EN Today: USA’s short list!

The US Olympic Eventing short list has been announced, which means John can finally quit lying awake formulating algorithms that represent different horse/rider combinations and their statistical combined potential for success. Drum roll, please….

From John:

The eleven members of the US Short List for the 2012 London Olympic Games, as just approved by the USEF’s Executive Committee:

Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper
Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice
Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos
Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere
Sinead Halpin and Manoir De Carneville
Karen O’Connor and Mr. Medicott
Will Coleman and Twizzel
Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen
Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister
Allison Springer and Arthur
Marilyn Little-Meredith and RF Rovano Rex

Those 11 pairs will compete at the Barbury Castle horse trials in England June 27 to July 1st. The final Olympic squad will be named on July 2nd and submitted to the USOC on July 6th.  The short list horses who are currently in the US are scheduled to fly out for England in a week.

As expected, The USEF also named an additional 3 pairs to the official nominated entry list to besubmitted to the FEI on June. This is more of a formality and requires up to 15 pairs.

The additional nominated entries: Buck Davidson and Ballynoecastle RM, Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Eagle, Will Faudree and Andromaque
Ranked substitutes for the nominated entry: Will Faudree and Pawlow, Becky Holder and Can’t Fire Me

The one unexpected pair on this list for me is Tiana and Ringwood Magister.  I felt that a stop on the cross-country at Saumur would have hurt Ringwood Magister’s chances, but I like the pick to add them to the short list since this horse has the potential to score as low as any pair in the world and of course they are already based in the UK.  The one other pick that differed from my morning predictions is Marilyn Little-Meredith and RF Rovano Rex instead of Will Faudree and Andromaque.  If RF Rovano Rex finished at Bromont he might be a pick for the final team as of today–he’s that talented.  But the horse didn’t run cross-country or show jump at Bromont while Andromaque finished second.

Congratulations to all of the pairs who made the list.  This is a fantastic group of horses and riders and I couldn’t be more proud to have them representing the United States.

Much more soon.  Go USA!