Olympic debutante Liz Halliday stepped up at the 11th hour to produce the leading US score in the eventing dressage in Paris with the striking young talent Nutcracker.
Liz and the 10-year-old gelding, owned by The Nutcracker Syndicate, were initially named as the alternate combination on the US eventing team. They received the call up to be part of the team of three just ahead of the first horse inspection yesterday (26 July).
It has been a whirlwind 48 hours for the US side. Will Coleman had already swapped his first selection, Off The Record, for his reserve horse Diabolo while at the training camp. But on moving to the venue at Versailles, Diabolo showed signs of a hoof abscess and so Liz was swapped in.
“It’s a really odd place to be in emotionally, because the first thing I felt was devastation for Will, because I’ve been there before Tokyo,” said Liz, whose intended ride for the last Games in 2021 sustained an injury just before he was due to go into quarantine.
“You’re overwhelmed with the fact that you’re moving into the spot, and also overwhelmed with sadness for your teammate, who equally earned his spot here – and then it’s time to get to business. It goes from shock, to being a competitor again, but I’m absolutely thrilled with how my young horse performed in there. He was spectacular.”
The pair cut an elegant picture, with their score sheets featuring plenty of sevens and eights. A little tension crept in during the canter work, which kept their good score of 28 from being even better. It is the highest of the three US Olympic eventing team scores after the first phase, putting the side in strong contention ahead of the jumping phases on 88.9. Their teammates Caroline Pamukcu (HSH Blake) and Boyd Martin (Fedarman B) are on 30.4 and 30.5 respectively.
“He’s actually really taken a big leap forward in just the last two weeks in some of his work. I’ve changed around some things to try to make him more relaxed and just really let it flow – I think that’s helped,” said Liz.
She added: “He’s desperate to do the right thing all the time, and sometimes that adds tension in his back. So that’s what we’ve worked so hard on. I worked on that in the warm up, just having him go in and saying, ‘we’re cool buddy’. I think we’re heading the right way.”
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