American combination Mara Dean riding Nicki Henley went to the head of a quality field of 27 horse-and-rider combinations riding before the ground jury of Barry Roycroft, Jo Young and Janine Rohr-Cicurel. Team members Stephen Bradley and From are second and Karen O’Connor riding Theodore O’Connor are third.
The most experienced rider on the squad, O’Connor, was second in the ring and got things off on the right foot for the U.S team with the adorable Theodore O’Connor. Owned by the Theodore O’Connor Syndicate, the 12-year-old hugely popular pony can’t move like some of the Warmblood horses, but he proved today that it doesn’t matter. O’Connor rode a very accurate test picking up scores of eights and nines for her halt at A.
“I was so proud of him,” said O’Connor after her test.
Never giving a point away, the pair got straight sevens and eights for the very valuable collective marks. A final score of 47.10 proved that the judges were prepared to reward a quality performance.
“His score was eight points better than Kentucky,” said O’Connor. “A lot of that is Mark’s influence [chef d’equipe Mark Philips], the three of us get a long really, really well... I’d like to think in the next six to eight months, I can improve it even more. Having the dressage people here with us, they told me they can help me get an extended trot out of him.”
Darren Chiacchia and Better I Do It (owned by Adrienne Iorio) were the second American combination in the arena. Chiacchia, the reigning Gold medalist from the 2003 Pan American Games, is riding again as an individual. He and Better I Do It, a 14-year-old Swedish Warmblood, put in a very workmanlike performance to end up fourth.
“I am very, very pleased,” said Chiacchia. “But, truth be told, I’m a little disappointed because he’s been so good in training.”
Quality trot transitions and an accurate rider made up for mistakes in both changes. They slipped in just behind Theodore O’Connor and Karen O’Connor on a score of 49.4.
“I’ve really been trying to get it to the next level,” he said. “But, whenever you up the grade a bit, it takes a while for that to get confirmed before you really have ownership of that at the competition. I, maybe, in a couple of places, got a little greedy looking for the new work, but maybe didn’t have the connection.”
Second team rider, Californian Gina Miles with Thomas Schulz and Laura Coates’ giant 13-year-old Irish Thoroughbred, McKinlaigh, filled up the ring with lots of movement and presence, but made a couple of mistakes that cost them a top score. McKinlaigh broke to canter in the first extended trot and picked up the canter instead of the trot after the halt at A. They received really good marks on some of their other work, and his fancy movement was rewarded in the collective marks. They finished on a score of 56.9, good enough for 11th place.
“I think that we put too much pressure on him out in the warm up,” said Miles who represented the U.S. as an individual at the World Equestrian Games. “We pushed him over the edge a little bit. So, obviously, I’m disappointed in my individual score, but the point I’m here for is to ride for the team, so I’m going to finish on that score.”
Stephen Bradley and Charlotte Harris’ From, the third team combination for the United States, put in a lovely, polished performance. Bradley, who was a member of the Gold medal team effort in 2003, used his experience to finesse a score of 46.5 out of the 15-year-old Russian Thoroughbred gelding who receive two eights for his first flying change. The pair also got eights for the halt at A and took advantage of very good canter work to go to the lead temporarily.
I was real pleased with my horse," said Bradley. "Especially considering after Jersey Fresh [in June] he'd been a little over the top and wound pretty tight. In particular, I've been working with Mara [Dean] on a regular basis, and she spent a lot of extra time helping me work through this and sitting on him for me in preparation for this, and it made a total difference in the horse that I feel brought him up another whole level."
Dean, who always puts in a polished performance in the dressage, proved that the help she gave Bradley with From was certainly not lost on her own horse. Riding as an individual, she certainly did not disappoint expectations with Willow Bend Farm's Nicki Henley.
"I'm thrilled with the place I'm in and with the score that I got," said Dean. "My horse can be a little bit difficult in the atmosphere, and it was a little touch and go to start. But, then he took a deep breath, and I have to thank Mark [Phillips] for improving even a little bit more these last couple of weeks and taking it to another level."
Dean received very good marks, primarily eights on all of her work. A 10 for the halt at C highlighted the test, but all of the work was of tremendous quality. Nicki Henley, a big moving 12-year-old Irish Thoroughbred, tried very hard, and his effort was rewarded with a score of 40.20 much to the delight of the American fans. Dean will be the one to beat over the remainder of the competition for the individual honors.
"The exciting thing is that I know it can be that much better," said Dean.
Phillip Dutton, riding under the U.S. flag for the first time after winning two gold medals with the Australian team, made a lasting impression with Tru Luck. In the anchor position, he put in a stellar performance with the ten-year-old Thoroughbred gelding. Owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson, Tru Luck demonstrated good trot work with very clear transitions within the gait and excellent half-pass, scoring sevens and eights on those movements. Straight eights on the extended canter helped the combination finish fifth on a score of 49.8. Dutton acknowledged that the horse is still relatively inexperienced at the highest level of the sport.
"I was pleased without being ecstatic," said Dutton. "We had a few little errors that stopped it from being a really good test. He was good. He's still on the green side, but he's improved a lot since Kentucky. I've got to keep in mind that this time last year he'd just done a two-star."
After Dutton's test, Team USA finished the day with a score of 143.4 and stretched out a significant lead over Canada who ended on 159.9. Brazil lies in third with 173.2.
The cross-country gets underway at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, and Karen O'Connor will be the first American on course at 10:05 a.m. An inordinate amount of effort has gone into the course over the last two months, but there is some concern that the ground is not established yet.
"They got the right pony going first to find out how the track is," said O'Connor. "We're a little concerned that the sod hasn't settled and whether or not they will slip around the turns so that will be part of my job."
Pictured right - Jim Cogdell and Mr. Gibbes - cheering all Americans and Canadians! Jim shouted especially loud for Theodore O'Connor -'Go pony!'
Also at Deodoro on Friday:
The first day of eventing competition started with power failure. One of the generators that supplies power to the main arena malfunctioned meaning no power to the scorers, the loud speaker or the screens. Just after 9 a.m., they got it all up and running and Argentine rider Rodolfo Grazzini got things underway at 9:20 a.m.
Two stubborn birds stood their ground during Jamaican rider Samantha Albert's test. Albert's mare, Before I Do It, never wavered in her composure and put in a stellar performance picking up a score of 50.2. Before I Do It was bred and produced by the same connections that are responsible for Darren Chiacchia's mount, Better I Do It. Both are by the Thoroughbred stallion Billion. Albert started both of the horses who were bred by her ex-husband's mother, Eva Albert, in Sweden.