The US is breathing a sigh of relief after securing a showjumping ticket to Paris 2024 at the 11th hour as the final team places for next year’s Olympics are decided.

The Pan American Games, and the eventing and showjumping Nations Cups, were the last chance for countries to collect team tickets to Paris 2024 this autumn. There is one outstanding dressage team spot, which H&H understands is likely to be allocated to the highest-ranked country not already qualified.

The US, which has won six showjumping medals over the last five Olympics, had missed qualification via Nations Cup finals and the 2022 World Championships. This meant that the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games was the final opportunity for the US – one of the world’s strongest showjumping nations – to bag a Paris team ticket. After ending the first day in provisional fifth, the side clawed their way up the leaderboard to win gold and Paris qualification.

“There’s a huge sense of relief,” said US chef d’equipe Robert Ridland. “We really brought this down to the wire in terms of qualification and the team produced today, especially with three clears in the first round and four in the second.

“I don’t think people have talked about how competitive the Pan American Games has become and it’s very stiff competition for all of the teams. For us, this gold is just the icing on top because our priority was to secure our qualification, so now the team can enjoy this moment, but we have to immediately start shifting our focus and planning to Paris.”

Canada swiped team places in all three Olympic disciplines in Chile. Brazil, which had already qualified for Olympic showjumping at the 2023 Nations Cup final, collected team dressage and eventing places, while Mexico secured a team showjumping spot.

“I needed the defibrillator, but other than that I’m fine!” said Canadian showjumping chef d’equipe Ian Millar.

Mike Winter, part of Canada’s gold medal-winning eventing team at Santiago, credited the achievement to “two years of complete high performance restructuring”.

“We executed today but that foundation is what made it happen. It’s been a really positive environment and it has allowed us all to do our best and that is so key,” he said. “It’s not one thing that’s magical or exceptional, it’s all the small things. I’ve been in the high performance programme since 1995 and I’ve been in the team since 2003 and this is the most solid, productive structure we’ve had.”

Argentina, Chile and Colombia have secured one individual showjumping place each, and there were also two individual dressage places available. One of these was secured for Ecuador by history-makers Julio Mendoza Loor on Jewel’s Goldstrike, who won the nation’s first Pan American Games dressage gold medal, and the other for Chile by Svenja Grimm aboard Doctor Rossi.

Italy scooped its Paris eventing spot through the Nations Cup series. The Italian team’s results this year meant the country knew it had secured an Olympic ticket ahead of the Boekelo final (5 to 8 October).

“It’s great for the country, to be qualified for the Olympics now we need to try to have the best possible horses to go there and try to do the best we can,” said Giovanni Ugolotti, who has five horses with the required results to be in consideration for Paris.

Britain booked its Paris team places in all three disciplines at the 2022 World Championships.

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A 69-year-old architect and his home-bred mare will be among those vying for an Olympic ticket this weekend – with a lawyer and a medical student among his teammates.

Juan Carlos Tafur Eisenmayer and Blue Moon are representing Colombia in the eventing at the Pan American Games in Chile, the dressage phase of which starts today (27 October).

Juan, from Bogotá, is an architect who has worked on projects from housing to sporting venues, but his real love is horses.

“I don’t know how I find the time to do it, but it happens!” he said.

Juan, who turns 70 in December, runs a sport horse breeding business with his wife, with lines going back to the famous Irish jumping sire King of Diamonds, and said he might have had a chance of an Olympic place earlier in his career but family life intervened.

“Now it’s easier for me to develop the sport more intensively,” he said.

Juan, who is at his fourth Pan Am Games, has also represented his country at the Bolivarian Games, winning two team bronzes and one individual, and at the Central American Games, winning team silver. He is a showjumping course-designer who works in South Africa, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Venezuela and Canada.

He said he is impressed by the professionalism at the Pan Am Games but that some nations need to do more to be competitive.

“The standard of horsemanship is much higher but we still have too many differences between Europe and the US and what we are doing in South America,” he said. “That is because here it is difficult to travel and bring people together, it’s so difficult to move horses around and so expensive.

“I try to encourage people by saying ‘If I can do it then you have to try!’ Be focused, try to progress, anything is possible – although I’m not sure about a medal!”

Juan said the cross-country is his favourite phase, and that his 14-year-old mare loves it too.

“We walked the course yesterday – it’s tough, we’ve never had these mountains and hills so she will be a little surprised but we will enjoy it!” he said, adding that riding keeps him fit, and Blue Moon is his perfect partner.

“When you have a horse that’s light, capable, willing and careful it’s fantastic,” he said. “I work for my horses and they are everything to me!”

Juan’s teammates are professional rider Lucero Desrochers S, Andres Felipe Gomez Sanabria, a “young man studying medicine”, and Mauricio Benmudez, a “lawyer who just bought an Irish horse!”

There are two team places for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on offer at the Pan Ams. The United States have booked their place, so the countries in contention are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.

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Ecuadorian rider Julio Mendoza Loor won historic Pan American Games gold with a horse who lives out 24/7 – and is his “best friend”.

This first dressage gold for the country in the Games’ 72-year history went to Julio and Jewel’s Goldstrike, whose freestyle performance earned them a score of 87.23, the top spot on the podium, and qualification for Paris 2024.

“I can’t believe it – history for Ecuador and I got my spot for the Olympics today so it’s really exciting!” Julio said.

In Sunday’s (22 October) grand prix the combination had some costly mistakes, but on Monday they won the grand prix special.

“My plan was to go mistake-free and I did it!” Julio said, adding that he knew he had to hold his nerve.

“Especially after my last pirouette/piaffe, [going] straight from pirouette to piaffe which is really complicated, he was really ready for it. After that I had to hold in my tears because I just wanted to cry!”

Julio said “Goldie” is a member of the family.

“I got him from a friend five years ago and the first time I rode him I was laughing because he wanted to be a little bit cheeky and I said ‘come on baby, bring it on!’” Julio said.

“I love his character and we’ve become best friends.

“He lives outside 24/7; he has his own stall with his name on it but he loves his field. For me if that’s where he is happiest then that’s where he has to live.

“I can’t express how grateful I am to this horse. He gave me everything and more than I deserve, and I’m always going to be grateful to him. He’s always going to be at home in the field – I love him!”

Brazil’s João Marcari Oliva and Feel Good VO took individual silver and US combination Anna Marek and Fire Fly the bronze. The second individual Olympic ticket on offer went to Chilean rider Svenja Grimm with Doctor Rossi, who came eighth.

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Brazilian eventer Ruy Fonseca has been given the green light to fly home to Britain to continue his recovery from injuries sustained in a cross-country fall at the Pan American Games on Saturday, 3 August.

Ruy and Ballypatrick SRS had a rotational fall at the event in Lima, Peru, and the rider suffered a broken humerus and three broken ribs. The horse got to his feet straight after the fall and was checked over by the official veterinary team, who confirmed he was completely unhurt.

“I’m looking forward to getting home and starting rehabilitation and physiotherapy on my left shoulder at Oaksey House,” Ruy told H&H, referring to the Injured Jockeys Fund centre in Lambourne.

“I’m a bit bored and can’t wait to be back on the horses again — this was my first serious fall with some bad broken bones, but at the end of the day, I was very lucky.

“I’m determined to ride as soon as possible and hopefully be able to run my horses before the season is finished. Long term, my goal is definitely being on the Brazilian team for Tokyo 2020.”

Despite Ruy’s elimination, the Brazilian team claimed silver at the Pan American Games and qualification for next year’s Olympics in Japan.

Ruy will be using his time off to concentrate on finishing his new yard in Oxfordshire.

“It’s a dream come true after all those years working hard in the UK to have your own little corner,” said Ruy. “We will concentrate on producing young horses and receiving friends, guests and riders from all over the world who want to be based here either long or short term.

“The idea is to offer the base to all top level riders from juniors to seniors to get ready for major shows — with the busy UK calendar, people often come over from abroad to have some preparation runs for those big occasions.”

The new yard will be named Bombadill Equestrian after Tom Bombadill Too, the “great little horse” who gave Ruy the chance to travel all over the world — the pair contested two Olympics, two World Equestrian Games and won three Pan American medals together.

Article continues below…

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Bombadill Equestrian will have 21 boxes, guest apartments, grooms’ accommodation, a 60x30m indoor arena, an outdoor arena, gallops and a small cross-country schooling facility for youngsters.

