Horse Illustrated Magazine

Changes were announced to the U.S. Show Jumping Team roster for today’s 2024 Paris Olympics Jumping Team Qualifier Class before the sun came up (at 3:55 a.m.). US Equestrian (USEF) issued a press release saying that, due to a slight allergic reaction, Kent Farrington’s mare Greya would be replaced. They called up the U.S. team’s traveling reserves, Karl Cook (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) and Caracole de la Roque, a 2012 Selle Français (Zandor Z x Pocahontas d’Amaury) mare owned by Signe Ostby and cared for by Tessa Falanga.

Cook joined team riders Laura Kraut (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) and Baloutinue, a 2010 Hanoverian (Balou du Rouet x Utika) gelding owned by St. Bride’s Farm and cared for by Margo Thomas, and McLain Ward (Brewster, N.Y.) and Ilex, a 2013 KWPN (Baltic VDL x Calendula) gelding owned by Bonne Chance Farm and McLain Ward and cared for by Virginie Casterman.

The Netherlands also made a last-minute change yesterday to their team, substituting in Kim Emmen riding Imagine for Willem Greve who was to have ridden Grandorado TN. Other riders for the Netherlands remained the same, Maikel van der Vleuten riding Beauville Z and Harrie Smolders riding Uricas vd Kattevennen.

Twenty teams of three riders each started today, with representatives from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the USA.

About the Course

The course, which was run under FEI Table A rules, was co-designed by Santiago Varela from Spain and Grégory Bodo from France. There were 14 numbered obstacles (with one double and one triple combination and a water jump among them) with 17 jumping efforts and a time allowed of 79 seconds (400 meters/minute). It was a pretty course, with elements of French culture mixed into the design. One example was a pink-colored double with French pastries decorating the standards and a wall with artistic graffiti painted on it. Although 1.65 meters is allowed, the fences for today ranged in height between 1.53 and 1.63 meters.

Class Highlights

Jumping fifth in the order and first up for the Swedish team, reigning Olympic Champions Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward gave a master class on just how to jump an Olympic course, chalking up the first clear round of the day. King Edward continues to impress and today jumped in a bridle with no brow band. He’s also known for jumping barefoot, although for this Games he has glue-on shoes. The Swedes are famous now for researching ways to keep their horses comfortable and performing well.

While many found the course quite challenging, there were also a number of clear rounds. All three riders from Germany jumped double clear. There were two clear rounds each for riders from the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. And, the Belgian, British, French, Irish and Israeli teams all had one rider jump double clear today.

One rider from Brazil’s team, Pedro Veniss who rode Nimrod de Muze, was eliminated in the post-ride check because blood was found on the horse’s flank. While the FEI recognized in their statement that no actual blame was assigned to the rider for this, the rule requires elimination of the competitor. After the elimination of Veniss, Brazil rider Rodrigo Pessoa and his mount Major Tom withdrew from team competition.

U.S. Performances

First up for the USA was Laura Kraut riding Baloutinue, jumping in the 13th spot; they jumped clear and within the time. Kraut talked about emotions, the course designer and her horse, “Well, it’s a relief right now. It was pretty nerve wracking before I went in. It’s never a low-stress event at the Olympic Games. The course is very, very technical and big. Gregory Bodo is a brilliant course builder. I’ve been jumping his courses quite a bit lately. He has a way of sneaking in things that are far more difficult than they appear to be, as he’s done today. So, I’m just very fortunate that I have an absolutely amazing horse [Baloutinue]. He was in the zone; he was on it. He has it all. He’s got personality in the stable. But when you get on him to ride him, he is all about the business. And he’s brave, careful and scopey. That’s kind of what you need when you go to the Olympics.”

Twenty riders later, Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque also jumped clear (no rails down and no time faults). Cook talked about how he prepared to step up for the team today and his horse, “It was very clear, obviously, that I was the alternate, but it also was very clear how late I could be called. We knew that going in and it was important to prepare everything yesterday. I’m just so appreciative for the opportunity. I feel proud that I could do that for Team USA and my other team members. She’s [Caracole de la Roque] committed. She loves this. I would say she’s zero percent stressed and one hundred percent excited.”

The anchor rider for the USA, McLain Ward riding Ilex in the 53rd time slot, put in a smooth round, but had an unlucky rail and two time penalties to finish on 6. Ilex is a new ride for him and the horse is only 11. Ward, a veteran of six Olympic Games, talked about his ride on Ilex after, “I was thrilled. I mean, I knew going in that we had a pretty big margin of error. So, I made a plan to just be a little conservative to make sure there wasn’t a big blow up. It was a very light rub [that took the rail at fence number 8], but not a big deal. I think all the team performed brilliantly. We look very good going into tomorrow.”

The USA finished on a score of 6. They were the second best team in the rankings today, behind Germany who finished in the top spot on zero faults.

Teams Moving On To The Show Jumping Team Final

In addition to the Germany and the USA, other teams qualified are Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands all on 8 faults, Ireland on 9, France with 12, Sweden with 17, and both Israel and Mexico on 20 faults.

Teams will start with a clean slate (on zero faults) in the team finals tomorrow. According to FEI rules, each team also has the right to substitute in a new rider in between today’s qualifier class and up to two hours before tomorrow’s team finals. They have until that time to declare which three horse and rider combinations they will have in the team finals. The only catch to that rule is that whichever three riders they declare for the team finals are the three that have to move forward to the individual competition early next week.

Tomorrow’s Olympic jumping team final runs from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Central European Time (8:00 – 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time). For broadcast information, go to NBCOlympics.com. All equestrian coverage is streamed live and available for replays on Peacock.

◆ Full Qualifier Results
◆ Jumping Team Final Order of Go
◆ Jumping Team Final Start List

For more coverage, visit our 2024 Paris Olympics main page.

Thanks to CareCredit for our spring and summer equestrian coverage.