With the conclusion of the team reining competition on Tuesday, the top 15 horse-and-rider pairs had earned their ticket to the individual finals. On Thursday, August 28, everyone else got another chance to compete for one of five extra spots that would allow them to ride for individual medals on Saturday.
Troy Heikes and Gun Dunit posted the top score in the second individual qualifying round at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Photo: FEI
Cody Sapergia of Canada came into the individual qualifier with the pretty palomino stallion Nu Chexomatic hoping to improve his stops over his performance in the first round. A few bobbles in the beginning of his pattern were outshined by big stops at the end, which helped him score a 219.0 and a second-place finish.
Non-pro rider Josh Collins and Spook a Little were the final pair from Great Britain to ride in the second qualifier. Stellar spins and stops lifted his score up to a 218.0 to fill the third spot on the leaderboard.
Stefano Ferri and Rooster Nic earned the fourth spot and a trip to the finals. Typically, only five riders would move on, but a tie for fifth place means that Paulo Koury Neto and Don’t Whiz WRB of Brazil and France’s own Romuald Poard and Peppys Ruf Sailor will complete the group of six that will compete in the individual finals. The finals start at 8:00 p.m. local time on Saturday (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.)
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Leslie Potter is Sr. Associate Web Editor of HorseChannel.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.
Good Luck to all horses and riders.
Sounds great.