The judges, Geoff Teall and Julie Winkel, have set a Medal finals course that will test the riders fairly, but definitely provides enough of a challenge to find a winner.

Riders start out down a vertical-to-oxer line along the long side of the ring, in front of the judges.  The line rides in a forward four strides, and both the jumps are white rails with rolltops and brush. From there, they ride a snug five-stride bending line to the left to a vertical of three birch rails, set in short standards without a groundline and no filler.  There are small trees flanking the jump. 

From there, they spin in a tight rollback to the right in the short end of the ring, and jump a square oxer out of the corner, the first element of a diagonal line across the ring toward the in-gate.  A very long four or quite tight four strides after the oxer is a tight two-stride line of airy plank verticals, headed directly to the ingate.  The trick for this line will be to keep enough impulsion in the rollback turn to jump the wide square oxer easily, and then adjust the horse’s stride to jump the plank-vertical combination carefully.

Riders then make a short turn—five bending strides–left away from the ingate and jump a narrow natural coop set at the end of the ring.  The coop has a brush groundline, and is flanked by trees and flowers, but it is quite narrow, and will be a telling accuracy question set so quickly after a technical line, and set off a short turn away from the ingate.

Then, there’s a long gallop out of the corner and across the diagonal to a triple bar of natural rails, filled with straw bales and brush.  This should be a good chance for riders to show off their eye and boldness.  But from there, riders are going to have to complete another tight 180-degree rollback at the end of the ring back to a narrow vertical of blue-white and yellow rails set on short standards.

Then, they accelerate down the long side of the ring over a triple combination of Swedish oxer-Swedish oxer-vertical, one stride to one stride, going right toward the ingate.  The combination is very jumpery looking, with yellow, blue and white rails.  Then, riders canter around the end of the ring, and jump an unusual Swedish oxer of white rails, with no filler or groundline.  The fence is simply a large oxer of crossrails. 

Then, they finish in a gallop on a bending line of 10 or 11 strides to the last jump, a fan oxer of white rails.

The course really tests riders’ adjustability and accuracy, but there aren’t any gimmicks.  They’ll just need to ride accurately and positively.