DeRosa Daily Equestrian Olympic News
Horsesdaily Veteran Olympic Reporter Diana DeRosa Brings Us Into Her World

How The Day Unfolded

Before the start of show jumping the riders are allowed to walk the course.  Naturally, our remaining four team members, Gina Miles, Phillip Dutton, Becky Holder and Karen O’Connor were out there in force.  Amy Tryon walked the course with them but a fall in cross country eliminated her from further competition.  Out there walking the course with them was Chef d’Equipe Capt. Mark Phillips and Laura Kraut who is a member of this year’s Olympic Show Jumping Team.

For almost an hour these riders walked the course and walked it again and again.  They discussed lines and distances and where to tighten turns.  It was almost as if they were taking their advice for the cross country one step further.  They wanted to know every inch of that course, where they could save time, where they had to be careful not to drop a rail.

In the end O’Connor and Mandarin, who went first, knocked down just one rail, a colorful pole jump, and accumulated one time fault.  In order to shave some time off she took one corner much tighter than almost everyone else and cleared the jump that followed with no problem.  Her time faults would have been more had she not done that.

When it was time for Becky and Courageous Comet to go she too dropped the same rail that Karen did and added one more to the mix for a total of 8 faults.  Phillip would equal her score when it was his time to go.  In the end it was Gina who went around the course clear and both she and Phillip Dutton made it into the Individual Finals.  Her joy was quite evident by the rhythmic patting that McKinlaigh received and the proud broad smile on her face after that first clear round. 

Gina’s go was even more special because just a few hours earlier she almost got spun at the jog.  They gave her a second go and after a bit of discussing among the vets the words, “McKinlaigh passed” allowed those of us cheering for our one good chance for a medal to be given the opportunity to give it her best jumps.

And so for Gina, she is now part of the history books as is Dutton but for a totally different reason.  Just after the press conference they made an announcement that one of the riders had been disqualified.  We soon learned that a 200 gram mistake caused Dutton’s disqualification.  Apparently a new rule was passed in February that neither Dutton or those responsible at the USEF were aware of.  The rule was that boots on either the front or back legs of the horse could not weigh over 500 grams.  The reasoning is because the feeling is that heavier boots cause horses to pick up their feet more.

Needless to say, had Jim Wolf, Dutton or anyone else for that matter, been aware of this rule Connaught would not have had 700 gram boots on his hind legs.  It was not the way that anyone wants to end an Olympic Games.