Olympic eventing dressage: Oliver Townend gets Britain off to a strong start

Olympic eventing dressage: Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class — Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class in the eventing dressage at the Tokyo Olympics.

(Image credit: Peter Nixon)

Oliver Townend has got the British team off to a great start in the Olympic eventing dressage this morning.

Riding Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan’s 14-year-old Ballaghmor Class, Oliver made no errors to score an impressive 23.6, which gives them a commanding lead at this early stage of the competition.

“I’m very happy with my horse – we know he’s special and I’m just very grateful for him to do a clear round in there and a very safe test on my own terms,” Oliver explained after his test. “I’d want a little bit more but I think 23 is a very good starting mark for the team. The highlight was the whole thing, but he went in and he did his best in conditions that he’s not used to in a stadium that’s very, very special – you think because there’s no crowd that there would be no atmosphere, and enough of a special occasion to push horses into lacking concentration.”

“The pressure bit doesn’t bother me,” Oliver said of his job of being the first of the British team to compete. “Obviously it wouldn’t be my chosen job in life to be pathfinder, but at the same time, the first bit is out of the way and my horse has done a very commendable job, so fingers crossed, we just keep the work up through the next three or four days, and hopefully see where we end up.”

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Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.

‘We know he’s special and I’m just very grateful for him’: Oliver Townend gets British Olympic eventing team off to a blistering start

Olympic eventing dressage: Oliver Townend scores nines

The grey, by Courage II, was second into the arena in the Olympic eventing dressage and there were a number of highlights throughout their test. The highest marks award were for the halt in the middle of the test and collected canter, for which they received nines from the judges.

They only scored two 6.5s – the lowest marks during their test – the remaining marks varied between sevens and nines.

The next two riders for Britain – Laura Collett, riding London 52, and Tom McEwen, riding Toledo De Kerser, will enter the dressage arena at 5.54pm local time on Friday (9.54am British time) and 9.22am local time on Saturday (1.22am British time) respectively.

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