“The doors will be open for anyone and I’m looking forward for the challenges ahead with my dressage wife Renata and daughter Cecília,” said Ruy.

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A dressage-bred horse affectionately known as Gary who nearly died as a foal has helped Brazil qualify for the Tokyo Olympics at the Pan Am Games, after being “kidnapped” for eventing.

Anna Ross and Marcelo Tosi’s eight-year-old gelding, known officially as Starbucks, was part of the Brazilian team that won silver at the Army Equitation School in Lima, Peru (1 to 4 August).

Marcelo and Gary scored 26 in the dressage to leave them in third place individually, before picking up 15pens under the flag rule on the cross-country and having one rail down in the showjumping to finish in seventh place at the horse’s first championship.

Marcelo said: “[I have] no words to say the happiness I have now… Gary became a Big Boy!”

The partnership previously won the CCI3*L (formerly CCI2*) at Barroca d’Alva, Portugal, on 6 March.

Anna told H&H Gary’s story was “born entirely of goodwill”, and that he was named for fellow rider Gary Williams.

“Gary and I were both riding at Hickstead and he’d been doing fantastically on his stallion Showmaker, but he’d learnt the wrong test,” Anna said. “So I said he could go in my place and I’d go earlier, so he could learn it.

“He won, and he gave me his winner’s rug and said: ‘Thank you, I owe you one’.

“Then my mare went lame in a horsebox accident so I rang him and said: ‘You know you owe me one – can I have some semen?’ I got some, and then said as a joke that if it was a boy I’d call it Gary.

“Then the foal was born and was a boy, and I thought ‘Oh, bloody hell!’”

After he was weaned, Gary became very ill with an infection.

“He was just this little foal, on his own in the stable and I spent a fortune but kept him alive,” Anna said. “Then, of course, he turned into a brat of a foal, and repaid all my love, patience and vets’ bills by making it clear, as a six-year-old, that he didn’t really like dressage.”

Anna said Gary did win some classes, but “wasn’t terribly enthusiastic”.

Then, Marcelo came to her yard to try a jumping saddle, and while Anna was teaching, he decided to jump Gary in the saddle to try it out.

“I’m a rider and I know what someone looks like when they’ve fallen in love with a horse,” she said. “Marcelo said ‘he’s unbelievable’.

“I said ‘What are you talking about, that horse has never jumped in his life’ – and I never got the horse back!”

The ride on Gary was then shared by Sarah Bullimore, who won an intermediate on him last season, and Marcelo.

“Marcelo had to go back to Brazil and Sarah’s my friend who’s produced so many top event horses, so since then they’ve shared him,” Anna said.

“And of course, the only time I couldn’t go to watch him [at Barroca d’Alva], he went and won! Sarah’s done fantastic things with him, and Marcelo too.

After the Pan Ams, Anna added: “I’m just so thrilled! It’s unbelievable to think that little sick foal has helped Brazil to Olympic team qualification. I was quite nervous, I’ve never been a great spectator…

“But as soon as Marcelo rode him you could see they had an amazing connection, he believed in him from the first ride he had and they have never looked back!”

Anna said the whole story was an example of goodwill, from the place-swapping at Hickstead to the donated semen, to the horse’s current ownership.

“I’ve done well out of it too,” she said. “I think Marcelo felt guilty about stealing the horse – although it was Gary who picked him, they loved each other – and I’ve got a fantastic grey mare, who he helped me out by buying. So now we own them both together!”

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From a personal perspective as coach to the Brazilian team, the Pan Am Games were a huge success. We took team silver and individual bronze medals, which probably surprised a few people, but I thought we had a decent chance and so it proved.

The venue — Caledon Equestrian Centre, about an hour from Toronto — was stunning, with first-class facilities. It made last year’s World Equestrian Games look even more of a shambles!

The cross-country took place an hour away. It was a fairly small area, but it was undulating, and the Australian course-designer Wayne Copping had done a good job of making use of the whole site. The track was on the soft side for a CCI2* but, considering the varying abilities taking part, it was a fair course.

From the sport’s perspective, it was encouraging that there were 11 teams and 13 nations competing. The USA, Canada and Brazil stood out; there was a big gap back to the other, central and South American, nations, but it was great they were fielding teams — it is hugely difficult for them to compete at any level — and trying to improve.

