From the moment the first American cantered down centre line in the dressage phase on 20 July, it quickly became clear that the US team would be taking no prisoners at this XV Pan Am Games three-day-event. Not only did the group of mostly Olympic veterans win the team gold medal, they pocketed all three individual medals. A young but competitive team from Canada won the predicted silver medal, and host country Brazil, the only other team to finish with at least three members, won their second equestrian bronze medal of these Games.

The Pan Am Eventing ground jury consisted of Barry Roycroft of Australia, Canadian Jo Young, and Janine Rohr-Cicurel of Argentina. Roger Haller of the USA was the technical delegate. Following the horse inspection on Thursday, there were five teams and a total of 27 horses set to compete. Chile and Argentina had teams, though with only three members on theirs, the Chileans faced early disaster when their first horse retired during the dressage test. The team was not eliminated, but 1000 penalties were assigned to the team score, effectively putting them out of contention. Two countries were represented by individuals: Uruguay’s Alejandro Quintana Valero and Jamaican Samantha Albert, who was fourth at the 1991 Pan American Championship, when it was held in Atlanta to replace its absence at the Cuban Pan Am Games.

Dressage was taken over by the US riders, with five of them populating the top spots. Mara Dean, competing as an individual on Nicki Henley, was in a league of her own, finishing her test with 40.2 penalties, well ahead of second placed Stephen Bradley on From with 46.5. Competing for the team, Bradley later said that Dean’s help with the dressage was the reason for his good score: “the reason I had the test that I had is because of Mara’s help with my dressage.” Immediately behind him came Karen O’Connor on her outstanding pony Theodore O’Connor, which at 14.1 hands is the smallest equine at the Pan Am Games. Individual competitor and defending Pan Am champion Darren Chiacchia on Better I Do It sat fourth, and a third US team rider, the newly minted American Phillip Dutton on Truluck were fifth. Canada’s highest placed pair in the dressage was seventh placed Sandra Donnelly and Buenos Aires with 51.7. The top Brazilian team rider was Carlos Para on Political Mandate, in ninth with 54 penalties.

The cross country course, built just weeks before the Pan Ams, was designed by Sue Benson of Great Britain. The three star course made use of the hilly terrain, and challenged the horses with 27 numbered obstacles and 41 jumping efforts over 5700 meters. US team coach Mark Phillips commented that one of the tougher questions on course was the coffin complex at fences ten, eleven and twelve. “It will be important for the riders to be on their toes so that it doesn’t come as a surprise,” he said.

Saturday, cross country day, marked the beginning of one of Rio’s ‘little summers’, a hot spell in the middle of the winter. Concerns about the newness of the footing were quickly put to rest, as there were no early reports of slipping on turns. The course yielded a high percentage of clear rounds (15 out of 26 starters), but few were within the time. The only American to have any difficulty on course was Stephen Bradley, with one stop. The entire Canadian team went clear, and could boast that half of the horses to cross the finish within the time were wearing the Maple Leaf. Like the US, Brazil had three out of four horses get around the course with no jumping penalties. Chile still had two horses in the competition at the end of the day, while the unlucky Argentinians, who saw two eliminations at the water complex, were down to one horse.

At the end cross country, the US had widened its lead over Canada, while Canada still retained its position ahead of Brazil. Karen O’Connor now occupied first position, followed by Dutton in second and Chiaccha in third. There was a tie for fourth place between American Gina Miles on McKinlaigh and Canada’s Kyle Carter on Madison Park. Second placed Dutton commented that Benson had a difficult task to build this Pan Am course. “It’s a very hard job to encourage the smaller countries and still have the best horses win. It wasn’t that big in dimensions, but it didn’t ride easy, either.”

Four eliminations and two retirements on cross country, one of them being the dressage leader Mara Dean, left 21 horses in the field, all of which passed Sunday’s horse inspection. Guilherme Jorge of Brazil set a testing show jumping course, which would prove to be difficult to jump clear within the time. Twelve numbered elements and fifteen jumping efforts over 490 meters contained a pair of bogey fences at the end of the course: a picket-style plank jump at number 11 followed by the final obstacle, a Liverpool. Just four clear rounds, three of them within the time, meant there were some significant changes on the individual leader board. O’Connor took one rail with Theodore, but thanks to Dutton’s clear but slow round she still won gold with just over a point in hand, on 52.7 penalties. Chiaccha had an unlucky day on course, knocking down four fences and dropping one spot to fourth, which put the US team’s least experienced member, Gina Miles, onto the podium with a bronze medal. Miles was also the only rider to finish the competition on her dressage score of 56.3. Canadian Carter missed his chance at the podium with two rails and two time penalties, to finish as the top Canadian individual in fifth. Brazil’s top individual was seventh placed Saulo Tristao on Totsie.

David O’Connor, at these Pan Am Games as Team Technical Advisor for the Canadians, had one of the happiest personal outcomes of the eventing: his wife Karen with two gold medals around her neck and his team, composed of a young and ambitious group of riders on excellent cross country horses, with a well earned silver medal. “That is a very special relationship,” O’Connor commented of his wife’s performance with the ‘power pony’. Of his Canadian riders, O’Connor was also proud: “They came down here and in style got done what we were here to do. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

For complete results of equestrian events at the XV Pan American Games, visit www.rio2007.org.br