VERSAILLES, France--The U.S. and Netherlands are favored to win a team gold at the para Dressage on Friday, Sept. 6.
Fiona Howard on Diamond Dunes(Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)
Teams will consist of three riders, with eah rider competing at his or her level and with all three scores to count to a team total..
Roxanne Trunnell goes at 7:10 a..m Eastern followed by Fiona Howard at 9:35 Eastern and Rebecca Hart at 10:48.
Great Britain has won the team gold in all seven previous Games since Para Equestrian joined the Paralympic programme at Atlanta in 1996, but that streak will be threatened on Friday, the third day of competition at Versailles.
The Brits winning margin at Tokyo 2020 was only 0.656, scoring 229.905 overall with the Netherlands on 229.249.
The Dutch have enjoyed a strong opening two days in the Individual events at Versailles, with Rixt van der Horst winning silver on Royal Fonq in Grade III on Tuesday, while Demi Haerkens won Grade IV gold on Daula and Sanne Voets wiinnng silver on Demanturon Wednesday.
But the United States has done even better, with golds for Hart on Floratina in Grade III and Howard on Diamond Dunes in Grade II, plus silver for Trunnell on Fan Tastico H in Grade I.
GREAT BRITAIN has just three Individual bronzes so far, Natasha Baker on Dawn Chorus in Grade III, Georgia Wilson with Sakura in Grade II and Sophie Wells on LJT Egebjerggards Samoa in Grade V.
“In Tokyo it was very close with GB and now, USA is going to be a tough cookie as well,” said Netherlands team coach Joyce van Rooijen-Heuitink.
"The good thing about the team competition is that we don’t have a scratch result, which I like. It’s like the 4x100m relay in athletics, you can’t make a mistake," said van Rooijen-Heuitink. "Everyone has to perform in the best possible way. If one has an off-day, we cannot compensate."
Three riders from 16 nations will compete for team honors, with the Para Grand Prix B tests starting with Grade IV at 3:30 a.m. Eastern and V at 5:10 Eastern, followed by Grades I at 6:52 Eastern, Grade II at 8:50 Eastern and III at 10:03 Eastern.
The Netherlands, with Voets and Haerkens both in Grade IV and going off at 4:15 and 4:51 ra.m. Eastern respectively, have the opportunity to set a challenging target.
Wells is the first Britain to go in Grade V at 6:13 Eastern, while USA’s first rider, Trunnell starts, at 7:10 Eastern in Grade I.
All three of the medal favorites have a contender in the concluding Grade III, with Baker going for GBR at 10:03, Van der Horst for the Dutch at 10:39 and Hart for the USA at 10:48.
The final combination to go will be Singapore’s Hui’en Hilary Su with Gambler, at 11:33, all previous times Eastern.
Nations competing in team event: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
