ALL four Irish horses sailed through the veterinary inspection without incident on Friday morning at the Olympic equestrian venue in the park of Versailles and are ready to begin the competition on Saturday morning.

Irish pathfinder Sarah Ennis will get Team Ireland underway, when she trots down the centreline as first to go for the team. The dressage begins at 8.30am Irish time (9.30am in Paris), when all 64 horse and rider combinations will perform their test. Ennis will be followed by Susie Berry and the anchor rider will be Austin O’Connor. From the 16 teams, Ireland have been drawn fourth.

Spectacular track

On Sunday, attention turns to cross-country over Pierre La Goupil’s testing track. The Irish Field caught up with Berry after her Wellfields Lincoln passed the first vet check and asked her about the cross-country test. “It is spectacular, just incredible!” said the 28-year-old, who is competing at her first Olympic Games.

“It’s very artistic and very flowing. It feels a lot less twisty than I thought. Everything’s quite big, but quite in front of you. There’s definitely plenty of questions the whole way around the track; it gets more intense at the end, and the waters are quite intense, I’d say the waters are the biggest questions, there are four water jumps.”

Berry said the incredible surroundings of the park of Versailles will be a lot for the horses to take in, but she is confident in her horse. “I think even just the surroundings of the fences are nearly more to look at for the horses than the fences themselves, I think they will really back off out there.

“You are going to be jumping into crowds for quite a few of the big complexes. Definitely the first water is going to be really busy - it’s built like a Colosseum with steps the whole way up, so it’s going to be rammed [with spectators]. I’d say they’ll probably back off more than you think they will when you’re walking it.

“Wellfields Lincoln is really brave at water. As long as we can keep their attention, it should suit all our horses out there, to be honest. And it’s quite similar to what we’ve had at home, whereas usually we come to European events and they’re really different.

“We have to cross over on a pontoon a few times, so that’ll be interesting to see how the horses cope with that. It’s going from grass to very bright sand and the water is rippling on the edges, but I would say the blood should be up by then and it won’t be a problem!”

Asked how the experience has been so far, Berry said: “Surreal, it’s crazy, better than I thought it would be. I think beforehand I was excited, but I was a bit like ‘it’s just another show’. In reality, it’s nothing like anything else we’ve ever been to, it’s incredible.”

Austin O'Connor and Colorado Blue at the first veterinary inspection on Friday morning at the Paris Olympic Games \ Tomas Holcbecher

Upset

The vet check wasn’t entirely without drama, as one horse was eliminated from the competition. That was Austria’s Lea Siegel when her horse, DSP Fighting Lion, was spun when re-presented to the ground jury. Four other horses were sent to the hold box before being passed on re-inspection.

Among them was Britain’s alternate horse, Banzai du Loir, the mount of Yaz Ingham. The defending champions from Britain are bidding to become the first-ever five-time eventing team champions.

There was also an upset in the USA camp when, in the morning before the official trot up, Will Coleman’s Diabolo was ruled out with a foot abscess. The travelling reserve combination, Liz Halliday and the Irish Sport Horse Cooley Nutcracker, were moved into the three-member team, while Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire came in as the alternate combination and were on site in time for the first horse inspection.

Dressage horses arrive

Meanwhile, England-based Abigail Lyle and her Olympic dressage mount Giraldo arrived to the venue in Versailles on Friday afternoon. “The trip went really smoothly, except it just rained and rained as soon as we got off the train. It took 12 hours door to door to [Haras de] Jardy, where we stabled last night.

“Arty (Giraldo) travelled really well, you wouldn’t even have known he was on the lorry. I rode him this morning, just a stretch and he feels great. We start on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the draw,” she told The Irish Field.

Lyle was one of three equestrian athletes taking part in Friday night’s opening ceremony, which was held on Seine. She was joined by show jumpers Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle, who both travelled to the city specifically for the event, and will stay a night in the Olympic village, before leaving again. They will return on Tuesday, when the show jumping horses will arrive in Versailles.