Horse & Hound

Good fortune

- Sarah Jenkins Editor-in-Chief

I HAD my cards read at a wedding on Saturday.

Not normally something I’d go for, but two glasses of Moët down I thought why not, they’re hardly going to give me bad news here. Much excitement was looming, she said. So I was totally prepared for the euphoria of watching Ros Canter, cool as ice, cruising to world individual gold and securing team gold in the process. How painful for Ingrid Klimke to see gold slip away at the last fence, but Ros was a gracious beneficiar­y.

Britain’s eventing team can do no wrong under the leadership of Chris Bartle and Dickie Waygood. For a team to leave the world number one at home and still get double gold is quite something. Roll on Tokyo 2020.

It was once said a Horse & Hound front cover could be a jinx. Not so. Call Charlotte Dujardin’s WEG ride Mount St John Freestyle a medal contender and it’s prophecy. How fantastic to see Charlotte proving herself on another horse after her astonishin­g rise to stardom on Valegro. That team, too, qualified for Tokyo thanks to the bronze at WEG, will be some force.

Tryon had plenty of bad luck. It doesn’t sound like it was any less prepared than previous WEGs that had better fortune. The endurance was cursed from the outset, with vets resigning over concerns at what might occur. I don’t think anyone envisaged that riders might be sent in the wrong direction. Seeing footage from that day, few covered themselves in glory.

Our medal-winning teams have given us reason to look back fondly on Tryon — with more to come this week.

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