Karen O’Connor is coaching the Mexican team, while former Canadian rider Peter Gray is training the Guatemalans, and another Canadian, Kyle Carter, is helping the Venezuelans. The progress the Brazilians have made was a talking point, and should act as inspiration.

We were drawn behind the hosts, Canada, so all our riders had to follow theirs into the dressage arena, where huge cheers went up as each of their competitors exited — and again as their scores were announced, by which time Ruy Fonseca, for example, was doing his first halt.

There was a definite element of gamesmanship to it and it was a bit unsporting — there was a big cheer as our last rider entered the stadium, organised by someone connected to their team. But our riders did remind theirs in whose country next year’s Olympics will take place!

All the Brazilians went clear inside the time, and we pushed team gold medallists, the USA, all the way to the line. Ruy had the last showjump down, so won individual bronze, rather than gold — still a terrific result.

Anna Ross, the Brazilian dressage coach, and I were very satisfied; we are on target.

Hooray for Aston

I got pretty wet at Aston-le-Walls last weekend — if the dressage and showjumping had not been on all-weather surfaces I think it would have been cancelled. But the cross-country held up well, considering that close to 1,000 horses ran on it over the three days. Most fences have all-weather take-offs and landings, which made the difference.

Every time you go to Aston, Nigel and Ann Taylor have done more. It is a brilliant facility. My one tiny criticism was that the surfaces in the new arenas aren’t quite settled yet and got quite churned up. But, especially as we no longer have Salperton at this time of year, it is so important that Aston is there so that these horses could get a run.

Having a say in our future

There is a lot of discussion going on about the FEI’s future changes to eventing, and there was a meeting last Tuesday with the Eventing Riders Association (ERA) about it. The FEI are interested in input from national federations and riders, and for the first time during my career I feel as if riders have a say in the future of our sport. We need to get behind our federations and rider groups and make sure we have input in a constructive and considered way.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 30 July 2015

Host country Canada claimed team gold at the Pan-American Games — with the help of London 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning horse Tripple X III.

Canadian Tiffany Foster partnered Ben Maher’s former ride in the contest at Caledon Park, Toronto. Her teammates were Yann Candele and Showgirl, Eric Lamaze and Coco Bongo and Ian Millar with Dixon.

Argentina secured silver with the USA — which had won gold in both eventing and dressage at the Pan-Ams — in bronze.

“Captain Canada” Ian Miller — who has competed at a record 10 Olympics — said: “We wanted this so badly for our team and our country.

“The last horse (from Argentina) had to have a fault of some kind. It came down to a fraction of the second in the end.”

Argentina’s Jose Larocca Jr added: “It’s huge for Argentina, it’s been many years since we have had a medal at a Championship like this so it’s very important, very encouraging to the young riders in our country.”

A total of 10 nations — Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay, USA and Venezuela — fielded teams.

Meanwhile in the individual championships (25 July) gold was won by US rider McLain Ward and Rothchild, while silver went to the Venzuelian Andres Roderiguez (Darlon van Groenhove). The USA’s Lauren Hough and Ohlala took bronze.

The individual medals were decided in a two-way jump-off for gold and silver, while there was a five-way race for the bronze.

“My game plan was to ride the first five fences fast to try to win it two ways. If I had a fence down I would still be fast enough — and I was lucky at the last (fence), I gave that a bit of a rattle. But I’ve never won a big one without a little bit of good fortune,” said McLain.

“I knew the courses would get bigger as the week went on and that would suit Rothchild. He’s a blood horse and a stamina test suits him, but I knew I couldn’t make a mistake — it was a tough day’s work.”

Olympic qualification was also hanging in the balance — with Canada and Argentina claming the two team spots for Rio 2016. Two individual qualifying spots have been earned by both Colombia and Venezuela, and one each by Uruguay and Peru.

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The US eventing team followed in its dressage counterpart’s footsteps to win gold at the Pan American Games in Ontario, Canada, last Sunday (19 July), earning its spot in the 2016 Olympics.

Adding to that achievement, team member Marilyn Little took individual gold riding RF Scandalous.

The Pan Ams were the first senior international team outing as an eventer for Marilyn, previously a showjumper before adding eventing to her repertoire five years ago.

