Veteran Olympian Phillip Dutton Leads the Way for Team USA

Rio de Janeiro – August 7, 2016 – Sunday marked the final day of the dressage for Equestrian Eventing, as the final two riders from each team completed their test at the 2016 Olympic Games. Phillip Dutton anchored the U.S. Team with Mighty Nice, owned by the HND Group, and is currently the highest ranked American with a score of 43.6 penalties for 15^th place individually.

The team will head into Monday’s cross country phase on a total of 137.5 penalties, ranked equal second with New Zealand. They are 15.5 penalties behind the German team who currently holds the lead, followed closely by France.

Dutton turned in a very solid test with Mighty Nice, having only one error in one of the flying changes. Their score of 43.6 marked a personal best for the pair. “The last flying change wasn’t that great, but there’s a lot of atmosphere there and I couldn’t be more proud of my horse,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. I was hoping to get close to 40. That’s as close to as good as he can do.”

The six-time Olympian is now focused on the cross country phase, and is happy to have the advantage of going at the end of the day. “I think it’s going to be difficult,” he admitted. “I am at an advantage to see how it’s riding, but it’s a pretty unique kind of course. I think time is going to play a part and it’s going to cause a fair bit of trouble.”

Earlier in the day, Lauren Kieffer represented the United States during the dressage phase with Team Rebecca, LLC’s Veronica. Despite brilliant marks during the trot tour, the pair had an issue with a flying change and their resulting score was 47.3 penalties to rank 33^rd individually.

“Veronica was really good,” said Kieffer. “Her trot work was really nice, probably some of her strongest trot work. The walk tends to be her more difficult gate and she was quite good through that. I was quite happy with the canter. I think she missed the one change, but she seemed to really get punished at the end, so I am bit disappointed with our score for sure.”

Kieffer is confident that the final results will be changed a great deal during Monday’s cross country phase. “It certainly won’t be a dressage show,” she noted. “The cross country is very, very strong and I have a feeling by the end of tomorrow today won’t matter much. It’s certainly a very strong track, one of the strongest tracks I’ve ever done. If you want to go for the win you are really going to have to take some risks and it’s going to be tough out there.”

Following the second half of the dressage phase the USA’s Body Martin is ranked 35^th with Blackfoot Mystery on 47.7 penalties, but Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen are in the 24^th position on 46.6 penalties.

Saturday’s individual leaders, Great Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning on 37 penalties and Australia’s Christopher Burton with Santano II on 37.6 penalties, held on to first and second place, respectively, as the dressage phase concluded.

The cross country phase will kick off at 9 a.m. EST on Monday. A complete list of ride times can be found here: https://smsprio2016-a.akamaihd.net/_odf-documents/E/Q/EQX003301_ORDERTOGO_TIMETABLE_2016_08_07.pdf
Martin will compete first for the United States at 9:45 a.m. EST, followed by Montgomery at 11:02 a.m. EST and Kieffer at 12:27 p.m. EST. Dutton will round out the U.S. team at 1:44 p.m. EST

Live results can be found at https://www.rio2016.com/en, or follow the USET Foundation on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/USETFoundation.

RESULTS: Dressage Phase – Individual
1             GBR             FOX-PITT William             CHILLI MORNING             37.00
2             AUS             BURTON Christopher             SANTANO II             37.60
3             FRA             LEMOINE Mathieu             BART L             39.20
4             GER             KLIMKE Ingrid             HALE-BOB OLD             39.50
5             GER             JUNG Michael             SAM FBW             40.90
6             FRA             VALLETTE Thibaut             QING DU BRIOT             41.00
7             BEL             DONCKERS Karin             FLETCHA VAN’T VERAHOF             41.10
8             GER             AUFFARTH Sandra             OPGUN LOUVO             41.60
9             IRL             EVANS Jonty             COOLEY RORKES DRIFT             41.80
10             ITA             BRECCIAROLI Stefano             APOLLO VD WENDI KURT             41.90
11             FRA             NICOLAS Astier             PIAF DE B’NEVILLE             42.00
12             CHN             HUA TIAN Alex             DON GENIRO             42.40

RESULTS: Dressage Phase – Team
1             GER             Germany             122.00
2             FRA             France             122.20
3             AUS             Australia             126.40
4             GBR             Great Britain             127.70
5             IRL             Ireland             135.60
6             NZL             New Zealand             137.50
6             USA             United States             137.50
8             ITA             Italy             140.90
9             BRA             Brazil             144.10
10             SWE             Sweden             144.20
11             NED             Netherlands             146.60
12             CAN             Canada             150.80