Pony Power Prevails at 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—Going into the third and final day of the eventing portion of the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, the top three riders (all member of Team USA) were separated by less than two points. With all the remaining horses passing the final horse inspection, the U.S. support team had a busy afternoon on Sunday, July 22, with five of the remaining 21 horses representing the U.S.
The Gold medal won by the team is only the beginning of the story.
When it was all over, Theodore O’Connor, a.k.a. “super Ted,” came out on top and proved to his bigger competition that he was the best of them all today. The powerful pony looked awfully small when he cantered into the main arena at Deodoro, but he belied his 14.1 hands under jockey Karen O’Connor and brought the American supporters to their feet in taking home two Gold medals to their Virginia base.
“It’s a fairytale,” said O’Connor. “The team around me and all the instruction I’ve gotten…it’s a big team effort.”
Spring-heeled, 11-year-old “Teddy,” as he is known to all of his friends, has a huge fan club everywhere he goes. He had one rail down, the second part of the two-stride combination at fence six, but both pony and rider maintained their composure and finished without further penalty and a score of 52.7.
“He’s such a wonderful horse,” O’Connor said. “A lot of people have put a lot of faith in him, and he has developed into a real top athlete regardless of his size.”
Bred by P. Wynn Norman, who still has some ownership in him as part of the Theodore O’Connor Syndicate, the Thoroughbred/Arabian/Shetland cross has rewritten history with his prolific performance.
Stephen Bradley and Charlotte Harris’ From laid the groundwork for the U.S. team, after an unfortunate mistake in the water jump on the cross-country left them out of individual medal contention, Bradley’s experience around the Jorge Guilherme’s show jumping track would be a safety net if any of the other three team riders had a disaster.
The 14-year-old Russian Thoroughbred gelding looked somewhat weary from his efforts on Saturday and had three rails down to finish in 13th place.
“He definitely felt tired,” said Bradley. “He was struggling a little bit in the warm-up, so I knew we were in trouble when we went into the ring. He still tried really hard, and I was really proud of him even if it wasn’t meant to be this weekend.”
Regardless of his individual result, this weekend’s team effort makes Bradley a back-to-back Gold medalist, adding this medal to his 2003 hardware on his bookshelf at home.
“Any time you represent your country it’s an honor, especially with this group of people that I got to be on the team with,” he said. “The whole group has been so supportive and so cohesive during the hard and the good. The idea of being on two back-to-back Pan Am teams is an honor in itself.”
Gina Miles and the giant, McKinlaigh, had the fastest time of the day during cross-country, where the pair virtually stepped around the course. The 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse was in a tie for fourth with Canadian Kyle Carter, but Carter was closer to the optimum time on the cross-country. It ended up not making a difference after Carter had two rails down and two time faults with Madison Park. Riding as part of the team, Miles guided McKinlaigh around the arena as if the track was half the size.
“It hasn’t always been easy,” said Miles of her horse’s show jumping effort. “But now he’s stronger and more rideable. He had rails at Intermediate because he just wasn’t strong enough but I do level seven show jumping with him now, and he jumps clean.”
Owned by Thomas Schulz and Laura Coats, McKinlaigh jumped a beautiful clean round and won the Individual Bronze medal. They finished on their dressage score of 56.3, the only combination of the entire competition to do so.
Riding as an individual, the reigning Individual Gold medalist from the 2003 Pan American Games, Darren Chiacchia lay third over night with Adrienne Iorio’s Better I Do It. The beautiful15-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding never found his rhythm in the ring and looked slow off the ground at some of the fences. He had four fences down and dropped to fifth, moving Miles up.
Phillip Dutton, riding under the U.S. flag for the first time, lay in the Silver-medal position after the cross-country on the strength of a clean and fast cross-country round with Truluck. Dutton jumped a textbook clean round today on the rangy Thoroughbred, but picked up four time faults in the process to finish on a score of 53.8 which afforded O’Connor a little bit of breathing room.
Still somewhat inexperienced, the 10-year-old gelding owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson, continues to improve.
“The horse jumped really well,” said Dutton. “It was a big improvement from Kentucky. It was just a little bit of rider judgment that we didn’t get a second or two closer to the time. He got a little bit knocked around yesterday. He got a bad overreach, so overall, I’m very excited and happy with him.”
So with individual medals to play for, it was all up to the super pony. And he delivered.
The team of Bradley, Dutton, Miles and O’Connor comfortably won a third consecutive Team Gold medal for the U.S. finishing on a score of 162.8 over Canada’s 211.1. To the delight of the Brazilian fans, their team took home a Bronze medal on a score of 235.6 and finished all six of their horses, two of which show jumped clean.
Equestrian competition continues on Thursday with the final of the three disciplines contested at the Pan American Games – show jumping.