“It’s indescribable,” she said. “It’s a very exciting day for all of us, and for all the people who made it possible for it to happen.”

Ruy Fonseca of Brazil, leading the individual standings after both dressage and cross-country on Tom Bombadill Too, had the final fence down to elevate Marilyn from second with her score of 40.3 as he dropped to third with 42.9 penalties.

The defending titleholder, Jessica Phoenix of Canada on Pavarotti, earned the silver with 42.1 penalties.

The US led the two-star competition from the beginning, widening its margin from 0.7 penalties over Canada following dressage to 7.7 penalties over Brazil as the event ended.

Canada slipped to bronze when British-based Canadian Kathryn Robinson fell at the second fence on cross-country with Let It Bee and it had to count the scores of all three remaining team members.

The final totals were 133 penalties for the US, which had all of its riders in the top 10; 140.7 for Brazil and 163 for Canada. Both Brazil and Canada have already secured their Olympic spots.

David O’Connor, who took over as US coach following the team’s seventh-place finish in the 2012 Olympics, called the victory “an exceptional effort”.

“It shows that a system like this, that’s built a little bit on belief — belief in each other and huge respect for each other — really can win in the end,” he said.

The victory followed a similar outcome a week earlier for the US dressage team, which qualified for Rio with a team gold, while Steffen Peters took individual honours

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Report by Nancy Jaffer

The United States (US) dressage team qualified for next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics when claiming the gold medal at the Pan American Games outside Toronto at the weekend (Sunday 12 July). The US took top spot ahead of the Canada, with Brazil in third.

The US scored 460.5 across two days of competition, while Canada earned 454.9. Brazil, which has automatic qualification as Olympic hosts, finished on 414.9.

The competition followed a mixed small tour/big tour format, designed to include Western Hemisphere countries that are not as strong in the discipline as the US and Canada.

The big tour riders got a 1.5% bonus under the unique formula that offered prix st georges and grand prix on the first day, with intermediate I and the grand prix special on the second.

Canada proved to have impressive small tour competitors, but the big tour combinations lacked the strength of their US conterparts.

The US’s Steffen Peters, ranked seventh in the world, was the leading rider on the first day with Legolas, scoring 77.24%. His teammate, eighth-ranked Laura Graves, led the way on the second day aboard Verdades earning 77.18%.

US dressage coach Robert Dover said he regretted a formula that meant two teams couldn’t qualify for the Olympics from the Pan Am Games. Canada will now have to rely on putting together a composite team based on individual rider’s rankings in order to have a squad at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the Canadians, who demonstrated how far their development program has come.

“I think this games has pushed us up to a new level,” said Canadian grand prix competitor Belinda Trussell. “We are so pumped as a nation to go forward to the next Games. We’re excited we’re real international contenders.”

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Gloucestershire-based eventer Kathryn Robinson will be riding at the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, next month (17-19 July).

Kathryn, 29, represents Canada — her mother, Gayle, is Canadian and her two older brothers Mark and Alexander were both born there. The family moved to Britain before Kathryn was born when Kathryn’s father John inherited a farm, but she holds dual citizenship

At the start of the year Kathryn, who runs a yard with her partner, Italian eventer Giovanni Ugolotti, was planning to head to Badminton with her top horse, Let It Bee, (pictured above) who was seventh at Pau CCI4* last autumn.

“In February I broke my ankle when I was riding a baby over a cross-pole at home and he spooked,” Kathryn told H&H. “Then Giovanni, who was also heading for Badminton, broke his collarbone and we were left wondering how we were going to get the horses fit.”

Kathryn spoke to Clayton Fredericks, the Canadian team coach, who asked her whether she’d thought about the Pan Ams.

“I’d never been in that position where the team coach says he’d consider you — I’d always been quite off the radar doing my own thing, but I thought maybe it was fate trying to tell me not to do Badminton,” she said.

Kathryn has campaigned Let It Bee at CIC2* and CIC3* level this spring and received the call to say she had been selected last week. However, the team announcement was held back until Saturday (13 June), which was celebrated as Pan Am Day in Canada.

“I’m nervous and excited,” she said. “I’ve never done a team competition so that’s going to be a new experience for me. My main aim is the Olympics so this will be a pre-run for me and my horse to see how we cope with those pressures.”

