We are so thrilled for client Phillip Dutton, who after his 6th appearance in the Olympic Games (3 times for Australia and 3 for the USA) has achieved a lifelong dream of standing on the Olympic podium!!
It was a challenging week for the US Eventing team, who started the competition with great hopes of bringing home a team medal. They stood within reach of a medal after dressage and Boyd Martin was the trailblazer on cross country, bringing home a gutsy clear round with only a few time faults.
Clark Montgomery had high hopes for his round on Loughan Glen, after winning the mandatory outing at Great Meadow in Virginia. Doubt began to creep in after Glen didn’t want to play in the sandbox during the dressage….but more surprising was his difficulties on cross country. After 3 refusals, Clark decided to give it a day and retired on course.
Pressure then was on Lauren Kieffer, who is based out of Merydyth South in Ocala, riding for Mrs. Mars. She and Veronica were streaking around the XC, when she decided to go for the direct route on one element, causing Veronica to hang a leg and she just couldn’t stick the landing. With their fall came elimination for our US team from contention.
Phillip Dutton was last to leave the start box for the USA, and with nothing left to lose he and Mighty Nice gobbled up the XC course, saving themselves from penalties with the best heroic save of the day on the brush corner. Somehow Phillip levitated “Happy” inside the red flag with one of social medias most shared “saves of the day”, galloping home for another clear round to join team mate Boyd Martin in the standing for individual medal contention going into show jumping!
So after a tough day for the US team, Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin both advanced to show jumping to compete for individual medals. Boyd Martin rode beautifully on Blackfoot Mystery, but with a tired horse after the day of XC, pulled two rails to drop from 6th place to 16th individually. Still an amazing effort on a relatively green horse.
Our client Phillip Dutton became a national hero after having two stellar show jumping rounds to move up to the Bronze medal spot and to make all of his US supporters (including Wordley Martin) proud of their efforts!!
Wordley Martin began our relationship with Phillip nearly a decade ago when we installed his sand and fiber outdoor ring and during 2011 we partnered with Martin Collins Equine Surfaces to install his indoor arena as well.
If you want to relive all the best live coverage from the Olympics, check out this summary article from our friends at Eventing Nation!