Peter Wylde and Fein Cera jumped yet another brilliant clear round today in Round 4 of the USEF Olympic Selection Trials, May 22 at the Oaks in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Their only fault so far over the four rounds of trials was at the first fence of the the first course, last weekend in Del Mar. “Cera feels as good and as fresh as she’s ever felt,” said Wylde. “I really felt the pressure here today. It was a very intense pressure. I hadn’t felt it as much last weekend, but I did here today,” he continued.
McLain Ward also felt the weight of today’s importance on his shoulders today, but he rose to the challenge and posted a one-time-fault score with Sapphire. Added to their 4 faults from Round 3, Ward and Sapphire now stand second to Wylde with 5 total faults. “She was jumping great today; she helped me out a lot. I was a little nervous today,” said Ward.
Beezie Madden, who was sitting in first on DeSilvio after the first three rounds (2 faults) and tied for second aboard Authentic (4 faults), now stands in third and fourth. She had a rail at the liverpool oxer and a time fault aboard DeSilvio. And Authentic snagged the front rail of an oxer for 4 faults. “They both jumped well and should be set up well for tomorrow,” she said. “They were kind of silly rails; it was a little bit of show jumping luck. Sometimes you feel like you have a couple of good days and you’re waiting for it all to fall apart, but that’s not how I feel now. I’m very confident in them, and they feel confident.”
Lauren Hough now occupies fifth place in the standings with her 2000 Olympic mount, Clasiko. They collected just one time fault today to add to the 8 they had in Round 2. Hough was thrilled, however, since she’s competing under adversity. She took a hard fall from another horse the week before the trials last weekend, in Del Mar, and had some swelling and pain in her neck. And last week, Clasiko was under the weather. “He was a little bit sick last week. He just pooped out in the second round and had the last two fences down. He’d been coughing and not feeling his best. Luckily, we were able to give him some fluids before the third round that night, and he pulled it off [jumping clear in Round 3],” Hough said.
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Nicole Simpson also picked up just 1 time fault today to give her 10 total faults so far and put her in sixth with El Campeon’s So Long. “You had to balance between being under the time allowed and not sacrificing a rail,” Simpson said. “My horse was jumping way high up over the fences, which I’m not complaining about, for sure, but it takes more time.”
While the above riders are all still in the hunt for an Olympic spot, today’s action put paid to some riders’ hopes. Molly Ashe and Lutopia, who were tied for sixth after Rounds 1-3 with 8 faults, added 16 more today to lie tied for 16th with 24 faults. Clare Bronfman had a brilliant weekend last weekend, working her way into second with just 4 total time faults on Irco Sun, but today ended the fairy tale. After jumping the water, Bronfman went to steady Irco Sun for the seven bending strides to 7AB, and he stopped. Looking rattled by the mistake, they pulled five more rails and had 7 time faults to end up with a 31-fault total today.
The time allowed was a big factor in today’s scores, with only a third of the field escaping time penalties. Wylde believed the question was fair. “When I first walked the course, I thought the time allowed was deathly tight, almost too tight,” he said. “But, having ridden it, I thought it was appropriate. We have to ride at 400 meters per minute at the Olympics, so we need to be able to do it.”
The riders have seen a distinct progression in Palacios’ courses. “Each round we’ve seen has been increasingly more challenging. It’s been nice to go along, and it’s been encouraging. No doubt tomorrow’s going to be even tougher.” The field returns tomorrow for the final two courses, Rounds 5 and 6. The top finishers will be contenders to join Royal Kaliber and Chris Kappler on the team, but they have to pass another jog on Monday and the selection committee has 48 hours after the conclusion of the trials to decide whether to exercise their second bye option and announce a team.
