten very close in scores.
Sam was the first rider out for Australia earlier in the day and he guessed that the scores would start to improve later on “Brocks went really well, my personal best is a few marks below that and I had hoped to be close to a PB but I think they’re judging pretty tough out there” he said “It’s going to be a fierce competition - I’m in the mix although I’ll probably be a few marks off the leader.”
Sam and Paulank Brockagh moved up from 25th after the dressage at Badminton to win in 2014 so no doubt he is hopeful that they can replicate their performance there and make up the difference on the cross country. Tim Lips and his big 10 year old gelding Bayro looked very impressive as they entered the arena but a few little mistakes brought their scores down
“At the beginning I thought it was going to be really good but then we had two mistakes” said Tim “I know we can do much better so on the one hand I was really happy with the way we started but then disappointed with the mistakes”
Rounding out the top ten is Olympic veteran Sir Mark Todd for New Zealand who also had a few problems “He’s a horse that’s capable of doing 75%”said Mark “But he just got in there and got a bit distracted. He got a bit excited before he went in there so his trot work was a bit tense but as he went through the test he relaxed more, it was good that he actually walked in the walk and then in the canter he started to do his better work”
Withe the first two riders having completed their tests the team standings are currently Germany in the lead (82.50), Australia second (83.90) and Britain third (84.20)
Current individual results here
