On eventing show jumping day at the Pan Am Game in Lima, Peru, Canada’s eventing team faced another setback when Dana Cooke’s horse Mississippi was not presented for the final inspection in the morning. It appears the mare had scraped her elbows, which required a few stitches and although she was sound and ready to go, there was some concern that she might open them up in the show jumping phase so the decision was made to withdraw her.
The rest of the team came through in spades, with three flawless clear rounds to maintain Canada’s third-place position and lock down the bronze medal. Colleen Loach’s youngster FE Golden Eye had plenty to look at in the big atmosphere of the show jumping arena, but got the job done. “He was looking, but he was careful,” said Loach. “He jumped as well as I could have hoped. He’s young, so he’s going to be a little spooky still, but I was happy with that.”
Karl Slezak and Fernhill Wishes followed, looking fresh and still full of mettle after the previous day’s cross-country test. “He’s a fantastic jumper; he’s always so level and that probably was one of his more lively rounds,” said Slezak. “He came out feeling like a million bucks – he didn’t feel tired at all. For him to kind of be up on the last day, that’s good. He did what I wanted him to do and that’s all I can ask for.” After a well-deserved break, Fernhill Wishes will be aimed at Kentucky in the spring.
Jessica Phoenix rounded out the trio aboard the seasoned campaigner Pavarotti. “I could not be happier with Pavarotti’s performance,” she said. “It’s so incredible to be on a horse that is just as competitive as I am. As a country we were faultless today and we really finished on a high note. I’m really proud of our horses and riders.”
Individually the Canadians finished 5th (Phoenix), 12th (Slezak) and 20th (Loach). Medals went to Americans Boyd Martin riding Tsetserleg (gold) and Lynn Symansky with RF Cool Play (silver), while Brazil’s Carlos Parro and Qualkin Qurious bagged the bronze.
When asked about their overall Pan Am experience, Phoenix, who is now a veteran of three of them, remarked, “I think Peru put on an incredible competition. The hospitality was insane; they made us feel so welcome, the venue was beautiful … it was a super, super Pan Am Games.” Added Loach about the equine side of things, “The stabling was great and the horses were really comfortable there.”
Although the bronze medal fell just short of qualifying a Canadian team for the Olympics next year (thanks to a hard-scrapping Brazilian team who completely earned their spot in Tokyo), it was still exciting. Phoenix noted, “When you have team competition it’s a very different thing and the memories that you take away are the group of people you were there with. We’ve had an incredible couple of weeks together through training camp and through this competition and I was really honoured to be standing next to these guys on the podium today.”
Remarked Loach, “Winning a medal as a team is always special – even if it wasn’t exactly what we were going for this weekend. We’ll do our homework and we’ll be back better than ever.”
Pan Am Eventing – Final
Individual Medals
Gold: Boyd Martin, Tsetserleg (USA) 25.6
Silver: Lynn Symansky, RF Cool Play (USA) 29.2
Bronze: Carlos Parro, Quaikin Qurious (BRA) 34.9
Team Medals
Gold: United States
Silver: Brazil
Bronze: Canada
For complete results click here:
