Lexington, Ky.—Sept. 26
Seven weeks ago, Spanish rider Maria Mercedes Alvarez Ponton was giving birth to her first child, but today, Sept. 26, she was back in the saddle and back at the top of her game at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
Alvarez Ponton crossed the finish line first aboard Nobby, the 15-year-old bay Arabian with whom she won the 2009 Endurance World Championship (Italy) and the 2008 World Championship (Malaysia). The pair’s final time was 7:35:44.
HRH Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates came home 55 seconds later aboard Ciel Oriental, followed 1 minute and 22 seconds later by his son, HE Sheik Hamdan Mohammad Al Maktoum with SAS Alexis in third.
U.S. rider Heather Reynolds and Ssamiam won out in a gallop for fourth place but were spun at the final jog for soundness.
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“He was just off in the hind end—really slightly, but it was there,” said Reynolds, of Los Gatos, Calif. “He felt good. He did get tired coming in, in the last two miles. And then when he saw the venue, he was like, ‘OK, let’s do this.’ ”
“Sam” is just 9 years old, and the WEG served as only the second 100-mile race in his career.
“He’s our total underdog horse,” Reynolds said. “If this was a horse that I came into this event expecting to have great things happen with, I’d probably be crying right now. But I was hoping to go around and be in the top 20. So I’m pretty excited, even though we didn’t complete. I think he’ll be very exciting for the future.”
Earlier in the day, things went poorly for other U.S. riders as well. Lindsay Graham’s Monk was eliminated at Gate 3 for metabolic reasons, and Janice Worthington’s Golden Lightning failed the soundness check there.
Be sure to visit the Chronicle’s WEG Endurance page tomorrow, Sept. 26, for the official team and individual medal announcements, as well as the veterinarians’ determination of Best Conditioned Horse.