Kathryn’s team-mates are Waylon Roberts (Bill Owen), Colleen Loach (Quorry Blue D’Argouges) and Jessica Phoenix (Pavarotti). She has met Waylon before as he has spent time in Britain and they both rode at the London 2012 test event.

Kathryn and Let It Bee will fly to New York at the end of June and the horse will do his quarantine there, before heading to a training camp in Canada.

The rider had planned to take Let It Bee to Luhmühlen this week (18-21 June), but has now shelved that plan as it would be too much for the horse to do this competition a month before the trip.

“He’s 14 now so I have to pick and choose where I run him,” she said. “I have all the rest of the year to do another event and get my [individual] Olympic qualification.”

The Pan Am Games do not count as an individual qualification event as they are held at two-star level, but the best-placed team who have not already picked up their qualification for next year’s Olympics will win a spot for the Games.

The USA is favourite to take this place. Canada already has its qualification, having moved up to sixth place at last year’s World Equestrian Games when France were eliminated following the outcome of Maxime Livio’s doping case. Brazil will also field a team at the Pan Ams, but it has its qualification for Rio as host nation.

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It’s amazing to think this year was Houghton’s (pictured) ninth international competition. I was the first person to complete the three-day here at the inaugural event in 2007 — which sounds like an honour, except that as three-day events showjump in reverse order, I actually finished last.

The event at this beautiful estate attracted 17 nations this year. The strong entry despite the clash with Tattersalls is testament to the fixture’s popularity and the team’s work on the ground and courses.

Among the riders was Germany’s Sandra Auffarth, who rode world champion Opgun Louvo in the combined training, an appearance that slipped under the radar of most. The pair will now stay with German team trainer Christopher Bartle until Bramham CIC3*.

Selection conundrums

Being a selector must be a nightmare, with little praise if you get it right but plenty chipping in if it doesn’t work out.

If selecting for a three- or four-star championship is difficult, spare a thought for those choosing teams for the Pan American Games in July. The event is at two-star, meaning they can take anything from successful campaigners at that level with no experience above it up to four-star performers.

Choices will be informed by a nation’s aims. For the Americans, this means Olympic qualification through finishing best of the unqualified teams. But the pressure is now slightly off as their strongest competitors, Canada, qualified after the elimination of France from the World Equestrian Games team results following Maxime Livio’s doping case.

The American selectors have picked a quartet including two championship debutants (Marilyn Little and Lauren Kieffer), plus a combination with a top-10 four-star placing (Phillip Dutton on Fernhill Fugitive or Fernhill Cubalawn).

For those with their qualification — Brazil, as hosts, have theirs, as well as Canada — national pride is still at stake. And for many nations, medals mean funding.

Canadian team coach Clayton Fredericks was at Houghton checking out British-based pairs. Kathryn Robinson could well get the trip with Let It Bee, who was seventh at Pau last year. They await the selection announcement which was due to be after Bromont last weekend, while the Brazilian list is also expected imminently.

Horses of a different colour

I love seeing unusual coloured horses eventing. Two caught my eye at Houghton. Tim Cheffings contested the CICO3* on the spotty Colby II, who heads to Luhmühlen CCI4*, while the palomino The Milky Bar Kid was in the CCI2* under Australia’s Camilla Neil Martin. Watch out for them if you share my penchant for a kooky coloured.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 4 June 2015

A 14.1hh pony won double gold medals in the eventing at the Pan American Games in Rio, Brazil, last weekend.

Karen O’Connor and Theodore O’Connor were third after dressage, but moved up to the top spot after adding just 1.6 time-penalties on the cross-country. They held their position with just one show jump down.

Eleven-year-old “Teddy”, who has Thoroughbred, Arab and Shetland blood, sprang into the limelight when he finished third at the Rolex Kentucky earlier this year, a result which earned him fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Karen led a whitewash for the Americans, who claimed the first four places individually as well as the team gold medal. Phillip Dutton took the individual silver aboard Truluck, with Gina Myles winning individual bronze on the 17.3hh McKinlaigh.

American individual Darren Chiacchia was fourth on Better I Do It. The fourth American team member was Stephen Bradley, with From, but he finished 13th having had a stop across country after lying second after dressage.

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Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now