The Australian team, representing us in the Nations Cup event overnight, has come in ninth out of a ten nation start list at the beautiful Piazza di Siena venue in Rome. It was tough going for the Aussies who represented us well, in what was one of the last chances for combinations to impress selectors prior to the Paris Olympics at the end of July.

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First out for the Australians were Netherlands based Hilary Scott and Oaks Milky Way. This experienced combination, who were part of our 2022 World Equestrian Games team got the team off to a solid start, incurring just the four penalties and completing the course with a couple of seconds to spare.

Next out was the Sydney based pair of Amber Fuller and the Douglass Family-owned gelding, Nopal Van Tallaert. They incurred eight jumping penalties and a couple of time faults, finishing on a total of 10. Not an ideal score, but with each team being able to discard their worst score in each round, there was no damage done, just a little bit more pressure on the two combinations to come.

Christopher Burton and his mare Chedington Hazy Toulana were next to go. Burto, who competed at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016 in Eventing put in a great round to finish on a total of four.

This set up our final combination, US based Thaisa Erwin and the mare Hialita B. Thaisa, who was also part of our team in Kronenberg last week, and Hialita B were the stars of the first round today with a great clear round.

The upshot of the first round, saw Australia on a total of eight, seeing them into 7th place and well within striking distance of the leaders. Placings after the first round were as follows.

PLACE	COUNTRY	SCORE
1st	Germany	0
2nd	USA	0
3rd	Belgium	4
4th	Ireland	4
5th	Sweden	4
6th	Mexico	4
7th	Australia	8
8th	Austria	12
9th	United Arab Em.	20
10th	Italy	20

Unfortunately, the second round did not go as well as the Aussies would have hoped for. Once again Hilary and mare Oaks Milky Way lead the way, replicating their first round four penalty effort, to once again get the team off to a solid start. Amber and Nopal van Tallaert took a pair of rails to finish on eight penalties, which the team would have been hoping would be the second round drop score, however, it did not turn out that way. Both of our final two combinations, Christopher Burton and Chedington Hazy Toulana, and Thaisa Erwin and Hialita B, each incurred 12 penalties, meaning only one of these scores could be dropped. The Australians had to add 24 points (4 + 8 + 12) to their first-round score of 8, finishing on a total of 32.

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The Austrians and Italians, who both had good second rounds, leap-frogged us in the second round, leaving us to finish in ninth place, only above the United Arab Emirates. Jumping powerhouse Germany lead the way with the luxury of only sending out three combinations in the second round, finishing on the best possible score of zero and beating Ireland home by a single rail. The full listing of the final placings were as follows:

PLACE	COUNTRY	R1	R2	TOTAL
1st	Germany	0	0	0
2nd	Ireland	4	0	4
3rd	Belgium	4	4	8*
4th	USA	0	8	8*
5th	Mexico	4	4	8*
6th	Austria	12	8	20*
7th	Sweden	4	16	20*
8th	Italy	20	0	20*
9th	Australia	8	24	32
10th	United Arab Em.	20	DNF	DNF

*Placings based on times.

While the result may not have been what we would have hoped for, the team can go home proud of their efforts, competing on the world stage. Each combination on the team will have to hold their breaths over the next little period as they await the announcement of the Olympic Team in just a few weeks’ time.