One horse sent to the holding box at first eventing trot-up at Rio Olympics
One horse was sent to the holding box at the first eventing trot-up at the Rio Olympics today (Friday, 5 August).
Spain’s Albert Hermoso Farras was asked to take Hito CP aside by the ground jury — president Marilyn Payne (USA) and members Andrew Bennie (NZL) and Sandy Phillips (GBR). But he was accepted when he re-presented.
All the other horses forward passed, so there will be 65 starters in the eventing competition. The teams with a travelling reserve trotted up that horse too, and they can be substituted until two hours before the dressage starts tomorrow morning at 10am.
Britain’s team — William Fox-Pitt (Chilli Morning), Pippa Funnell (Billy The Biz), Gemma Tattersall (Quicklook V) and Kitty King (Ceylor LAN), plus travelling reserve Tina Cook (Billy The Red) — all looked in fine form and passed without drama.
The Irish were all accepted without problems too — team members Mark Kyle (Jemilla), Padraig McCarthy (Simon Porloe), Jonty Evans (Cooley Rorkes Drift) and Clare Abbott (Euro Prince), plus reserve Camilla Speirs (Portersize Just A Jiff).
A couple of horses were asked to trot twice before they were accepted. They were Nadeville Merze, ridden by Nicolas Wettstein for Ecuador, who became a little upset on the strip, and Jock Paget’s ride Clifton Lush for New Zealand.
Chinese supporters had a nervous moment as Alex Hua Tian did not bring Don Geniro forward at his allocated time before the Japanese riders, but he followed them in and passed without problems.
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Viewing national uniforms is a popular spectator sport at first horse inspections and the Swedes definitely won the award for the most eye-catching outfits — look out for our gallery of pictures coming soon.
Continued below…
Related articles:
- Walk the Olympic cross-country course: pictures of every fence
- Beginners’ guide to Olympic eventing
- Who will compete in the eventing at Rio?
The dressage starts tomorrow at 10am (2pm British time) and continues on Sunday. Monday (8 August) is cross-country day and the competition concludes on Tuesday. Follow the dressage as it happens with H&H Live.
Such was the interest surrounding the first horse inspection the hashtag #EquestrianEventing was trending on twitter during the trot-up.
Full 25-page report on the eventing from Rio 2016 in H&H next week — out Friday, 12 August. H&H is published on Friday instead of Thursday to next week only to allow us to report the full competition from the Olympics.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.