USA wins fourth consecutive reining gold

The USA team dominated in the reining competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, winning their fourth consecutive team gold – while Britain finished eighth out of 16 teams.

Dominant

The American squad dominated from the start, with five of their squad riders finishing in the top six. Their combined score was 677.5.

It was Shawn Florida who topped the individual leaderboard, scoring an impressive 229.5 marks with his seven-year-old Spooks Gotta Whiz.

“This is an awesome horse and I’ve been so fortunate to ride him for the last three years,” said Shawn. “I trust him completely and I know that he is very talented.”

Non-professional

Shawn’s team mate Mandy McCutcheon finished second, 5.5 points in arrears. She is the only non-professional rider on the USA team.

“It’s an honour to be at this venue to represent my country. Riding a horse like Yellow Jersey is just unreal and I cannot thank my parents enough for giving me this opportunity and for trusting me with him,” she said.

Medals

Second favourites Belgium took the silver medal as expected. They finished on 663.0, ahead of Austria – winning their first medal in this discipline – on 658.5.

Britain weren’t too far of the pace, finishing in eventual eighth with 645 points.

Husband and wife Doug Allen and Francesca Sternberg finished in equal 23rd having both scored 214.5.

“We had a few minor wobbles which kept our score down but he’s not as experienced as most of the horses here so I’m happy he held it together in there,” said Doug. “This pattern maybe doesn’t suit him as well as some of the others because the spins come up first and he could do with the adrenaline of the runs to pep him up but that’s where he lacks maturity.”

The team’s two younger members, Josh Collins (20th) and Jessica Sternberg (35th) were the best of the Brits, and all four go forward to Thursday’s individual competition.

Individual

Shane Borland, competing as an individual, finished on 196 in 73rd place after his horse Chex N Flashy became overwhelmed by the situation.

“My horse felt great outside but the atmosphere here just didn’t work for him today,” said Shane. “He was running scared of the crowd and the noise, I tried things slow and I tried things fast but nothing was working, he just panicked. He’s capable of so much more but it’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Complete team results are availablehere.