With the breathtaking Chateau de Versailles as a backdrop, our Aussie Jumping team took to the arena today with the aim of finishing ahead of 10 other teams, which would ensure a top 10 finish and a spot in the final to battle it out for the medals tomorrow. However, despite our most valiant efforts it was not to be.

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When the dust settled at the end of the competition, Australia were placed 15^th. They did us proud and our all girl team (our apologies go to gelding Fellow Castlefield) can certainly hold their heads high. Let’s take a look at how the day unfolded.

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Leading the way for Australia and out in 18th position on the start list were Hilary Scott and her Oaks Sport Horses bred mare Milky Way. They had a strong start to the round, with just a single rail down at the half way point, however, the second half of the round did not go to plan. Rails down at the eighth, the second of the treble at 13 and the last, gave them a total of 16 penalties.

Above: Hilary Scott and Milky Way.

At the completion of the first wave of 20 combinations, Australia sat in 17th position, which, although not good, was not terrible either as Hilary had been sent out first and had to battle against several of the top ranked riders in the world, including current world champion combination Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward as well as reigning Olympic Individual champion rider Ben Maher. These riders both produced clear rounds, as did five other combinations.

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In 38th place on the start list came our second Olympic debutante of the day, Thaisa Erwin and mare Hialita B and the resemblance between their round and our first combination was uncanny. Once again, they had just a single rail down at the half-way point, however, the triple at 13 proved to be our downfall. Rails down at the first two elements took their score to 12, and they were unable to regain their balance before taking another rail at the last. Their total of 16 advanced our team total to 32, however, it was enough to sneak us up one position on the leaderboard to 16th. At this stage of the competition, there were still four countries yet to record a penalty, those being USA, Sweden Germany and Netherlands.

Above: Thaisa Erwin and Hialita B

Things were now looking a little grim, with our only realistic hope being for several countries ahead of us to produce poor efforts, while we were in need of a clear round. If there was one combination that we could place our hopes in it would have been five time Olympian Edwina Tops-Alexander and her super horse Fellow Castlefield.

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As each third wave combination came out, and one-by-one, team totals were posted, our hopes that the Australians would get a shot at a medal tomorrow, slowly ebbed away. By the time Edwina and Fellow Castlefield entered the arena there were already 12 teams who had seen their third combination complete the course and had total scores less than our interim total of 32.

Despite this, Edwina and Fellow Castlefield were not phased. Their round was excellent, demonstrating why Edwina is the queen of Australian jumping. They took a rail at the fifth fence, and for the rest of the course, were perfect. Their total of four took Australia to a total of 36 and we had to wait just a few minutes for the last two combinations to complete the course, before we saw that Australia had finished in 15th place.

Above: Edwina and Fellow Castlefield.

It was a very solid performance by Australia, competing at the highest level. Hopefully all three riders leave the arena richer for the experience and prepare themselves for the Individual competition starting in a few days time.

The final standings in the competition were as follows.

STANDINGS AFTER THE TEAMS COMPETITION QUALIFYING ROUND

*Third rider withdrew

The top 10 teams return to competition on Friday at 2:00 pm local time (10pm AEST) to fight it out for the medals and Olympic glory. With all teams starting on zero penalties, the competition is wide open although we would think that the Germans, who were the only team to finish today with three clear rounds, would go into the final full of confidence.

The Australians will next be in action on Monday 5 August at 2:00 pm local time (10pm AEST) in the Qualifying Round of the Individual Competition, where we have three slots in a field of 75 starting combinations, all seeking to make the top 30 and qualify for the Final the following day.