Lexington, Ky., Oct. 5

U.S. show jumping hopes were dashed somewhat today. At the end of the morning session of the first round of the Nations Cup of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, the U.S. team hadn’t put a clean round on the board and had dropped from first to fourth. Germany (9.80) has taken over the lead, with Canada (12.93) second and Brazil (13.49) in third. The U.S. team now has 14.69 faults to their name.

Lauren Hough was the first to go for the U.S., and first to go of the day. She put in an impressive effort over Conrad Homfeld’s very testing course, having just a rail at the last oxer. The time allowed was a real factor, and even after they extended the time allowed from 82 to 84 seconds, Hough’s time resulted in a time fault as well.

Mario Deslauriers, the leading individual after yesterday’s speed leg, had a bad day too. Urico pulled a shoe in the warm-up, so they had to drop a few horses down in the order. “It was really no problem; I don’t think it affected him. I think we were ready,” Deslauriers said. But Urico just barely stepped on the tape on the far side of the water for 4 faults. “He drifted left over the wall, and that kind of put me off my track for the water [which was next off a bending line],” Deslauriers said. “He tried really hard to jump the water clean. We must have just touched it.”

Urico turned himself inside out to jump clean through the really tight two-stride combination at the end of the course that caused a lot of problems, but then dropped a rail at the last oxer. Deslauriers said it was just an unlucky rail, that Urico overjumped the front rail a bit and cut down on the back rail.

American hopes rested on and America feet stomped for Laura Kraut on Cedric. They looked to be much more in characteristic form than yesterday, when Cedric got rattled by driving carriages going by in the warm-up. But he just dragged a hind toe over the top rail of the vertical at B in the triple combination.

“I was very pleased with how he jumped; he was more relaxed,” Kraut said. “I’m really disappointed we had that one down. He’s normally a good triple jumper, but maybe I should have helped him a bit more in there. But he was really smooth and jumped well.

Just McLain Ward, currently in second individually with Sapphire, is left to jump for the U.S. If he jumps clean, their score going into Round 2 will be 14.69. “We can just hope McLain jumps clear today and then we all rally with clear rounds tomorrow night,” Kraut said.

George Morris predicted that the Germans would be the team to beat at this year’s Games, and they’re looking fierce. That team was in second yesterday with 9.80 faults, and Janne-Friederike Meyer put in a four-fault round and Carsten-Otto Nagel jumped an inspired clear. In the afternoon session, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Marcus Ehning have yet to jump.

Brazil has very much put themselves into the mix with brilliant clean rounds from Rodrigo Pessoa and Alvaro Miranda. Pedro Veniss put 5 on the board for them, and they have Bernardo Alves yet to jump this afternoon.

The Australians have made the other biggest move of the day, much to the crowd’s delight. They were 14^th after the speed leg and Chris Chugg and Edwina Alexander both posted inspired clear rounds. Matt Williams had a 16-fault round, and James Paterson-Robinson has yet to jump in the afternoon session. Chugg was a crowd-pleaser, as he performed a canter pirouette on Vivant after they’d jumped clean. Vivant is a former Grand Prix dressage horse, and the crowd loved the display.

There are 58 riders to go this afternoon, and then Round 2 of the Nations Cup goes at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. The U.S. will have to claw their way back up in the standings if they want a medal on their home grounds. Tune back in with us at http://www.chronofhorse.com/2010WEGshowjumping for live coverage and analysis, a round-by-round blog of the action.

Catch up on all the WEG show jumping action, and check in with the other WEG sports at the Kentucky Horse Park.  For full results, check the official Alltech FEI WEG site.