Individual Competition
Type Table A, not against the clock
Speed 375 metres/minute
Distance 490 metres
Time allowed 79 seconds
Dressage Cross Country After CrossXC Jumping Total
Code No Pen Rk J/Pen T/Pen Pen Rk J/Pen T/Pen Pen
1 USA 2 T O’CONNOR Karen THEODORE O’CONNOR 47.10 (3) - 1.60 48.70 (1) 4 - 52.70
2 USA 25 T DUTTON Phillip TRULUCK 49.80 (5) - - 49.80 (2) - 4.00 53.80
3 USA 9 T MILES Gina MCKINLAIGH 56.30 (11) - - 56.30 (4) - - 56.30
4 USA 6 CHIACCHIA Darren BETTER I DO IT 49.40 (4) - 0.80 50.20 (3) 16 - 66.20
5 CAN 3 T CARTER Kyle MADISON PARK 56.30 (11) - - 56.30 (4) 8 2.00 66.30
6 CAN 19 T DONNELLY Sandra BUENOS AIRES 51.70 (7) - 10.00 61.70 (9) 8 - 69.70
7 BRA 13 TRISTAO Saulo TOTSIE 65.80 (24) - 8.40 74.20 (14) - - 74.20
8 CAN 26 T WINTER Mike KINGPIN 51.90 (8) - 7.20 59.10 (7) 12 4.00 75.10
9 BRA 11 T GUERREIRO Renan RODIZIO AA 62.30 (18) - 6.40 68.70 (12) 8 - 76.70
10 BRA 5 FOFANOFF Serguei EKUS TW 62.70 (20) - 14.00 76.70 (16) - - 76.70
11 BRA 20 T SALGADO Fabricio BUTTERFLY 61.50 (17) - - 61.50 (8) 16 - 77.50
12 CAN 12 PHOENIX Jessica EXPLORING 54.80 (10) 20 - 74.80 (15) 4 - 78.80
13 USA 18 T BRADLEY Stephen FROM 46.50 (2) 20 2.40 68.90 (13) 12 - 80.90
14 BRA 27 T PARO Carlos POLITICAL MANDATE 54.00 (9) - 8.40 62.40 (10) 12 7.00 81.40
15 CAN 10 T ROBERTS Waylon PALEFACE 62.90 (21) - - 62.90 (11) 20 - 82.90
16 JAM 15 ALBERT Samantha BEFORE I DO IT 50.20 (6) - 7.20 57.40 (6) 20 11.00 88.40
17 BRA 4 T PARO Andre LAND HEIR 57.70 (14) 20 29.20 106.90 (17) 8 - 114.90
18 ARG 23 T CHIARA VIEYRA Juan Mariano VARADERO 62.50 (19) - 75.20 137.70 (18) 8 9.00 154.70
19 CHI 17 T ITURRIAGA Sergio LAGO RUPANCO 63.50 (22) 65 45.20 173.70 (19) 4 1.00 178.70
20 ARG 21 CORNEJO Martin VIEJO NACHO 65.80 (24) 80 33.60 179.40 (20) 36 31.00 246.40
21 CHI 24 T MARTINEZ Felipe NAVIDENO 65.40 (23) 125 54.40 244.80 (21) 8 - 252.80
USA 22 DEAN Mara NICKI HENLEY 40.20 (1) RT RT
ARG 1 T GRAZZINI Rodolfo REMONTA DESERTORA 59.00 (15) EL EL
ARG 7 T SCHURLEIN Gustavo Jorge REMONTA DESIDIA 72.30 (26) EL EL
ARG 16 T ORTELLI Jose Luis JOS ALADAR 56.50 (13) EL EL
URU 14 QUINTANA VALERIO Alejandro S.V.R. QUETZAL 59.80 (16) EL EL
CHI 8 T STANGHER Ricardo LITERAL RT RT
Team Competition
Jumping Test Specifications
Type Table A, not against the clock
Speed 375 metres/minute
Distance 490 metres
Time allowed 79 seconds
Dressage Cross Country After CrossXC Jumping Total
No Pen Rk J/Pen T/Pen Pen Rk J/Pen T/Pen Pen
1 USA - UNITED STATES of AMERICA 143.40 (1) 154.80 (1) 162.80
2 O’CONNOR Karen THEODORE O’CONNOR 47.10 # - 1.60 48.70 # 4 - # 52.70
25 DUTTON Phillip TRULUCK 49.80 # - - 49.80 # - 4.00 # 53.80
9 MILES Gina MCKINLAIGH 56.30 - - 56.30 # - - # 56.30
18 BRADLEY Stephen FROM 46.50 # 20 2.40 68.90 12 - 80.90
2 CAN - CANADA 159.90 (2) 177.10 (2) 211.10
3 CARTER Kyle MADISON PARK 56.30 # - - 56.30 # 8 2.00 # 66.30
26 WINTER Mike KINGPIN 51.90 # - 7.20 59.10 # 12 4.00 # 75.10
19 DONNELLY Sandra BUENOS AIRES 51.70 # - 10.00 61.70 # 8 - # 69.70
10 ROBERTS Waylon PALEFACE 62.90 - - 62.90 20 - 82.90
3 BRA - BRASIL 173.20 (3) 192.60 (3) 235.60
20 SALGADO Fabricio BUTTERFLY 61.50 # - - 61.50 # 16 - # 77.50
27 PARO Carlos POLITICAL MANDATE 54.00 # - 8.40 62.40 # 12 7.00 # 81.40
11 GUERREIRO Renan RODIZIO AA 62.30 - 6.40 68.70 # 8 - # 76.70
4 PARO Andre LAND HEIR 57.70 # 20 29.20 106.90 8 - 114.90
4 CHI - CHILE 1128.90 (5) 1418.50 (4) 1431.50
8 STANGHER Ricardo LITERAL RT # # 1000.00
17 ITURRIAGA Sergio LAGO RUPANCO 63.50 # 65 45.20 173.70 # 4 1.00 # 178.70
24 MARTINEZ Felipe NAVIDENO 65.40 # 125 54.40 244.80 # 8 - # 252.80
5 ARG - ARGENTINA 178.00 (4) 2137.70 (5) 2154.70
1 GRAZZINI Rodolfo REMONTA DESERTORA 59.00 # EL 1000.00 # 1000.00
7 SCHURLEIN Gustavo Jorge REMONTA DESIDIA 72.30 EL 1000.00 # # 1000.00
16 ORTELLI Jose Luis JOS ALADAR 56.50 # EL 1000.00 # 1000.00
23 CHIARA VIEYRA Juan Mariano VARADERO 62.50 # - 75.20 137.70 # 8 9.00 # 154.70
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