Earlier in the day, the four-in-hand driving teams, which were led by Tucker Johnson finishing in 14th place, were among a field of 38 drivers putting in the phase three test (cones) at the World Equestrian Games. He led the three Americans who brought their teams to compete across a technical and challenging three phases of the sport – dressage, marathon and today’s cones test.
Show Jumping: The Top 25
In the afternoon, it was back to show jumping, where the top 25 international riders were twice taken through the Main Stadium. Course A offered up 12 obstacles (15 efforts) and Course B provided nine obstacles (11 efforts). All of the riders were in hopes of making one of four precious spots to compete for an individual medal on Sunday, the last day of the 2006 Games. Their combined score from the three previous rounds were added to their scores earned from their two rounds put in today. The final score determined those who advanced. Once in the final four, the slate is wiped clean and the four riders will first ride their own mount, and then take a turn at their three opponents’ mounts. The four riders’ scores will be compiled to determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists in show jumping.
Two New Yorkers – Brewster’s McLain Ward aboard Sapphire and Cazenovia’s Beezie Madden aboard Authentic – made the cut. In the three days of competition so far, Madden has put down an absolutely flawless series of rounds, bringing no faults or time penalties. Her clean and clear rounds sat her as the #1 rider going into today’s two-rounds. Ward, who sits in the top five among very impressive company, nearly matched Madden’s amazing performances. He has downed only two rails in his WEG bid (a single rail in round two and one other during round three).
American show jumpers Margie Engle aboard Hidden Creek’s Quervo Gold and Laura Kraut aboard Miss Independent were both outside the cut for the top 25 and did not compete on Saturday. The U.S. Team was awarded a Silver medal for their collective work earlier in the week.
The order of go was in reverse order – from #25 to the lead rider – which meant that the two Americans kept their supporters and fan holding their breath until their time to start. It was painstaking.
First up were Ward and his Sapphire. The pair downed two rails – fence 10a (the first Liverpool in a pair) and fence 11 (a vertical). Eight points were added to their earlier scores from competition to end the first of two rounds on 12.87 points.
Madden and Authentic were last to go, and the tension was evident. The effort at #3 (a big oxer) determined the approach to the water (as to whether it would be five or six strides). Authentic, uncharacteristically, didn’t respond quickly enough to Madden’s direction. At the open water at #4, the gelding was “arguing” with Madden, who had to use more rein than she usually has to with the gelding. As a result, he took off early and did not get the width. Catching the tip of the water, they added their first faults in the entire competition. Four penalties landed Madden and Authentic at a score of 4.00, still in first place going into the second round.
Three horses did not return for the second round: France’s Herve Godignon and Obelix; Ukraine’s Gregory Wathelet and Loriot; and, Portugal’s Luciana Diniz and Dover.
In round two, Ward went clean and clear over the course; however, his earlier faults left him with a two-round score of 12.87. Ultimately, this would not leave him in the final four spots. He finished his world championship run at seventh place.
Madden’s second round was a nail-biter, even though she held a rail in hand. It seemed as if the 48,000 fans in the stands were holding their breath – and for good reason. Thankfully, for Team USA and hopes of an individual medal, she took on the course and finished clean and clear, as well. This left her with 4.00 overall points, a berth in the final four and a chance at a Rolex World Championship Gold medal.
Asked how it would be to jump the course on the other riders’ horses, Madden said, “Well, I think probably Shutterfly and Authentic are going to be pretty similar and Jos’ horse is going to be a bit different. You wish you could predict something, but there are a lot of unknowns tomorrow. We go in there on our own horses. We know how they’re prepared. We know how they lasted through the week, both mentally and physically. When you’re switching onto strange horses, it makes all of that unknown so very difficult to predict.”
Australia’s Edwina Alexander, one of the day’s two double-clear round was stunned at her fortune. “I’ve already packed my bags and was ready to go. I guess I have to unpack now,” she said.
The other four riders who will battle Madden and Authentic include (second through fourth place): Belgium’s Jos Lansink and Cavalor Cumano; Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly; and, Australia’s Edwina Alexander and Isovlas Pialotta.
This is the first time that three women have made it to the final four riders competing for the championship title. The only woman to have won the title was Canadian Gail Greenough – the first woman, the first North American and the youngest rider to take the coveted title. Perhaps this year, some 20 years later, an exciting, new page will be entered into the show jumping record books.
Four-in-Hand Driving
Despite the nice weather and the improved footing, today was not Team USA’s best showing. One American driver was disqualified after going off course which left the U.S. team in eighth place, losing their 2002 Silver medal.
Eight drivers did not return today after the marathon course. That left only 38 drivers in the competition, three of those were eliminated on course.
American James Fairclough was the first to tackle the 20-obstacle course consisting of 26 passages and 600 meters, with a time allowed of 199 seconds. Three penalty points were awarded for each downed ball and 0.5 penalty points for each second exceeding the time allowed. Fairclough was in 21st place overall and moved up to 20th by the end of the competition. He had a nice round today, but picked up 1.72 penalty points for coming in over the time allowed, at 202.44, putting him in 10th place in the obstacle course phase competition.
Fairclough used the same team he used on the marathon course and said that they weren’t tired at all. In fact, he thinks they enjoy the marathon phase most of all. He did, however, have some problems today with obstacle 12 and 13, as did his teammate Tucker Johnson.
“The new pace you have to keep is so forward,” said Fairclough. “They’ve taken all the box elements out and made it so you really have to go as forward as you can. They do all these offset turns which slow down all the forward energy so the horses have to really be able to go back and forth a lot. I try to keep a really steady forward rhythm, but I guess it wasn’t quite enough.”
At the end of his course, his left leader, Kavango, threw out a few bucks, but Fairclough said that doesn’t bother him. “This is his first season so he’s thinking it’s fun to do that,” he said. “It doesn’t disrupt anything, he comes right back in and off he goes.”
Johnson, who is also known as the “king of cones,” had a few more problems with the course when it was time for his go. He knocked a ball off at obstacle 10 and also received nine time faults after coming in at 213.17. Overall, Johnson was the highest-placed American in 14th place.
“Today I couldn’t get it straight and forward,” Johnson said. “I feel like if I had sped up any more in the technical elements, I would have knocked balls down right and left. I knew I was going to be behind time before I even looked at the split time, because when I turned coming out of the first serpentine, I didn’t get enough loop, the leader’s were falling out. Then I put in some more speed, but I couldn’t make it up. I got myself very sticky there at that hard combination—12 and 13—then I sped up and seemed to overcome it, but I didn’t have the confidence to go at that speed in the technical elements.”
Chester Weber was the last driver for the U.S. and looked to be having a strong round until the bell rang indicating that he had gone off course. Weber drove obstacle #9b a second time and in the wrong direction when he meant to drive #10, which was very close to #9b.
It was a day of mixed emotion for German Michael Freund who announced before this competition that he will be retiring and hopes to hand the reins over to his young son. As he came out of the competition arena one last time, his son got a boost up and Freund wiped his eyes and handed him the reins as they drove away.
Overall Freund finished in fifth-place but was a member of the Gold medal-winning team of Germany. Belgium took the Silver, and The Netherlands took the Bronze. The individual Gold medalist was Felix Marie Brasseur of Belgium. The Silver medalist was Ysbrand Chardon of The Netherlands, and the Bronze medalist was Germany’s Christoph Sandmann.