O'Connor impressed the judges and amazed the crowd with his ride on his veteran partner, Custom Made, a 15-year-old, Irish Thoroughbred gelding owned by Xandarius, LLC. His ride was accurate and precise with good cadence throughout and research indicated that his score was the best ever achieved in an Olympic eventing dressage test.

"He was just beautiful to ride today," said O'Connor who just the day before made Olympic history by sharing an Olympic medal (eventing team Bronze) with his wife for the second time. "When he floats like that, he's so enjoyable to ride.

"This has been coming for about six months; he's been getting stronger and everyone has done a great job. Today he felt good in his mind and he was good in his body. He's really quite special when he comes together like that."

Standing second with a score of 34.80 is Marina Koehncke of Germany on Longchamps. Heidi Antikatzidis of Greece is third with a score of 37.40 on Michaelmas.